Music has a way of changing thought, of giving it a new pattern, a new rhythm, which makes it possible to redirect our way of viewing the world. In particular, rap and hip hop have increasingly become outlets for marginalized communities as a means of articulating their struggle, and through storytelling, to spread awareness and begin to heal. Rap is an outlet that provides for articulation, complexity, wordplay, in a way that other music doesn’t. It is a rhythmic form of poetry, a sense of articulation in motion, with thought taking the form of sound, traveling through transitioning shapes of thought.
Frank Waln is a Sicangu Lakota rapper from Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. His music articulates the struggle of Native Americans in the United States today: the frustration of their invisibility, their erasure in American history as it is approached in U.S. schools, and their overwhelming absence in much of American dialogue.
Frankly, we often forget, to a lesser or greater extent, about the continued presence and struggle of Native Americans in the United States. It is easy to let them fade from our minds or to think of these issues as in the past, horrific wrongs buried deep in the past. Yet the effects of European colonization of America are still resonating in this country.
It’s hard to think about, almost impossible to conceptualize if you are not a part of the Native American community, but Waln’s music brings the continued presence of these struggles and the importance of consciousness to the forefront.
A Gates scholar, Waln moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College, where he studied audio arts and acoustics. In an interview, he explains the culture shock, and his surprise at the erasure of his people’s history in American schools:
"When I came to Chicago to go to school, I actually met a person my first week here, that was living in my dorm, who thought Native Americans are extinct. She thought we were gone and dead. And it really shook me. And I started looking at the way history is taught in this country, and a lot of history books don't mention us past the 1800's."
The fact that these raps are even in English speaks to the history it comes from. In an interview he did with Paper, he talks about how he is trying to “decolonize the way we talk about decolonization”, including pieces of the Lakota language, the language of his people, in his music. He says “As I'm actively reconnecting to my own culture and language, I'm bringing those concepts out in my songs and telling my story of how I'm using this music and my home community to heal,” speaking of the process of creating his album Tokiya (the Lakota word for “firstborn,” “first creation,” “first of its kind.”)
The way that he and other indigenous people have even been articulating their experience is through the language of their oppressor, and an important part of the healing process is restructuring the conversation on one’s own terms, through the means of their culture, and through taking pride in that culture.
Activism is an integral part of the music Waln makes. Particularly in the context of the environment, protesting the Keystone Pipeline XL which was finally vetoed by President Barack Obama in February of 2015, he uses his music and the feeling of connection to the land which is so central to indigenous culture as a means of standing up to the destruction of our environment.
His music also openly deals with depression and mental health issues, which are particularly prevalent in indigenous communities and which are difficult to talk about, both on a public and private level, due to stigma and shame associated with them. In indigenous cultures in the United States, there is an overwhelming feeling of erasure and invisibility, which often leads to anxiety and depression. Even factoring in under-reporting, young Native American men are more than twice as likely to commit suicide compared to other racial groups, according to a CDC report.
Frank Waln provides a sense of hope, a powerful message of resilience for his community, and one which is deeply affecting. His music is thoughtful, well-produced, and deeply felt, which becomes powerfully apparent upon listening to it. There is a sense of triumph and resilience which strives against the current of erasure and oppression of indigenous peoples.
Listen to Frank Waln. His message is important. Also...he is just that good.
To get you started, here are a few of my recommendations:
1. "Born on the Rez"
2. "Oil 4 Blood"
3. Performance of "My Stone" on the MTV Rebel Music profile:
4. "Victory Song"
