- [Narrator] Funding for this program is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Jennine and John Speier And these STAGE supporters.

(hip hop beats) - [Narrator] Your favorite local musicians like you've never seen them before.

(crowd cheers) Intimate collaborations between iconic artists and the musicians they want you to know about.

(slate claps) - Action!

- [Narrator] Tonight, Tall Paul featuring Joe Rainey.

It's all happening right now, live, on the legendary 7th St.

Entry stage.

(audience cheering) (mellow hip-hop beats) Blending substance and soul, Tall Paul's hip-hop draws from personal experience and provides thought-provoking commentary on issues affecting Indigenous and diverse communities as a whole.

Please welcome to the stage, Tall Paul.

(audience cheers) ♪ I fear the latent effects of assimilation ♪ ♪ Inner city Native raised by bright lights♪ ♪ and skyscrapers ♪ Born with dim prospects, little peace in living ♪ ♪ As a child, hotheaded about the fact I wasn't wild ♪ ♪ Like they called my ancestors, imagined what it'd be ♪ ♪ To live nomadic off the land and free ♪ ♪ Instead I was full of heat like a furnace ♪ ♪ 'Cause I wasn't furnished ♪ With the language and traditional ways of my peeps ♪ ♪ Yeah, I used to feel like I wasn't truly Indigenous ♪ ♪ Now I say miigwech gich-manidoo ♪ ♪ For showing me my true roots, definitely Native ♪ ♪ Take responsibility for being educated ♪ ♪ My people and customs originating ♪ ♪ From early phases of history ♪ It's deeper than frybread and contest pow-wows ♪ ♪ Tears shed in the sweat lodge, prayers go out ♪ ♪ To all those I've wronged and who have wronged me ♪ ♪ Gotta treat 'em like family ♪ Gichi-manido wiidookawishin ji-mashkawiziyaan ♪ ♪ Mii dash bami'idiziyaan ♪ Miizhishinaam zaagi'iiwewin ♪ Ganoozh ishinaam, bizindaw ishinaam ♪ ♪ Mii-wenji nagamoyaan ♪ Nimishomis wiidookawishinaam ♪ Ji-aabajitooyaang anishinaabe izhitwaawin ♪ ♪ Mii-ji-bi-gikendamaan keyaa anishinaabe bimaadiziwin ♪ ♪ Becoming aware of a heartbeat's fragility ♪ ♪ So I pray for my creator's will and humility ♪ ♪ It seems my prayer's weak, I can't speak, not a linguist ♪ ♪ Does he hear my English when I vent ♪ ♪ I fear the answer to the question ♪ ♪ This is symbolic of anguish I feel regarding language ♪ ♪ And the obligation of revitalizing something sacred ♪ ♪ Failure to carry through is disgracing a Nation ♪ ♪ My first tongue's in need of a face lift ♪ ♪ But deciphering conjugation's like ♪ ♪ Trying to find my way through a maze in the matrix ♪ ♪ Complex, hard to start, without an end ♪ ♪ Aside from being fluent ♪ I gotta push the limit if I'm gonna keep pursuing ♪ ♪ So I use it in a way that relates to my life and vocab ♪ ♪ Bring some entertainment to it, spit it on a track ♪ ♪ And I take it out the class ♪ Can't let what I lack become a self-defeating habit ♪ ♪ That'll make me wanna quit ♪ Gichi-manido wiidookawishin ji-mashkawiziyaan ♪ ♪ Mii dash bami'idiziyaan ♪ Miizhishinaam zaagi'iiwewin ♪ Ganoozh ishinaam, bizindaw ishinaam ♪ ♪ Mii-wenji nagamoyaan ♪ Nimishomis wiidookawishinaam ♪ Ji-aabajitooyaang anishinaabe izhitwaawin ♪ ♪ Mii-ji-bi-gikendamaan keyaa anishinaabe bimaadiziwin ♪ Y'all gotta learn that one.

If you can learn that chorus and memorize it, that's an Ojibwe prayer right there.

Know what I'm saying?

You can go lay your tobacco out in the morning, give thanks, and just be grateful, right?

(audience cheers) Let's get it.

(mellow hip hop music) (Tall Paul introducing himself in Ojibwe) Hello everyone, my name is Paul.

I'm from Minneapolis.

I'm enrolled in the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and I'm of the Bullhead Clan.

And I'm widely known as Tall Paul, a hip hop artist, but I also do public and inspirational speaking engagements, creative writing workshops, and things of that nature.

I used to be like one of the most quiet kids in my high school.

I attended like 25 to 30 different schools, kindergarten through 12th grade.

And a lot of that was due to foster care and being in group homes and things like that.

So I kinda started disengaging from the school environment, like I'm not even gonna bother with trying to make friends, 'cause I know I'm about to move pretty soon anyway.

So that was kind of like my mentality as a youth coming up.

And that led to me becoming introverted.

When I realized I can't just be an internet rapper, I gotta get up on stage and do it for real if I'm gonna pursue this and have any success with it, I signed up for an open mic and I was waiting for them to call my name.

