On the Native Beat

By James Culbertson

Rough, rugged and raw like your old lady’s ankles, Maniac the Siouxpernatural’s second LP, "Paranormal: The War Within" is slated to drop by the end of '06 and, from the tracks I've heard, it promises to be the South Dakota Native's best work to date. Maniac handles most of the producing but has beats by Supaman, Derelict, Ansane and Genocide on the album.

Maniac has a song called "The War Within Paranormal" that is as abstract as it is impressive. "My mind is a space rocket, never scared to face logic, tour through the cosmic on comets to take place with the prophets" is just one example of the intangible thoughts that make up this track.

Basically the song is crazy, rhyming rhetoric that is recited rather than rapped, with the energy increasing throughout the track. A lot of thought and energy were obviously put into this one. It can’t be explained; it has to be heard.

"Mic Arsonists" features two standouts in Native hip hop, Supaman and Tactile the Rhyme Child. This track goes back to the basics of hip hop with the "me against every emcee" battle rap style over a grimy beat and mix samples for the hook. Maniac not only holds his own, he spits the hottest verse on the song.

A simple, yet soothing beat makes "Keep Spinnin'" more than worth listening to. I didn't care as much for the rhyming. I felt Maniac fell off beat in some places, but the content came through with clarity as he urged hip-hop heads to "erase the bling bling from our minds," a sentiment that has to resonate with those of us who shun mainstream garbage in exchange for real hip hop.

Hear tracks from Maniac at Night Shield Entertainment’s Web site.

Listen to tracks on Maniac’s Myspace page.

Reznet rating:

James Culbertson, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, is a senior at Montana State University-Billings. He is a 2006 graduate of the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute

By Dalton Walker

"Remember that, in this white man's world, they can't stop us;

We've been here all this time, they ain't took us out,

They can never take us out

No matter what they say about us bein’ extinct,

About us being endangered species, we ain't NEVER gon' leave this,

We ain't NEVER gon' walk off this planet, unless Y'ALL choose to

Use your brain, use your brain;

It ain't THEM that's killin’ us it's US that's killin’ us;

It ain't THEM that's knockin’ us off, it's US that's knockin’ us off;

I'm tellin’ you better watch it, or be a victim,

Be a victim, in this white man's world."

2006:

Those words still echo through my head as if the album came out today, when in fact it was released a decade ago. On Sept. 13, 1996, 10 years ago today, the hip-hop world shed tears when its most brilliant son, Tupac Amaru Shakur, died at the tender age of 25.

"Lord knows I’ve tried, been a witness to homicide,

Seen drive-bys takin’ lives, little kids die,

Wonder why as I walk by

Brokenhearted as I glance at the chalk line, gettin’ high,

This ain't the life for me,

I wanna change,

But ain't no future right for me,

I'm stuck in the game,

I'm trapped inside a maze."

1996:

Almost everyone on the reservation knew who Tupac was. All of my friends talked about him constantly. His biggest album, “All Eyez On Me,” was still circulating on CD players and tape decks months after its release. I was young, but I understood Tupac’s significance.

If you didn’t listen to Tupac, you weren’t living. His brilliant rhymes, along with his charm and flair, inspired motivation in a way that few before him did. He was a rapper, poet, actor, writer, teacher and prophet, but what made him even more significant is that he defied the odds.

News of his death hurt all of us. Fans knew that he was special. He spoke the truth. He rapped about current events, violence and life in the ghetto – the same issues that reservations face 365 days a year.

To the virgin ears Tupac’s lyrics might come off as offensive, though they were more than that. His words were his lifestyle, observations and experiences.

"I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself,

‘Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?’

I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black;

My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch."

2006:

Tupac’s life, stories and words will always have a place inside me. Beyond all of his albums and movies was an intelligent man who did more by the age of 25 than most people do in a lifetime. People have to look past all the negativity that surrounds Tupac. His lyrics are controversial, but he chose words that his audience would understand.

Tupac was more than rap. He was a role model. His words are still relevant 10 years after his death. He did make life mistakes, but he also taught millions of people, including many Native Americans, to believe in themselves and to keep their heads up, because better day’s lie ahead.

His life helped inspire perseverance in at least one Native American, and I am only one example of his teachings.

Read each insert. Read them again if you need to, and maybe you will feel or understand what I’ve felt for years.

"There's gon' be some stuff you gon' see

That's gon' make it hard to smile in the future.

But through whatever you see,

Through all the rain and the pain,

You gotta keep your sense of humor.

You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit.

Remember that."

By Travis Coleman

Buggin Malone needs to stick to what he does best and that’s tangling up politics and music more.

The Oneida and Potawatomie rapper’s patchy second album, “Spirit World,” was one of five nominated in the best Rap/Hip Hop category at the 2006 Indian Summer Music Awards this month. Earlier this summer, Malone also took home the Best R&B/Rap/Hip Hop Recording award at the Eighth Annual Native American Music Awards for “Spirit World.”

Despite the accolades, the album doesn’t impress often. On the great “I was Hip Hop,” Malone bites Eric B. and Rakim early on, running through a laundry list of antiquated rappers from the ’80s like KRS One, Ice T and Biz Markie. Malone later describes his love for roots rap while mimicking Eminem’s flow from “The Way I Am.

But on “Koncrete Rootz,” featuring a smooth jazz sample, Malone loses steam halfway through the track. In the third verse, Malone spouts off unoriginal similes—“My style’s so sick, I need another flu shot”—and doesn’t move past rhymes about why we should fear him.

Many songs on the album need to clip off a minute to avoid redundancy because Malone often repeats himself. It’s a relief when Malone takes a political stance, though, if only to escape from the monotony.

Malone culls material logged while being incarcerated as a teen: issues such as Native American injustice (“Beat Goez On”), poverty (“Hard Timez”) and oppression. He also has good moments when he steps into the confessional booth for “Letter 2 God.” But these moments are hard to find as listeners have to dig through bloated tracks to get to them.

If this is the best Native hip hop has to offer, the genre has a long way to go to reach respectability.

Listen to tracks of Buggin Malone's "Spirit World."

Visit Buggin Malone's Web site and Myspace page.

Reznet rating:

Travis Coleman, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, attends the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He is a graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute.