Great Red North

Late at night, we're with
friends attending the launch of Spirit
magazine. We're in a crushed bar, DNA, on
Adelaide. A native hiphop artist,
doing those hand gestures, as if he's
pressing air down. A baseball cap on
and a white towel under the cap.
He's a great mimic of black gang culture.
A waiter twisting through the crowd,
carries a grey plastic tray full of
empties above his head. A video screen
with poker. Am I the last to figure
out that native Canadians have a home
in hiphop music? The next act is
so American I have to ask: they are
Hispanics from Los Angeles, playing
the aboriginal card.