Stryk-9 Channels Ancestral Power in New Single and Video, "In The Spirit"

Stryk-9 represents for the people on new single and video, "In The Spirit".

Hochunk-Northern Cheyenne hip-hop artist Kunu Dittmer—aka Stryk-9—has been at the game for years, building and creating throughout the Northwest with his Indigenous crew, the Burial Ground Sound Collective.

Stryk-9's new single, "In The Spirit", is a heartfelt portrait of empowerment and Indigenous struggle that comes drumming through your speakers with the spirit of Crazy Horse. Opening with a throwback soul sample that flips a traditional hand drum song and vocal over a head-knocking hip-hop beat, Stryk-9 spits raw verses about bringing his creativity into action for clan, fam, and all relations.

But as he asks in the track's closing lines, what can we do in the face of "world wars and global warming", when we're "living the story of creation / the destruction of the system that's corrupting the spirit of women and men / is it the beginning or the end?"

Politically charged, but decidedly personal in its ambition to bring truth to the light for the benefit of all Indigenous Peoples, this is a revolutionary warrior's anthem for the conscious, proud, and free.

Catch Stryk-9 and the Burial Ground Sound Collective, alongside Almas Fronterizas and Katrina Benally (Diné), at "Uprising at the Abbey"—an all ages, hip-hop showcase organized as part of the One Flaming Arrow Festival's closing night—Sunday, June 14 in Portland, Oregon. Full event info here.

DOWNLOAD: Stryk-9's - "In The Spirit"

Watch Stryk-9's "In The Spirit"

Rapper Olmeca on the 'Browning of America'

Hip-hop artist Olmeca gives voice to the changing face of America with an uplifting celebration of the Latino community.

Los Angeles-based Tepehuane emcee Olmeca is a deft lyricist and a dedicated activist. He's been a longtime advocate for Latin@ rights and his latest single "Browning of America" speaks directly to the rise of the Latin@ community in the U.S., the struggles of undocumented workers against deportation, and the fight for immigrant rights. "The revolution will not be televised", he raps, "we're marching in."

We caught up with him to talk about the song, the struggle, and what we can learn from the Zapatistas.

What Indigenous nation and community do you represent?

I represent the Indigenous diaspora from Mexico. My mother is Tepehuane from the state of Durango, but lost her roots during forced migration within Mexico.

How does your indigeneity figure in your art and music?

The idea of identity in the United States is crucial in the survival of a people. The colors, the vibrancy of culture, the food, the music and our cultural understanding of the world through indigeneity are very much present in my music.

Can you tell us a bit about the song "Browning of America" and the movement you're speaking to with it?

"Browning of America" is about the undeniable fact that the U.S. is becoming more "brown" or "latin@". The demographics are changing and with it its culture. There is a part of the immigrant rights movement that inspires me. One that is fearless and is led by the undocumented "other". The women, the queer community, the youth and those who are most marginalized. I try to respond to that bravery with this song by placing the facts that are often hidden from mainstream media.

You produced the video in collaboration with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and PUENTE Vision. How did you link up with them?

I've been working with NDLON for years now. I've been working with PUENTE the longest. Both organizations have been on the front lines and I'm honored to be on their scope given the tremendous amount of work they have been doing.

We heard you got up with the Zapatistas and have been a longtime supporter of their movement. What do you think we can learn from them in our movements for liberation here in other parts of Turtle Island?

I first visited Zapatista communities in 2001. That movement is one that looks at the political reality through Indigenous principles. It allows for culture to take its proper place and focuses on justice beyond the economic. This means that the poor and rich dichotomy is only part of the struggle, but humanity, is holistic and that is what I feel they truly represent... that is... a movement for humanity where 'a world where many worlds fit' and one where we are constantly looking at our privileges to ensure the dignity of those around us.

What's next for you? Any new releases planned for 2015?

I am in production mode and working with Dos Santos from Chicago and Principe Cu from Texas for production. In the meantime, we will be releasing more videos via my website www.olmeca.us.

DOWNLOAD: Olmeca - Browning of America

Winnipeg Hip-Hop Artist Young Kidd Returns With "In My Dreams"

Young Kidd re-emerges into the hip-hop limelight with his new song, "In My Dreams".

It's been a minute for Young Kidd.

The Winnipeg-based hip-hop artist was making moves and building his fan base a few years back, but then everything changed.

In 2013, Franklin (Young Kidd) Fontaine was sentenced to three years in prison for shooting off a prohibited firearm in a Winnipeg sports bar back in May 2009. It not only curtailed his freedom, it forced him to reconsider where his life was headed.

As a father to a young girl, Young Kidd took the time to reflect on his own choices and, having recently gotten out, he's returned with an introspective hip-hop track charting the course of his recent years.

Flipping his handle on SoundCloud to YK The Mayor, Young Kidd spins a tale about family, incarceration, love and loss, and his determination to get right.

"When you locked up, all you got is time", he speaks at the track's close, "It's just a matter of what you do with that time."

STREAM: Young Kidd - "In My Dreams"

Exquisite Ghost Takes Indigenous Beat-Making to New Heights

Winnipeg-based electronic producer, Exquisite Ghost, shares insights into his creative process and the burgeoning Indigenous beat-making scene.

Jordan Thomas, aka Exquisite Ghost, is something of an anomaly in the contemporary Indigenous music community.

Although headlining acts like A Tribe Called Red have claimed a centre stage spotlight at the intersection of electronic dance music and powwow-infused rhythms, more cerebral and esoteric beat excursions by Indigenous producers have received less critical acclaim and attention.

But that's not for a lack of innovation and creative expression.

If anything, Exquisite Ghost's productions offer a more nuanced and exploratory set of aesthetics than many dancefloor-focused DJs can provide. Echoes of J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and Aphex Twin can be heard in his production style, but Thomas is crafting his own uniquely melodic and ethereal take on contemporary beat-making. Through an evolving set of sonic experiments, Exquisite Ghost brings a deft hand and hip-hop-inspired touch to his head-nodding and hypnotic compositions.

Following the 2013 release of his debut album, Shrines, on Salient Sounds, Thomas has been steadily dropping gems on his SoundCloud. Although, by ATCR standards, he's still flying under the radar, Thomas is definitely a producer to watch—one who's changing the game in the process.

We caught up with him to talk music, creative inspiration, collaboration, and upcoming album plans. Stream and download new tracks from Exquisite Ghost below.

Thanks for talking with us. Please introduce yourself and tell us what nation you're from.

I am Jordan Thomas, Exquisite Ghost, from Peguis First Nation, and thank you too.

Where'd you grow up? What's your connection to your home community?

I was raised in Winnipeg, with a large branch of my grandparents and family living in Peguis, which I have visited at times since I was young. My grandparents were taken through residential schools and, as I grew up, they told stories of how they made their way to rise above. My immediate family is working with many First Nations in design and media, building projects.

How did you get started making music?

I think watching my dad firsthand getting his architecture degrees, as I was growing up, the long path to developing forms and conceptions until they are concrete, and to have musical experiences and inner questions about what is salient when these things have to come together—they're are all sort of the beginning of my path to music. I began playing guitar, which was my dad's, and we had a recording studio when I was younger, which was my uncle's. They all played music, my grandfathers on both sides, virtually everyone, my mother too, so it was definitely something that was waiting to happen.

What inspires you to create?

These days after all the hundreds of jams and tracks and ideas and days spent with music, I will be inspired by a feeling or memory, or musician, movie, show, a friend in conversation, a sound of a train outside...it's this idea about how, these days, there's a fluidity of information that we're faced with, organizing these messages constantly, so it's always interesting to arrange music in a very open sort of way. The effects of fusion in music, in a global sense, are becoming very apparent, so a musical conversation between timeless Indigenous cultures is being recognized and engaged with in excitement, fun and playfulness. Not without due respect for the places of origin—in time, in people and places—but it is this way that we learn and discover more about ourselves.

A lot of your music has an otherworldly quality to it. What do you think of Indigenous Futurism? Do you feel like your work fits in that vision?

The idea of Indigenous futurisms feels exciting. As some descriptions mix and blend over time, proto-neo-post-meta-style, fusion, world music mixing with jazz, rock, pop, dub, bass—my country or yours, this land or that land—the qualities of my own vision of the music are intrinsic to a combination of these. That might include connections to other things: like sci-fi, literature, or design in general. A thread I followed through my life, was when my dad was thinking about what Indigenous architecture ought to feel like, or how to describe it, and to demonstrate the connection between the two words.

So the feel of a lot of my work has been created from inversions of mixtures of textures and places I listened to music from— worldwide, from any time, past or present, that I felt was interesting, and from trying to get deep into finding out what it's affecting by listening and playing. It has a futuristic feel for sure. Sometimes I like to imagine what music in clubs or spaceships, or as you walk down the street far into the unrecognizable future, might sound like, and why.