I'm sitting there psyching myself out like this while I'm sitting in this auditorium of like 300 students at the U of M, 'cause it was the Voices Merging Open Mic there at the U of M. And I was like, "Nah, man, I ain't no punk.

I'ma sit here and I'ma tough this out.

I'ma do it."

You know?

And they called my name, and I got up on stage, and I did my thing, and everybody showed love.

And after I did it that first time I was like, "Okay, this ain't so bad.

I can manage this."

You know?

Performing on stage is definitely an empowering experience, 'cause I got that creative passion of a poet inside of me, and that needs to be expressed somehow, you know?

John Trudell, he was one of the founders of the American Indian Movement.

He was a poet, an activist, an actor, a hemp advocate.

He was a real powerful dude.

And like, man, I can't imagine the things that he went through in his life.

And he still was fighting on top, and you know, achieving success.

I mean, even the fact that he stayed alive with the things that happened to him is powerful to me.

And I had the blessing to be able to do a couple shows with him while he was battling cancer.

But this next track is inspired by John Trudell, who understood that we are spiritual beings before human beings.

You know what I mean?

So this next song's called "Protect Ya Spirit," let's get it.

- [John Trudell] When we leave as humans, we go back to being.

Being, human being, that really means something.

But we live in a reality now, we're in a time where I would say to anyone, you know, protect your spirit.

(chuckles) Protect your spirit, because you're in the place where spirits get eaten.

(brooding hip hop music) - See, we in the place where spirits get eaten.

(metal clashes) I like to call it the illusionary egotistical realm, you know what I'm saying?

Because I was taught that I am a spiritual being before a human being, and that I will still be a spirit after.

You know, our energy don't die, just these bodies do.

(tense hip hop music) ♪ How two sick individuals can produce with residuals ♪ ♪ The miracle of purely-woven infant souls is crazy ♪ ♪ Stated plainly, we see it hazy ♪ ♪ Take not for granted the babies, may we pay heed ♪ ♪ To this cyclical storm ♪ Melt the tip of this psychical icicle's warmth ♪ ♪ Till the bicycle's tires are worn ♪ ♪ I scorn no man stan ♪ Naturally, we're children of the corn ♪ ♪ Not of the hamburger, not of the pie ♪ ♪ Whoever said adults are educators was a lie ♪ ♪ Parents teach without scoutin' out the outcomes ♪ ♪ Our outlook's without doubt a drought without son ♪ ♪ I only hope I give my son right of way ♪ ♪ While the difference he's created for me, night and day ♪ ♪ Reconsider who you picture as teachers ♪ ♪ It's not about the image, it's about what they teach us ♪ So if you ever see a little kid go to the playground, they can just go up to another kid and start playing with each other like they known each other their whole life, their whole little, tiny lives.

But then we get to adulthood, and by that time, we've been jaded, and it's a little bit more hard for us to just be that comfortable, you know what I mean?

Kids are teachers, we could learn a lot from them.

♪ God forbid our kids go to school to learn from fools ♪ ♪ The melting pot's already injecting 'em with the rules ♪ ♪ Daughters gotta be Barbies to get in with the cool ♪ ♪ Fellas wanna be like fathers that they never knew ♪ ♪ I'm not saying every teacher isn't worth their pay ♪ ♪ I'm simply saying most of them ♪ ♪ don't know of colored pain ♪ They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks ♪ ♪ Nor can a foreign mind teach our minds old ... ♪ ♪ Well if I don't know my past ♪ then my ... is grass ♪ Same reason lost women sell their ... for cash ♪ ♪ Same reason thirsty men trick their cash to tap ♪ ♪ What's the hap's with the pimps in the Cadillac's ♪ ♪ Teens learn from a media that serves them elitist punks ♪ ♪ With no wise folks to preach them up ♪ ♪ Reconsider who you picture as teachers ♪ ♪ It's not about the image, it's about what they teach us ♪ So, the human mind is like a computer, it's reliability is only up to how much you believe the right or wrong information.

So if you believe the wrong information and you pass that down to your kids, that's a dangerous precedent to set.

We gotta be careful about what we're learning and educated with.

- [Voiceover] To laugh at the word "conspiracy."

♪ When a baby's misdirected ♪ My best guess is it's due to the guardians elected ♪ ♪ A baby's aura is electric ♪ So it must take some broke souls to dull its eccentrics ♪ ♪ A young bullet accepted ♪ From the cities to the rez, suicide is adolescent ♪ ♪ This my attempt at progression ♪ ♪ Still it's pity at its best, who am I to address it?

♪ ♪ I'm lost my damn self, myself I can help ♪ ♪ If I'm a grown soul, I'll battle till my hands welt ♪ ♪ But I ain't got no time for yours if you're a grown man ♪ ♪ There comes a point in time in life ♪ ♪ When we don't hold hands ♪ When we're beyond pity, we don't be on titties ♪ ♪ Look to yourself for help, I'm not woebegone-fitting ♪ ♪ Reconsider who you picture as teachers ♪ ♪ It's not about my image, it's about what I teach ya ♪ AO, DJ, AO, let's drop that one.

