Dakota (given name) Dakota (given name) Dakota is a unisex given name derived from the name of an indigenous Native American tribe: Dakota people or from the name of two states in the United States: North Dakota and South Dakota which are also derived from the Dakota people local to that area. The name is translated to mean "friend", "friendly" or "allies" in the Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee dialects of the Lakota Sioux language. The name has been in occasional use for both sexes in the United States since at least the 1940s. The name's popularity grew in the 1990s in the US. It
Native American hip hop to ever use the epithet "MC", is Cherokee and Ernie Paniccioli, a famous photographer of hip-hop culture who grew up in Brooklyn, is Cree. Funkdoobiest, Solé, and Litefoot (winner of the Native American Music Award), are also well-known Native American hip-hop artists. Wu-Tang affiliate King Just is also of Native American and the Ol' Dirty Bastard also claimed to be of Native American descent. Flavor Unit member Apache is also Native American. In the past, the majority of Native American hip hop was to be found in the underground scene, rarely gaining exposure beyond regional hits. However, artists such as