Your first album, Shrines, dropped in 2013. Since then you've been posting some dope new tracks on your SoundCloud. Can we expect a new album soon?

Since Shrines, I have had to deal with a time consuming, unexpected house fire that took up a lot of space and showed me a lot of things. Six months without internet for one. Life has changed. Producing music now, in this state after getting engaged with it fully, finally feels great. And there are plans and themes for an album of Exquisite Ghost music that I've been fine tuning for the past year. I am working on sound and music for a game as well, that is underway, involving Space and Canoes. It's an Indigenous Futurist piece, and I'm learning tons about producing these projects, culturally and creatively.

Who are you collaborating with on your new stuff? Is there an Indigenous beat-making scene emerging that we can keep an eye for?

I am always seeking people to talk with about music, or just about ideas in general. The idea of sampling, contextualizing, is integral to growth, and welcomes surprises, and the music I'm working on now is shaped to be remixed, or to inspire anyone interested in it to reach out and chat. I want to make music for people. That's what truly inspires me. There is always music around to find: the Indigenous Futurisms Mixtape on RPM was incredible, wonderful music, along with the artists listed on the site, the shows of Aboriginal Music Week, the musicians I played to, all have really brought something special to my own music. I'm enjoying exploring.

Listen to new tracks from Exquisite Ghost 

Watch Exquisite Ghost, "Evening"

Exquisite Ghost's Shrines is available in digital format and on limited edition vinyl from Salient Sounds.

STREAM: Postcommodity's 'We Lost Half The Forest And The Rest Will Burn This Summer'

Postcommodity is back with a snarling new album of decay, decomposition, and cyclical renewal.

Acclaimed Indigenous artist collective Postcommodity—Nathan Young, Kade Twist, Cristobal Martinez and Raven Chacon—return with their new album, We Lost Half The Forest And The Rest Will Burn This Summer, a darkly brilliant new album of noise and experimental sonics.

From the disintegration of its opening chord, We Lost Half The Forest lurches into a jarring and unrelenting movement toward some unknown destination or origin. The seeming soundtrack to an imminent decline, whether that of Western Civilization or a litany of other obliquely inferred societal ills—the rusting stench of rapacious global capitalism, the destructive, crushing force of the colonial machine—Postcommodity's virtuosic evisceration of the melodic comfort of the listener also makes space to suggest, however subtly, an inchoate sense of Indigenous presence, resurgent return.

There is the hum of something else amidst the chaos and destruction.

The 16-song concept album, the collective's third, was recorded at the Banff Centre for the Arts during a recent residency, and its contours mark not a linear trajectory of inevitable apocalyptic anxiety and decline but, instead, an imminent journey inward, and down—into and through—the land itself.

The album traces "the ever-cycling decay of a desert drought from the view of its flora and fauna", and We Lost Half the Forest makes audible the dirge and drama of a world crackling, humming, and burning. A world starved for water—gasping for air—spinning down "the only path" available to itself to reclaim some sense of disoriented direction.

Acoustically, as is their oblique aesthetic tendency, the group combines Western classical instruments and performers, with their own Southwestern-rasquache electronics, into a deceptive blend of sonic assault, quiet hums, and melodic passages. With contributions from Marc Sabat, Nico Dann, Cecilia Bercovich, Achiya Asher, Cohen Alloro, Aaron Bannerman, Dory Hayley and Ilana Dann, the collective swells and crashes through Godspeed You! Black Emperor levels of intensity, while recalibrating the terrain of Indigenous noise and melody.

As the blasting, searing sounds of "Chacoma" rise to a crescendo of dissonant trumpets, feedback, colossal bass drums, vibrating strings, struck piano, and the haunted wails of far-off voices, the "end" the album evokes seems to eclipse the possibility of its own arrival. The swirling burn of "Dia Del Cabrón" cascades into caterwauling, recursive feedback loops, while in later tracks like, "Dios Nunca Muere", the feedback has ebbed and faded, and all that is left is the undulation of frequencies set adrift. Winding back and worth, the album marches and warbles on, as though the sound of weather-worn metallic leaves were clawing back to life in the abated breath of a passing storm.

Postcommodity are masters of both the severe and the serene.