- [Voiceover] Nonphysical.

(music cuts) - So what my guy right here is saying is that we are spiritual energy occupying these physical beings, and that I can get up in the morning and I can dictate what kind of energy I'm gonna have for the day.

Anytime I'm feeling down, and this is something my language and culture teacher taught me, was like, I can just make the decision that I wanna be in a better mood, immediately.

And that was some of the most powerful things that I've learned, you know what I mean?

Because I practice that, I don't do it enough.

When I'm in a negative state of mind, then I think about that, like, I can just change my mind right now.

I can meditate a little bit, or I can just focus on what I have to be grateful for, you know what I mean?

Yeah, that's what that song's about.

Protect your spirit.

We are spiritual beings.

(mellow hip hop music) When I was growing up, there wasn't a lot of culture in the household.

I knew I was Native, but like, we wasn't going to language tables.

The most that I had been exposed to was powwows.

And then at school I went to Four Winds, which was a Native Magnet school.

And it wasn't until later in life that I really picked up on a lot more of the culture and the language.

Probably about my college years is when I really got to dive in.

But yeah, at home, growing up, the culture and all of that wasn't around so much, so I had a lot of questions around Native identity and representation.

That's a lot of what I think about, especially for the Native community, 'cause they say we're like 1% of the US population or so.

But, growing up, I didn't see my people on TV unless it was like the old westerns and we were the bad guys, or whatever.

I didn't see us positively or accurately represented.

So that was something that became big to me as I got older and I learned about historical figures who were powerful Native people.

And you start to realize, like, "Okay, we are just as competent as everybody else.

They just don't show that side of us.

They wanna paint us a certain way."

Like, the history books paint us as incompetent, or inferior, and so on.

As I got older and learned more of the truth, it was an empowering experience, for sure.

So Jim Thorpe was a major inspiration of mine, growing up.

And he coached and played for the only all-Native American NFL team that ever existed.

And he was one of the pioneers of the NFL.

So I had to dedicate this track to him, because he was such an inspiration to me as a youngin.

And for this track, I gotta bring my guy Twin City Tone up to the stage.

And me and Twin City Tone together are Red Poets Society.

(audience claps) And we gon' get into this one.

Let's go, let's go.

(smooth R&B music) - Check, check.

All right, let's get into it.

One-two, one-two.

7th St.

Entry, let's do it.

- Get them hands up like this!

- Yep.

♪ I represent Indigenous excellence, effortless ♪ ♪ Getting it, in the kitchen and I'm chiefing this ♪ ♪ Recipe, Rest In Peace to ancestors that came before ♪ ♪ If you're not aiming for the top, what you aiming for ♪ ♪ Waging war since Columbus came on shore ♪ ♪ Arrowhead to your head, nowadays, we just aim the four ♪ ♪ What you waiting for, I blaze 'em all, I'm past hot ♪ ♪ Forget you, forget your team, forget your mascot ♪ ♪ Trash talk, talk trash, walk past but don't look ♪ ♪ I can tell by the vibes, we got them all shook ♪ ♪ They wrote books but left the truth out, it's all lies ♪ ♪ Next summer, might bring the coupe out ♪ ♪ It's all eyes on me, T-O-N-Y ♪ And I been fly as eagle feathers ♪ ♪ None better, Red Poets representer ♪ ♪ Word to Tall Paul ♪ Fourth and goal, us against all y'all ♪ Let's go.

♪ It's Indigenous Excellence when we touch down ♪ ♪ Passing the competition, too late to run now ♪ ♪ No hesitation, the style of play is one cut ♪ ♪ Some Indian players turning singles to home runs ♪ ♪ Resurrecting greatness in the name of Oorang ♪ ♪ They played the game ♪ And had it sewed up like a shoe string ♪ ♪ Squadding on the track, Native, baby, Wu-Tang ♪ ♪ Still find 'em with the people lower than the fruit hang ♪ ♪ Anishinaabe with Haudenosaunee in my blood ♪ ♪ How could a phony replicate it, our roots in the mud ♪ ♪ This government structure tried to copy my ancestors ♪ ♪ They fundamentally failed by sicking their ham fetchers ♪ ♪ Our matrilineal systems assured our clan wellness ♪ ♪ Euro peon patriarch's city insured to spam stretchers ♪ ♪ Forget walking on water, we make our food grow on it ♪ ♪ We picked us up by the bootstraps ♪ ♪ They made the loopholes common ♪ ♪ So throw that lazy Indian connoting out the door ♪ ♪ Toting flow, known to power up a fellow Native soul ♪ ♪ My brother got the Oorang Indians in his genes ♪ ♪ His great grandpa John Baptiste Thunder played with JT ♪ ♪ The only Native team assembled in the NFL ♪ ♪ It's the Rap Game Jim Thorpe here with a story to tell ♪ ♪ It's only right I do it potent with some Native poets ♪ ♪ The spirit of Bright Path is in me ♪ ♪ Yeah, he probably wrote this ♪ It's Indigenous Excellence when we touch down ♪ ♪ Passing the competition, too late to run now ♪ ♪ No hesitation, the style of play is one cut ♪ ♪ Some Indian players turning singles to home runs ♪ ♪ Resurrecting greatness in the name of Oorang ♪ ♪ They played the game ♪ And had it sewed up like a shoe string ♪ ♪ Squadding on the track, Native, baby, Wu-Tang ♪ ♪ Still find 'em with the people lower than the fruit hang ♪ - Ay.

