Cultural blend inspires students in Arlee
Karen Peterson photo
Supaman asks students to turn to the person sitting next to them and smile, saying being positive makes people feel better.
Karen Peterson photo
Supaman performs a freestyle rap as people in the audience hold up items to trigger his rhyme.
Karen Peterson photo
Supaman performs a freestyle rap as people in the audience hold up items to trigger his rhyme.
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ARLEE — When Christian Takes The Gun Parrish from the Crow reservation decided to combine his love of rap music with his ties to Native American dancing and singing, he never thought it would turn into a way of life.
“I used to keep the two separate out of respect to the culture, but it became a powerful tool to spread a message about where I come from and the need for positivity,” he said.
Last week, Arlee students filled the gym to hear his message during the school’s Cultural Awareness Day. Dressed in full Fancy Dance regalia, he began his performance by introducing himself as Supaman, a name he coined from the superhero Superman.
“I needed something clean and strong to deliver my messages,” he said of the name.
Supaman explained that his childhood wasn’t easy in an effort to share with students his struggle to shape his positive message. He spent time in the foster care system before being returned to his family. When he was ten, he learned that his father was killed in an alcohol-related accident where the car flipped off the road. His father ended up freezing to death.
“I grew up in a crazy place,” he said. “At that age, I decided I’m never going to be like that. To me, living the Native life is being drug and alcohol free and being a leader for your people.”
He asked the crowd if they ever heard of the saying crab-in-a-bucket. He explained that when one crab gets to the top of the bucket the other crabs try to pull it back into the bucket. He used the metaphor to explain the challenges he faced trying to stick with his drug and alcohol free decision.
“People try to tear you down and say you are acting better, but I learned about my value and what it means to be native.”
He said that he often asks people what it means to be a Native American from different tribes during the various shows that he does. He said people answer with “I ‘ow’ know.” He mimicked the response with a shoulder shrug.
“It means that you have culture, songs, spirituality and values,” Supaman said.
After having the students turn to the person sitting next to them to say nice things for a few seconds, he explained that words have power. He used a story about two separate containers of rice to describe what he meant. One pile of rice, he said, was told things like I love you and you’re beautiful. The separate pile of rice was told I hate you and you’re ugly.
“It seems silly. It’s just rice,” he said. “But after 30 days, the hated rice was all shriveled up and the other rice was still fluffy. There is power in your words.”
He threw a few jokes in with his messages to keep things light.
“I got into Harvard Law School,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “The door was open so I walked right in.”
Using a sound system, Supaman created a live recording of different vocals in a technique called looping for the audience. He layered a piece of a traditional Native American song he sang over clicks and taps to create a background sound for his modern rap.
“I rap about what’s important: where I come from and the need for positivity and empowerment. If I rap about dumb stuff it wouldn’t work. People wouldn’t listen,” he said.
He finished the performance by saying, “I pay my bills with hip-hop and I’m from a reservation, that’s crazy. Whatever it is you want to do, be great in life. Don’t let anyone hold you down, especially yourself.”
Freshman Leondre Bolen thought the performance was “awesome.”
“Everything he did — how he danced, how he talked — it was real,” he said.
Indian Studies teacher and Native American Curriculum Coordinator Willie Wright brought Supaman to the school for the Cultural Awareness Day after seeing videos of his performance and learning that he was once recognized as an MTV Artist of the Week recipient.
“I wanted to reach out to our children in a way that would empower them to have an open mind and heart and appreciate contemporary culture intermingled with trational culture,” she said. “I wanted them to see that it’s okay to bridge the two cultures.”