Their music, an art of calculated counterpoint, stages an elemental clash of forces that spins through clouds of anticipated violence, but refuses the finality of obliteration. To listen to this album is to become immersed within it, to be grasped by its ravenous, tentacular clutches, to be pulled deeper into a desertification of the mind.

Postcommodity walks with you—or perhaps they just walk you—solitary, blindfolded, out into an unknown landscape's dry, raw heat, until only the rhythms of parched plants can be heard. Until even those collapse and burn, while the ululating shape of the land's breath grows ever louder in your ears. Until your own heartbeat thrums wildly in your chest. Until, at the end, when the blindfold is removed, you look wildly about for a horizon that you know has grown only into a deepening darkness, the sound of the ground above you, enclosing, enfolding everything.

PREMIERE: Postcommodity, "Chacoma"

DOWNLOAD: Postcommodity's We Lost Half The Forest And The Rest Will Burn This Summer

Postcommodity's We Lost Half The Forest And The Rest Will Burn This Summer is available in a limited run of 200 vinyl copies, with jacket printed and embossed with ash. Naturally. For more information visit postcommodity.com

Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman, and the Discotays Perform at One Flaming Arrow Festival

The One Flaming Arrow Festival of Indigenous art, music, and performance blazes on.

Kicking off last week in Portland, Oregon, the inaugural One Flaming Arrow Festival is bringing an incredible array of contemporary Indigenous art, music, readings, film screenings, panels, performances, and concerts to the Indigenous lands of the Chinook/Multnomah peoples.

The brainchild of Demian DinéYazhi, Kaila Farrell-Smith (both of R.I.S.E.), and Carlee Smith, One Flaming Arrow launched a successful crowdfunding campaign this winter to bring together radical Indigenous voices from across Native america for a 12-day celebration of contemporary Indigenous arts.

The festival features a stellar lineup that includes:

• Bat Vomit
• Natalie Ball
• Dylan Miner
• Melanie Fey
• Sky Hopinka
• Shilo George
• Jeff Ferguson
• Laura Ortman
• The Discotays
• Brittany Britton
• Raven Chacon
• Katrina Benally
• Amanda Ranth
• Miranda Crystal
• Almas Fronterizas
• "Drunktown's Finest"
• Burial Ground Sound
• Grace Rosario Perkins w/Amberlee Cotchay
• Melissa Bennett w/Elizabeth LaPensée & Allie Vasquez

In between the low-rider bike workshops, storytelling sessions, art installations, poetry performances, and an Indigenous Futurisms film night curated by Grace Dillon, the festival is also showcasing some of the finest in Indigenous music culture.

On Tuesday, June 9th, Diné experimental/noise musician Raven Chacon (of Postcommodity), White Mountain Apache violinist Laura Ortman, and the Diné electro-queerpostpunk duo Discotays will throw down at the Holocene. Event info is below.

The One Flaming Arrow Festival continues through June 14th. Check the festival program for the full schedule of events.

One Flaming Arrow offers stark and powerful evidence of the Indigenous artists at the forefront of the contemporary creative arts. May this year be the first of many to come.

Listen to an OPB radio interview on the One Flaming Arrow Festival

JUNE 9th: Laura Ortman & Raven Chacon Performance and the Discotays at the Holocene!

9:30pm-11:30pm Holocene: 1001 SE Morrison, Portland 97214 Join us on June 9th, 2015 at the Holocene in Portland, Oregon for Raven Chacon & Laura Ortman + Discotays. We have the honor of showcasing two award-winning multi-instrumentalists, Indigenous composers Raven Chacon & Laura Ortman along with the musical styling of Discotrays.

Tickets available here

DISCOTAYS (Diné) are a music duo from Navajo Nation, comprised of artists Hansen Ashley & Brad Charles. Their music has been adored by the likes of Kathleen Hanna and can be described as post-punk electro & queerpostpunk / queerpostsurf / queernowave.

Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) has performed with Stars Like Fleas, the Dust Dive & Silver Summit, & composes music for art installations & films in the form of the Dust Dive Flash. She plays violin, Apache violin, piano, electric guitar, musical saw & samplers. Ortman has created music for films by Martha Colburn & Indigenous filmmakers Blackhorse Lowe, Alan Michelson, & Raquel Chapa, among others.

Raven Chacon (Diné/Chicano) is a chamber music composer & experimental noise artist. Chacon is a member of the Indigenous art collective, Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multi-media installations that have been exhibited internationally. Both his solo work & his work with Postcommodity has been presented at the Sydney Bienale, Kennedy Center, Adelaide International, Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée d’ art Contemporain de Montréal, The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Chaco Canyon, & Performance Today. Tickets are $8 in advance & $10 at the door. 21 and over.