(crowd cheers) - [Tony] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Ay.

(crowd cheering) The only rap that I seen as a child was whatever was on the TV or on the radio.

One day, I think I was just bored, honestly, like, it was just boredom.

I was sitting at home, nothing to do.

I was like, "You know what, let me pick up this pen and pad real quick and just try this rhyme writing thing, try to rap."

But when it came to what really made me want to get into it for real, it was honestly this situation where I had quit using substances, I got sober, basically.

And I had all this free time that I had to fill that I used to spend on partying and finding my next whatever.

So that was what really made me wanna take it serious.

I was like, "What can I do with my time now to be functional and positive with my life?"

So I started hitting up open mics and making music.

And that, it was almost out of a necessity, you know?

But it was a passion that was already there and established for some years, of just writing raps and performing them for my friends, and at house parties, and things like that.

I almost lost count, I'm coming up on like 14 years sober.

So this goes out to all my sober folks out there, and to all my people still fighting through that struggle.

And of course I got love for the people who are blessed enough to be able to have a couple drinks, 'cause y'all are important too, you know what I'm saying?

But yeah, man, this is for all my people going through that struggle, trying to get sober.

- [Voiceover] Taking drugs- - It's a big one.

Let's go.

- [Voiceover] blocked up when you're actually on stage.

- [Voiceover] No, but it means we're blocked up all the time.

♪ If you struggle with addiction, know I'm here for you ♪ ♪ Critics don't believe it's a disease ♪ ♪ It don't appear on you ♪ It's not a rash but a physical obsession ♪ ♪ Plus the mental craving causes spiritual regression ♪ ♪ So tell me why then, if it's not a disease ♪ ♪ Did my one entire life reverse 180 degrees ♪ ♪ In a positive direction when I quit using things ♪ ♪ Such as pills, alcohol, and weed to make me feel pleased ♪ ♪ I don't really have an issue with the use of marijuana ♪ ♪ But the alcohol and opiates will bring about the drama ♪ ♪ Tell me why I can't just have a drink or two ♪ ♪ And then go about my night just like a normal drinker do ♪ ♪ I see the truth, them ignorant foos think ♪ ♪ It's as simple as a choice ♪ Tell me why, just to get sober ♪ ♪ Did I need creator's voice ♪ Had no knowledge how to pray ♪ But all I tried was never working ♪ ♪ If something's out there lurkin' ♪ ♪ Then please help a flippin' earthling ♪ ♪ Faith without work is dead ♪ Had to back it up with action ♪ ♪ Left the crib in search of help ♪ ♪ Finally found it, then I asked 'em ♪ ♪ Now I'm many years clean and my life's better ♪ ♪ Long story short, because of that I can get nice cheddar ♪ ♪ More importantly, can father to my son ♪ ♪ Self-employed boss, living life just like I want ♪ ♪ If you struggling, white knuckling ♪ ♪ Know I would never judge you ♪ Just know, a better life's possible ♪ ♪ I'll bet you'd love it ♪ Addiction, addiction, man's mass affliction ♪ ♪ Affected or not, seems most us are missing ♪ ♪ The point or the means to escape is conviction ♪ ♪ Addiction, addiction, it's sickness inflicted ♪ ♪ Look, give the black man crack, the red man liquor ♪ ♪ A word to his liver, he a codeine sipper ♪ ♪ Messing with the strippers and cocaine sniffers ♪ ♪ Yeah, his chick thick, but his gold chain thicker ♪ ♪ A blanket full of smallpox ♪ And you better not call cops ♪ We partying and ... ♪ Pop bottles when the ball drops ♪ ♪ Every new year, then we shed a few tears ♪ ♪ Talk about a few fears ♪ Getting clean they look at you weird ♪ ♪ Addiction, addiction, prescribing prescriptions ♪ ♪ Trying to get a brick and avoid a conviction ♪ ♪ Surrounded by syringes and everyday binges ♪ ♪ Addiction, addiction, sickness inflicted ♪ ♪ Look, ah, Tone, right back at it ♪ ♪ Mom is a queen, pop was a crack addict ♪ ♪ Habit must have gone from gram to an ounce ♪ ♪ 'Cause he bounced suddenly, now I'm the man of the house ♪ ♪ Left us alone in this cold world to fend for ourselves ♪ ♪ Ironically, the stuff he's on, I would measure myself ♪ ♪ In an attempt to stack my paper for a rainy day ♪ ♪ Planned to make 80K and gradually fade away ♪ ♪ Became a monster in the process ♪ ♪ I'm a walking contradiction ♪ 'Cause although my money grew ♪ ♪ So did my people's addiction ♪ Let this serve as a public apology, long overdue ♪ ♪ Yo, you might be over me, but trust I'm not over you ♪ ♪ Plan to bust a U-turn and get back on my ... ♪ ♪ With our aggressor doing crimes I ain't have to commit ♪ ♪ Used to think the key to life was just having a brick ♪ ♪ Now I'm all the more wise, all truth, no lies ♪ (audience cheers) - So I'm part of an artist collective called Dream Warriors.

