City Natives

Once again the venues were jam-packed, with lineups out the door and fire marshalls keeping a close eye on head counts. Several more awards were handed out, including a trio for NB artists. Moncton's Les Hay Babies won Francophone Recording of the Year for the trio's Le Folio EP. In the Aboriginal category, Tobique's City Natives were honoured for 4 Kingz - Bob Mersereau

Besides the JUNO Awards and the ADISQ Felix Awards, Canada has a host of niche awards for music. Atlantic Canada is small in population but large in music scene, and the 2014 East Coast Music Awards has wrapped up in PEI. Album of the Year went to Old Man Luedecke for Tender Is the Night, Song of the Year to Jenn Grant for “I’ve Got Your Fire”, Aboriginal Recording of the Year to City Natives for 4 Kingz, and Francophone Recording of the Year to Les Hay Babies for EP Le Folio. You can find a full winners list here. - Shawn pt

In other hip-hop related categories, Ambition, Kayo, Quake Matthews and The Caravan all received a nod in the Rap/Hip-Hop category, while City Natives received a nomination for Aboriginal Recording of the Year. - HipHopCanada.com

Aboriginal Recording of the Year
City Natives – 4 Kingz - WINNER - Kayla Tinson

This four person group from New Brunswick dropped their undeniably catchy debut last June. Their sound is reminiscent of Los Angeles' grittier urban hip-hop, easily mainstream and full of the ego and heavy bass lines that make a great rap album. They may not be calling out oil companies or land developers, but they're drawing attention to modern Native experiences in the city; it's not all about fancy dress and tribal drums, and most indigenous people are living the urban hustle. - Chelsea Hawkins

New Brunswick – New video from City Natives off their debut album, 4 Kingz, which was released on June 21. “The Kid” video was directed and edited in-house by the group. City Natives consists of 4 members in total with 3 (Beaatz, IllFundz and BnE) hailing from New Brunswick and Gearl coming from Eskasoni, Nova Scotia. - hip hop canada

The dynamic mic skills and boom bap-inflected east coast production of rising hip-hop stars City Natives bangs all the way through. Barely a year into their collaboration as a crew, City Natives brings together the multi-talented forces of Beaatz, IllFundz, Gearl, and BnE, like a young Native rap Voltron. Featuring incredible beat production from Juliano, the pass and trade flows of this crew sounds hungry for respect, recognition, and social change in equal parts. If this is just the beginning, there’s no limit to where things can go from here. Listen/Download: http://citynatives.bandcamp.com/album/city-natives-4-kingz - RPM

Who: City Natives
Where: Casino NS – Compass, Halifax
When: Friday, March 8th, 2013 @8pm
Total Score: 9/10

Crowd: About 50 very excited and supporting people. Obviously aboriginal crowd considering the lineup, but I saw some other hip hop groups who came to support these guys.
Style: Hip Hop
Technicalities: These kids sounded great and played off each other excellently. Their style was spot on, rapping about aboriginal issues without being preachy or offensive. I thought it was very cool.
Memorable Song/Moment: I believe the track was called “I Ain’t Mad Though”. Either way, it was dope. Lyrically, it blew me away. I’m not aboriginal, but I really felt like I associated with the plights they spoke of on the track. That’s a sign of great music, that they brought me on board instantly.
Sex Appeal/Image: As Justin Bieber would say, swaggy. Great street style.
Comments: The crowd support for these guys was great to see. Playing to a tiny crowd, in a tiny room, in a casino and they still killed it. They had the attitude that 2 people could have been watching and they’d still bring it. City Natives were just really fucking good. - Cody Spence