Watch Raven Chacon, Live at End Tymes in New York City

Listen to Golden Features' Epic New Track, "No One", Featuring Thelma Plum

Could this be the song of the summer?

Mask-clad Australian dance music producer Golden Features just dropped an epic new track featuring rising Indigenous star, Thelma Plum.

And oh what a track it is.

Plum's ethereal vocals provide the perfect complement to Golden Features' floating, melodic production. And the ever-intensifying, four-on-the-floor dancefloor destroyer that "No One" becomes is some kind of beat-based hypnosis. By the time the "it's getting higher" refrain arrives, you'll forget how you even got there. And then with that drop? Forget about it. It's over.

Blast this one with the windows rolled down and the midnight summer heat still blazing. Thelma Plum's stellar ascent continues its rapid rise.

STREAM: Golden Features - "No One (feat. Thelma Plum)"

Golden Features' new EP, XXIV, is available to pre-order on iTunes

Watch Tall Paul's New Video for "Walk Rite"

Anishinaabe MC Tall Paul releases a new music video for the track, "Walk Rite".

For the past several years, Minneapolis-based, hip-hop artist Tall Paul has been dropping tracks as part of his #AheadoftheGame series/mixtape, where he releases a new song each week the Minnesota Vikings play, prior to the game.

Last year he compiled those tracks into the Ahead of the Present mixtape, a nice collection of hip-hop jams and thoughtful lyrics.

Now the sunny and soulful, Bahwee-produced joint, "Walk Rite", gets a fresh visual treatment—just in time for #ThrowbackThursday—courtesy of Jake Handegard at Morningside Films and co-directed by Tall Paul. Check the clip and download the track below.

Watch Tall Paul - "Walk Rite"

DOWNLOAD: Tall Paul - "Walk Rite"

Buffy Sainte-Marie Continues to Push Boundaries on New Album, "Power in the Blood"

At age 74, activist, artist, and icon Buffy Sainte-Marie remains refreshingly forthright, not to mention downright danceable, on her new album, Power in the Blood.

A collection of originals and cover songs, the album includes the techno-laced, anthemic title track (the result of a collaboration with electronic group Alabama 3) Power in the Blood, the reiteration of the longevity and diversity of Buffy's career in the re-imagining of the title track from her 1964 debut album It's My Way, her take on UB40's Sing Our Own Song, and the fiery reworking of her 1972 released break-up song Not the Lovin' Kind.

In addition to the updated spin on existing material, the stand out new songs Carry it On and We Are Circling celebrate the sanctity and beauty of life and nature and, what we know and love Buffy best for, scathing political and social commentary.

Of seeming unending energy to speak and perform, Buffy is currently touring in support of the new album throughout the UK, the US, and Canada - check out the full list of tour dates below.

Listen to the title track now, actually don't just listen, stand up and join in, "there's power in the blood, justice in the soul."

STREAM: Buffy Sainte-Marie - "It's My Way"

Tour dates:

03/18 Cardiff, UK - Motorpoint Arena * 03/20 Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena * 03/21 Glasgow, UK - The SSE Hydro * 03/24 Belfast, UK - Odyssey Arena * 03/26 London, UK - The Tabernacle 03/27 Birmingham, UK - Barclaycard Arena * 04/26 Sidney, BC - Mary Winspear Centre 04/29 Campbell River, BC - The Tidemark Theatre 04/30 North Vancouver, BC - Capilano University Centre for the Performing Arts Theatre 05/01 North Vancouver, BC - Capilano University Centre for the Performing Arts Theatre 05/06 London, ON - Aeolian Hall 05/07 Toronto, ON Koerner Hall 05/09 Burnstown, ON - Neat Coffee Shop 05/15 Lincoln, NE - University of Nebraska Lincoln 05/17 Chicago, IL - City Winery 05/18 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live 05/19 Washington, DC - The Hamilton 05/20 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom 07/16 Grass Valley, CA - California Worldfest 08/07 Little Current, ON - Manitoulin Country Fest

Buffy's new album, Power in the Blood, is available now on iTunes.

Listen to Joey Stylez' New Track, "Pride of Lions", featuring Dragonette

Cree/Métis hip-hop artist Joey Stylez premieres new track, "Pride of Lions". Listen below.