And I met the Sampson brothers because they knew Frank Waln, who is also a part of the Dream Warriors Collective, and he did a lot of performances with them.

So there are a few times where we all did a show together here and there.

They're really talented and entertaining with what they do.

They speak on the culture related to what they do.

And just the hoop dancing, it's not something I can explain, it's not something that I can do justice with words, you gotta see it.

(upbeat music) (Samsoche playing flute) - I just wanna do a brief explanation about what hoop dance is.

For me, it's been my life.

It's been a life's journey, a life of teachings, a life of learning, not only for myself, but for all of those that I encounter.

And I encourage all of you to understand that all of our worlds intersect.

We are all a part of each other's world.

And you cannot deny that fact.

And so, the sooner that we come to this realization, the sooner that we can come to a better conclusion of how to work this world together.

And what you do in this world matters, it makes a difference not only for yourself, but for those around us, every single one of us.

And so, they say hoop dance is a storytelling dance and a healing dance.

And I agree, but I would argue that any dance is healing and storytelling.

For instance.

(audience laughs) All right.

Some of you may not know what that dance is, all right.

Go ask your young ones, they'll tell you all about it.

And in there, again, lies another lesson.

We can learn just as much from our young ones as we can our elders.

With the ability, for a hoop dancer, is simply an instrument, a catalyst for them to tell their story, to emphasize it.

Every single dancer, hoop dancer, has these same instruments, but we all tell our own story.

Nobody's story is exactly like anybody else's.

And of course, something for all of us to be able to appreciate.

Hopefully you guys are curious.

Hopefully you guys want to learn more and understand us more.

And of course, understand your own value to this world as well, as we all come from unique places, and it wouldn't be this big, beautiful, crazy world without all of us.

(upbeat music) (Samsoche playing flute) (voiceover singing) (upbeat music continues) (Samsoche playing flute) (upbeat music continues) (Samsoche playing flute) (thunder rumbling) (Native hip-hop rhythms) (Samsoche playing flute) (thunder cracks) (Samsoche playing flute) (thunder booms) (Samsoche playing flute) (rain pattering) (Samsoche playing two flutes) (audience cheering) (music continues) - When the pandemic hit, my art business took a hit.

A lot of gigs got canceled successively, and repetitively, and quickly.

And at that point in time, I'm like, "All right, I need to find ways to make my money work for me."

I was like, "I gotta get out of this cycle of just having a little bit of money and having it gone by the time I get some more."

And in order to do that, you gotta learn financial literacy and how to invest, whether it's the stock market or real estate.

So I got to learning about all of that.

And then I was like, "All right, well."

I got some money at the time that I saved up.

Was like, "I'ma put that in some stocks."

And then you see them stocks shoot up like 30, 40, 50%.

It's like, "Dang, I didn't have to work for that money."

It's a pretty powerful experience.

And then I was like, "Okay, this is something that needs to be learned more by Natives."

Because we have a negative relationship with money.

Money has done a lot of bad things to our people.

Our people have done a lot of bad things to our people in the name of money.

We gotta learn more about this kind of stuff and embrace it, even if we have that negative history with it, because we live in this capitalist society that requires it.

♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ Get all accounts fatter ♪ Improve investment data ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ What shoes I wear don't matter ♪ ♪ Fam, I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ Get all accounts fatter ♪ Improve investment data ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ What car I drive don't matter ♪ ♪ Fam, I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ (drum snares) ♪ Someone said the other day ♪ I ain't too street no more ♪ Correct pal, quit the streets ♪ ♪ To make sure that my seed can grow ♪ ♪ Left the state collecting checks ♪ ♪ That pay no local freebie flow ♪ ♪ Back on planes to make home runs and hits, Suzuki Ichiro ♪ ♪ Never left, still see me in the city ♪ ♪ greeting niijii bros ♪ It's just that the old me wasn't pretty ♪ ♪ Simply seized these roles ♪ Living gritty was a pity ♪ So I sought to see zeros ♪ Still object to flexing bread ♪ ♪ 'Cause jealousy, it kills heroes ♪ ♪ Doing the griddy like JJ ♪ When paydays bring me deniro ♪ Bringing that melee if they say ♪ ♪ Goons are knocking at my door ♪ ♪ Homie don't play that, I stay strapped ♪ ♪ 'Case I gotta free a soul ♪ The little I have ain't worth ♪ ♪ Risking your life for, I promise, though ♪ ♪ No flashiness or material riches for my people ♪ ♪ We're putting every dime in the market ♪ ♪ To speed up these inflows ♪ The need to feed my glow with freedom ♪ ♪ Is eased from cheese and dough ♪ ♪ I'm talking bread and cheddar ♪ ♪ Chips and chicken like beast mode ♪ - [Voiceover] Start taking care of y'all mantles, y'all bodies, and y'all- ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ Get all accounts fatter ♪ Improve investment data ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ What shoes I wear don't matter ♪ ♪ Fam, I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ Get all accounts fatter ♪ Improve investment data ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ I'm trying to climb the ladder ♪ ♪ What car I drive don't matter ♪ ♪ Fam, I'm trying climb the ladder ♪ (audience cheers) ♪ Perplexed, what's next?

