Tia Wood, centre, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids perform onstage during the 2025 JUNO Awards at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on March 30.Cindy Ord/Getty Images
It’s been a cruel April for the Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
First the Indigenous hip-hop duo’s studio in east Vancouver burned down, and now CBC and APTN have revealed that they have withdrawn from an anticipated comedy series based on the rappers’ early life.
Yung Trybez (Quinton Nyce) and Young D (Darren Metz), who are collectively known as Snotty Nose Rez Kids, said in a statement sent to The Globe and Mail that they were uncertain as to why the networks had decided to drop the TV show, which was originally scheduled to premiere in 2025.
“Unfortunately, we simply don’t really know what happened here,” the duo wrote in a statement passed on by their manager Brodie Metcalfe. (The pair are still dealing with the aftermath of last week’s fire.)
“We felt the show was in a good place. We had a great team put together and good scripts, and we were taken aback by CBC’s decision not to move ahead.”
CBC public relations manager Simon Bassett first told The Globe and Mail on Monday that the network would not be moving forward with Snotty Nose Rez Kids in a response to an e-mail asking when the show, still listed on a CBC site as premiering in 2025, would air. He referred follow-up questions to APTN.
Joëlle Saltel, communication manager at the national Indigenous broadcaster, subsequently sent a statement confirming both networks had decided to withdraw from the project.
“This decision was not made lightly, and we deeply appreciate the dedication and hard work of all parties involved,” she wrote. “Various creative, logistical and financial factors have led to this difficult decision.”
Last May, CBC announced the Snotty Nose Rez Kids show would be part of its comedy programming slate for the 2024-2025 television season.
A summary of the comedy series posted on CBC’s media site describes it as the “not even true, real life story” of the Kitamaat Village duo’s rise in the music business.
“The series is inspired by the lives of best friends Quinton and Darren, who move from their remote Haisla Nation to the big city of Vancouver to chase their hip-hop dreams,” the site says. “Throughout a series of misadventures they lean on their newfound community to kick start their career as Snotty Nose Rez Kids.”
Nyce and Metz are listed as creators, along with TallBoyz comedian Vance Banzo and Kim’s Convenience writer Matt Kippen. Jennifer Podemski, who co-created the drama series Little Bird, is listed as the series’ showrunner.
In their statement to The Globe and Mail, Nyce and Metz said they were optimistic about the future of the show despite the withdrawal of CBC and APTN.
“We’re currently looking for a new home for it. We haven’t given up on this and we’ll get this show made. We’re used to setbacks, but we always persevere.”
The duo were last seen on the CBC in March, performing alongside Tia Wood at the Juno Awards. Their sixth studio album, Red Future, took home the award for the rap album/EP of the year.
On April 23, a fire damaged the building housing the studio where that album had been recorded, as well as a studio where Nyce operated his clothing brand, Savage Kids, with Hugo Evans.
As of Tuesday morning, a GoFundMe fundraiser organized by Metcalfe on behalf of Nyce, Metz and Evans had raised $17,070 of a $18,000 goal “to assist in loss of business, replacing items and rebuilding the studios.”