Joey Stylez has been quietly transforming his style with each album in his catalogue.

"Pride of Lions", the lead single from his new EP, offers up his latest incarnation: an adept blend of club-oriented 'Aboriginal trap' music, swagger-filled hip-hop, and a slick pop hook, courtesy of Dragonette's Martina Sorbara.

Get into it below.

STREAM: Joey Stylez - "Pride Of Lions (feat. Dragonette)"

Look out for Joey Stylez' latest EP, Grey Magic, due out later this summer.

JOEY STYLEZ - SUMMER 2015 TOUR DATES July 16 @ Le Belmont, MONTREAL, QC July 17 @ CC's Entertainment Centre, ELSIPOGTOG FIRST NATION, NB July 23 @ Blnd Tgr, TORONTO, ON July 24 @ Ritual, OTTAWA, ON July 25 @ The Arena, OBEDIJWAN, QC July 31 @ Newfies Pub, THUNDERBAY, ON Aug. 1 @ Assiginack Curling Club, WIKWEMIKONG, ON

Watch Joey Stylez & Carsen Gray - "Love Trap"

PREMIERE: Stream Mariame's Debut EP, 'Bloom'

Listen to Bloom, the debut EP from rising Cree R&B singer Mariame.

After premiering her infectious lead single, "As Long As You Are Here", last week, we're happy to bring you an exclusive album stream of Mariame's debut EP, Bloom, released today on N'we Jinan Records.

Bloom is a dynamic introduction to the rising Cree/Algerian singer's accomplished take on contemporary pop and R&B that weaves well-crafted hooks, airtight production, and Mariame's assured vocal presence throughout the EP's six songs.

Opener "Now You Know It" is a confident statement about coming through heartbreak stronger than ever, while "Electric" amps up the energy into a dancefloor-ready club anthem.  "All For You" is a lovestruck ode to remaining true to yourself and "staying afloat / even when times get rough"—a recurrent theme of optimism and strength that runs throughout the album.

Halfway through Bloom, however, the record drops into one of its most emphatic statements: a decidedly 21st century take on Indigenized pop music. "Native" spins a tale of cultural recovery, renewed strength, and love for her people, and it features expertly chopped vocal samples and a fire verse from the legendary and multitalented Apsáalooke hip-hop artist Supaman.

"Vulnerable" traces a moving story of a young girl's experience confronting past experiences of abuse and violence—but moving above and beyond them. Concluding the EP, "As Long As You Are Here", Mariame's impassioned lead single, closes the album with power and poise.

Picking up the Indigenous pop/R&B torch lit by the likes of Inez Jasper, Mariame is a young artist blazing her own way into popular music consciousness.  And, at 24, she's just getting started.

STREAM: Mariame's Bloom EP

Download Mariame’s debut EP, Bloom, on iTunes.

DOWNLOAD: Wake Self's "Different", featuring Equipto, Miles Bonny, and Raashan Ahmad

Wake Self returns with the killer posse cut, "Different".

Aztec/Apache/Cherokee hip-hop artist, Wake Self, has been holding it down for a minute, and we'll be the first to admit that we've been sleeping on this incredibly talented MC.

But that's all done now. We're officially on board.

Following a dope freestyle flip of Drake's "0 to 100" instrumental a few months back, the Albuquerque-based MC jumps back into action with his latest joint, "Different", a dynamic posse cut featuring Bay Area MC Equipto, Miles Bonny, and Oakland’s Crown City Rocker Raashan Ahmad.

Wake Self's voice is instantly recognizable and his flow is undeniable, plus he's thoughtful, clever, and intelligent. Over a head-nodding beat produced by MaulSkull, Wake Self and his comrades spit some serious bars about keeping it true to self, embracing your uniqueness, and the need to actively uncage your imagination.

If knowledge of self is one of hip-hop's foundational elements, it's also an essential part of the struggle for decolonization and self-liberation.

So let these talented MCs take you on a trip to the forefront of the Indigenous hip-hop movement. They're chasing a dream bigger than fame and money, and that's the path to self-love and acceptance—a more powerful form of wealth than any material gain could give.

Like the chorus tells it: "you might be different / but that don't make no difference / just do what you gotta do".

True.

DOWNLOAD: Wake Self - "Different" feat. Equipto, Miles Bonny, and Raashan Ahmad

Wake Self's latest album, Good Things Happen to Those Who Wake, is available now at wakeself.com. His new album, Malala, is set to be released this summer.