♪ Head spinning, searching for the light ♪ ♪ In night, stomach upset ♪ I seek enlightenment in finer things like Corvettes ♪ ♪ Still ain't found them, got some incompleted chores yet ♪ ♪ Gifted by your presence, friends, and spiritual effects ♪ ♪ Breakneck, my diaphragm chest ejects ♪ ♪ Rex erects, fossils fuel, hostile muse ♪ ♪ Litany tests only serve to mitigate disputes ♪ ♪ Spit until I'm undisputed in the booth ♪ ♪ Keep spittin' so the reach can see deliverance of truth ♪ ♪ Born with pure souls, I just hope to dig up roots ♪ ♪ Bring it full circle like the hoop, I'm Manute ♪ ♪ The boldest aspiration is to outgrow self ♪ ♪ Excavate a selfish past till we see hell ♪ ♪ Try escape it to mold a foundation ♪ ♪ Roads that are paved with the red paint anchoring ♪ ♪ Guys down from skies that are so cantankerous ♪ ♪ When heat rises, wipe the sweat with a handkerchief ♪ ♪ Or feel the sting of the sweat when it hits your eye ♪ ♪ I'm Visine to the spirit of my mind's eye ♪ ♪ A D-I-Y, false, prideful, kind guy ♪ ♪ F-Y-I, I could use some advice ♪ ♪ You see why I can't prioritize shine ♪ ♪ I'm near going blind, like deer facing headlights ♪ ♪ Already, baby, walk rite, baby, walk rite ♪ ♪ Ay, say "hip hop", hip hop ♪ Ay, say "hip hop", hip hop ♪ Say "it don't stop", it don't stop ♪ ♪ It don't stop, it don't stop ♪ Say "hip hop", hip hop ♪ It don't stop, it don't stop ♪ I walk right with a left legged limp ♪ ♪ Still put the pep in my step like a pimp ♪ ♪ It's been a good day, I'm Ice Cube in a blimp ♪ ♪ Some Good Year tires on a Mark Cuban whip ♪ ♪ Before you buy my B-S, you better check my vin ♪ ♪ You cosign a broke man like a next to kin ♪ ♪ Might mess around and let ya down like I did my kid ♪ ♪ I'm one drop of Seagrams away from losing him ♪ ♪ My name is Tall Paul, I'm an alcoholic ♪ ♪ Used to think I was the ... ♪ ♪ Because I was in college ♪ You still think I am the ... ♪ ♪ You say I'm kickin' knowledge ♪ ♪ My mind's behind my age, the wisdom's hardly polished ♪ ♪ Still keep it modest, I'll never be the hottest ♪ ♪ The harder the skills get, the less they're acknowledged ♪ ♪ Shout out my leaders, the headless quick to follow ♪ ♪ A legends apparition 'til they fall in Sleepy Hollows ♪ ♪ Baby, walk rite ♪ And when I say "walk", y'all say "rite" ♪ ♪ Walk, rite ♪ Walk, rite ♪ Walk, rite ♪ Walk, rite ♪ When I say "talk", y'all say "polite" ♪ ♪ Talk, polite ♪ Talk, polite ♪ Talk, polite ♪ Talk, polite Hey, that's what's up.

(audience cheers) Give it up for the Sampson Bros.

- So my brother and I, we were born and raised in southern California, as our father was in film work.

And the way that our mother kept us involved with powwow and indigenous culture was through powwow.

So my brother and I have been dancing powwow since the time we could walk.

But we've been hoop dancing for about 32 years, 33 years, yeah.

As we grew, we kind of choreographed our own routine where my brother and I do the hoop dancing, synchronized.

And then as we made our way throughout North America and we ended up back in our mother's rez in upstate New York, we learned the story of the twins.

So in Haudenosaunee Creation Story, Sky Woman come down to earth and she comes down to rest on Turtle Island.

She gives birth to a daughter, and then that daughter gives birth to two twin boys, Sapling and Flint.

And these brothers, they had the power of creation.

So what one brother would create, the other would create opposite.

So one would make mountains, the other would make valleys.

One would make lake, one make streams.

So this went on and on and on, back and forth, back and forth, till they finally came to a conclusion that they both needed each other.

