Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a Canadian hip-hop duo whose taut, rhythmic rhymes and lean, atmospheric beats carry a message of pride in their First Nations heritage and fury against a culture that has marginalized their people. Snotty Nose Rez Kids speak from a place of Indigenous activism and education, and they're not afraid to sound hard and streetwise, offering smart defiance in the face of racial and cultural disrespect. 2017's The Average Savage was a celebrated independent effort that first made them critical favorites, 2020's Trapline was short-listed for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize, and 2021's Life After offered messages of survival after the passing of a close friend of the group. Their fifth album, I'M GOOD, HBU? arrived in 2022 and featured a mix of strong messages and the duo's satirical humor.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids was formed in 2016 by Darren Metz (aka Young D) and Quinton Nyce (aka Yung Trybez). Metz and Nyce grew up in Kitamaat Village, a community of Haisla People in the Canadian province of British Columbia. They became friends in high school when they bonded over their shared love of poetry, storytelling, and hip-hop. Metz was studying audio engineering at Harbourside Institute of Technology in North Vancouver when he was inspired to create a musical project called Minay Music (Minay comes from the Haisla word for "brother"), and he invited Nyce to join him. Renaming the act Snotty Nose Rez Kids after an insult that was thrown at them as children (and they sometimes threw at other Haisla youth), Metz and Nyce released a self-titled independent album in January 2017, and just nine months later, they brought out a follow-up, The Average Savage. "Skoden," a single from the second LP, was given repeat airplay on Reclaimed, a CBC Radio program devoted to music from Indigenous artists, and was named one of the 100 best songs of 2017 in the network's year-end poll. 

In 2018, the duo struck a deal with RPM Records, a label devoted to distributing music from Indigenous musicians, and their first single for the imprint was "The Warriors," a song written to protest the Trans Mountain Pipeline being constructed in Northwestern Canada. SNRK opted to return to independent status for their third full-length project, 2019's Trapline; on the strength of the single "Boujee Natives," a witty celebration of First Nations swagger and pride, the album became another critical success for the rappers. The Canadian music magazine Exclaim listed it in their Top Ten Hip-Hop albums of the year, and it was short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize (Haviah Mighty took home the top honors that year). 

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live music in Canada in 2020, Metz and Nyce spent their time writing and demo'ing new material, and many of their new songs dealt with demons preying on the Indigenous community, including addiction, poverty, mental illness, and police violence, with the somber tone reinforced by the news that Taran Kootenhayoo (who, as DJ Kookum, serves as their live DJ) had lost his brother to suicide. October 2021 saw the release of Life After, Snotty Nose Rez Kids' fourth album, which confronted hard truths while also offering a message of perseverance in a troubled time. The duo eventually resumed touring and in December 2022 delivered their fifth album, the serious and satirical I'M GOOD, HBU?, featuring guest spots by DillanPonders and Polo Brian. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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