Eekwol

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Eekwol (born Lindsay Knight) is a Muskoday First Nation rapper who is a solo female aboriginal hip hop artist. The name Eekwol is Lowkee spelled backward which was her original stage name but decided to change it because "female decided to start doing throw ups and tags all over Saskatoon using Loki" and it sounded too close. She decided on the name Eekwol because "Eekwol is a name that no one has (if they do they’re straight biting!) and it represents equality in hip-hop. I’m talking gender, cultural background,etc. I don’t want to be categorized because I’m a female, or Aboriginal, I wanna be recognized for my dedication, talent and love for this hip hop art. Eekwolity."

Her music offers Natives, and Native Women in particular, a positive alternative to negative, violent stereotypes. She also wants to spread the message of living "life the best way you know how and to not be afraid to think and be critical." And wanting "young girls to see life as an equal stage with equal opportunity, not the same as guys, but of the same value."

When Eekwol was a kid she "loved Young MC, Maestro, Eric B.and Rakim, Kool Mo Dee, Big Daddy Kane" all of the old school music that "you can get at Much Music."Much Music is a "Canadian English language Category A specialty channelcurrently owned by Bell Media" that aired primarily music. She really liked all kinds of music, but hip hop stuck with her ever since "a friend of mine who DJ’ed gave me a mix tape with stuff like Yaggfu Front, Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Souls of Mischief, Hieroglyphics, ODB, and De La Soul" in 1993-1994. Eekwol started studying hip-hop at age 16 and launched her first album in 1998. She won Best Hip Hop/Rap Album at the 2005 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for the "Apprentice to the Mystery" album, along with Mils (her brother and producer, with whom she co-owns the indie label Mils Production). She, however, did not attend the ceremony because she felt that she was not good enough for the award. The same album was nominated at the Indian Summer Music Awards in 2005, and the Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Awards in 2006. Her video for "Too Sick" has been featured on the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network, MTV Canada and Muchmusic. She served on the panel of adjudicators for the Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor's Arts Awards in 2008. She also performed with "Os12 and Manik outta Vancouver, Rez Official, and a few others at Aboriginal gatherings" which incorporated native rock and country bands.

These activities include sitting on an Indigenous Advisory Council, and as of December 7, 2015, becoming the Program Consultant for Aboriginal Arts and Community Engagement for the Saskatchewan Arts Board. She also wrote songs about suicide, dark colonial histories and spirituality in her new album "Ghost" which was a response to the "Truth and Reconciliation [Canada's mandated organization that acknowledges and documents residential schools]." During one of the event in Saskatoon, she heard stories "first-hand from residential school survivors" and it really affected her. She wrote those songs as if she was one of those students parents and she could not imagine how the world would be like if her children were taken. She is known as "Canada's first solo female Aboriginal hip-hop artist" and honestly does not like that title because she does not know if that statement is true or not because there could have been other artists that could have claimed that title. She does not see herself as a women who raps because she feels as if she is being sub-categorized. In the hip-hop world it is very gendered especially with female rappers who are seen as either "super sexualized or thugged out."

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