So what you'll see is that my brother and I will come together at the end with our formation and we'll kind of form the world that we know today with our two halves.

(drums pounding) (voiceovers powwow singing) (powwow vocables) (powwow vocables continue) (drums beat louder) (audience cheering) (voiceovers powwow singing) - How many of y'all heard about my guy Joe Rainey?

Make some noise if you've heard about Joe Rainey.

(audience cheering) So he's a southsider like myself, an '05 South High Tiger graduate like myself.

You know what I mean, full circle.

And he's been on a meteoric rising the music scene all over the world recently.

So I'm excited for him to come and rock for y'all.

I'ma let him come speak for himself though.

Make some noise for Joe Rainey.

(audience cheers) Joe Rainey, we met in high school, and then we played basketball together a little bit, you know, stuff like that.

But as far as why I picked him for this show is because he's doing something that's super powerful.

He's creating his own genre of music almost, with the powwow singing mixed with electronic music, and then all the visual components and things that he incorporates with his collaborators.

I think it's real dope and powerful.

He too is presenting our culture in a more modern medium, maybe bringing other people into our world a little bit and appreciating our people and our culture and giving us some visibility.

On top of that, he's been making a name for himself pretty quickly with what he's doing.

(Joe powwow singing) (spiritual music) (voiceover joins powwow singing) (powwow vocables) (glitchy tape recordings) (powwow vocables) (voiceover joins powwow singing) (audience cheers) - The way that I would explain to someone who may not have heard something like this before is it's this is very, just, on its own.

But I feel like this is my version of a one-man powwow or hand drum CD.

For many years, Indigenous music voices haven't been out here as much.

It's meant to cut through live, and it's meant to be loud, it's meant to be in your face, it's meant to hit you over the knuckles with the ruler.

It's meant to do that.

I don't mean any harm towards your ears but, ruler over the knuckles for not listening to us more is the least of your problems.

But I really feel like, it's okay to be a bit thorny.

I feel like I might come off as a little brash sometimes, but I think assertiveness, coming from an Indigenous music, or musician, has not been seen.

Most of the samples that you hear are from powwows and from my recordings themselves.

It's also just real life instances that I have with my friends, that I record.

The samples that you hear are very close to me and they're very important.

And I wanted to pay homage to some of my late drum brothers with putting their voices or the songs that were made for them on the album.

Just because this was a release of grieving emotions that I had.

(powwow vocables) (tense music) (powwow singing voiceovers) (tense music) (Joe powwow vocables) (tense music builds) (powwow singing voiceovers) (Joe powwow vocables) (powwow singing voiceovers) (Joe powwow vocables) (powwow singing voiceovers) - [Voiceover] I'm glad you came here.

(voiceover) I'm glad you came here.

(voiceover) (powwow singing voiceovers) (Joe powwow vocables) I'm pleased to meet you.

(Joe powwow singing) My introduction to powwow singing began when I was very young, five or six, at the local community drum and dance classes.

I was interested in those while I was still in grade school, very, very young.

But I found a love of recording live powwow music and really using that as a tool to help me learn.

What drew me to powwow singing is just the overall expression of what it is.

It's some ways very physical with the drumming part, but also using a singing voice, which I found very interesting, and to how that correlates with other music in America.

I felt like powwow singing was on its own, very much like a kind of niche thing do, or very like subculture.

(Joe powwow singing) (audience clapping) There is a whole subculture of powwows.

Yeah, it's starting to become a lot more public with dance troops or people dancing in public a lot more.

And the singing part has to come along yet.

But that's why I think, part of why I released the album.

- And how did that come about?

Like, the incorporating, I don't know if you would describe it as like electronic music or whatever, that you incorporate into your powwow singing.

Like, how did that happen?

- So the drum group I was a part of and still sing with, Midnite Express and Iron Boy, we were invited to Eaux Claires Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The music festival curated by Justin Vernon, and the Dessner twins, and the Bon Iver family.

And one of the years that we were there, we were in one of the performance spaces, like kinda in the woods.

And I was with a friend Andrew Broder.

During his set, one of the dancers, he just started feeling what Broder was playing, and it just kinda had like a dancing beat to him.

So he spontaneously just started, he just went out there and just started dancing like how we would at a powwow.

And in my mind, if you ripped what Broder was doing, and you put some powwow singing underneath Ruben, it would've been a flawless transition.

Now, I didn't think of, like, "Oh, I gotta go make an album."

(Joe chuckles) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It just was like, post-it note, kind of stuck in the back of my head, type of thing.

Finally had some time during the quarantine to really sit with, like, "Okay, what is that?"

Or really, like, "Can I do something?"

I hit up Broder, 'cause I seen what was going on and he was making the sounds that Ruben was dancing to, so I just asked him if he could send me some tempos.

It was like pen pal back and forth.

He would send me long tracks, eight-minute tracks for me to just sit and listen to and just come up with stuff to kind of flow over it, I guess.

But the whole album itself just grew on its own from the idea of, rightfully, in my mind, singing powwow over the electronic beats and not have 'em cut up or sampled.

(Joe powwow singing) (dramatic music continues) (powwow vocables) (voiceover powwow singing) (DJ scratching) (powwow singing) (music builds) (dramatic music trails off) I don't know how to explain what we created.

It's only for that you experience either headphones or live.

But being classified or being boxed in is something I've never liked.

And I wanted to create something that was outside of the box.

I just want to change how people think about what we're doing.

So if people hear something totally different of what they're used to hearing, that's gonna spark a whole conversation about what it is and how people think about what Native music is, or what powwow music is, or, "Oh dang, there is a whole archive to be held and to be taken care of."

"Oh, there are Native rappers that have something to say."

I think a lot of people, a lot of Natives, might get turned off by what maybe you do or what maybe I do.

But we're pushing a message that there's lots of Indigenous arts to be had, and to be seen, and to be recognized.

And there's lots of artists to do that.

And to really just release years of trauma through what I created.

It might be experimental, might be electronic, it might be powwow singing, but it's on its own.

It's really on its own.

And that's exactly what I wanted to create.

Can't box me in.

- No, yeah, I like that too, because early on in my career as a hip hop artist, people just started calling me a Native hip hop artist, or like a Native MC, they would always throw "Native" in front of it.

And I've embraced it now, because our people embrace it.

But like, there's still that part of me where it's like, "I'm an MC who happens to be Native."

- I really appreciate shining a light on Natives, 'cause I feel like we're a growing industry itself.

There's not enough shows, there's not enough seasons, there's not enough SD cards to hold what Natives can do and what Natives have to show to everyone.

- Most definitely, man, it's so important to be able to represent with our voices, but also spread that love around and give other people opportunities.

I know we talked a little bit about this at the show, I would rather curate a show than just be one of the performers, or the headliner, or whatever.

There's so much talent within our tribes all over the country, and all over the continent, really.

So I was thinking, you know how they want us to make sure to do a song together on stage.

It's gonna be interesting on how we intertwine that, but I know it's gonna be dope.

But one idea I had was, I got this song called "Someone Great Who Looked Like Me."

- Yes, sir.

- It's about Jim Thorpe.

So I was thinking I might do, we could try this out anyway, and see how it goes.

- Okay.

- I might do like a verse and a chorus, or just a verse, or whatever, and then maybe, I don't know what you think would fit best.

- I think what works well is just combining our two voices on the acapella level.

Yeah, no backing track, just our voices.

I think that really resonates well with the audience.

You spit a verse or a chorus, once you wrap up, I'll wrap up right after you're done and I'll just kinda be laying in a background, some jazz, some spoken words, jazz stuff, and it'll work out good.

- Word, word.

- All right, well I guess, would you be cool with- - Yeah, let's try it out.

- You wanna just sing something and then I'll see what you're vibing with.

- Sure, sure, sure.

(Joe powwow singing) ♪ Kicked back in my time machine ♪ ♪ Reminiscing, everything was so promising ♪ ♪ Siblings let me win so I would feel like I was King ♪ ♪ Caught the pigskin, ran it in ♪ ♪ Then I was high as he who's kneeled down ♪ ♪ When I've cried and brought the sky to me ♪ ♪ Like God, the gridiron brought my highest being ♪ ♪ Fell in love with the sport when I was high as knees ♪ ♪ Then I learned of Jim Thorpe and I knew I could beast ♪ ♪ Blow up and get the paper like them Shakopees ♪ ♪ Go up to snag the ball on y'all like Moss and flee ♪ ♪ Show up or be shown up, because I've got to peace ♪ ♪ That was the Jim Thorpe effect on my philosophy ♪ ♪ But somewhere down the line I must've lost the beat ♪ ♪ Started going in for my feast like I forgot my teeth ♪ ♪ Jim Thorpe isn't in the public conscious P ♪ ♪ All I'd ever see was black and white on colored screens ♪ ♪ All I hear about is Chiefs ♪ but they're all long deceased ♪ ♪ Man, I wish could've seen you play ball on TV ♪ ♪ I wish that you'd receive the same notoriety ♪ ♪ The mass media has given all these other athletes ♪ ♪ I just needed someone great who looked like me ♪ ♪ Jim Thorpe you could be my Muhammad Ali ♪ ♪ Afflicted with addiction, alcoholic like P ♪ ♪ No submitting, both spittin' up in college like G's ♪ ♪ My focus not there, we probably both got B's ♪ ♪ You're the star RB, I'd skip to smoke trees ♪ ♪ When I finally got sober, I became an MC ♪ ♪ Messing up on stage 'cause I care what people think ♪ ♪ I needed your influence, I don't care what people think ♪ ♪ See, for me to feel great, man, I needed that drink ♪ ♪ Graduated school and flushed the liq down the sink ♪ ♪ Now I gotta be you for kids who wanna be me ♪ (Joe powwow singing) (audience cheering) (Joe continues powwow singing) (audience cheering) (air horn blaring) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Jennine and John Speier And these STAGE supporters.

(audience cheering) (bright music)