SKC fuses culture, tobacco and hip-hop

PABLO —Tobacco and hip-hop. Why were these two seemingly unrelated items celebrated at last week's "Native Fusion" gathering at Salish Kootenai College?

Because they are both elements of Native American culture, explained tobacco prevention coordinator for the Fort Peck Tribal Health Department Nicole Toves-Gourneau. Her title may sound somewhat inappropriate at this meeting where youth are encouraged to honor the plant. But she is not advocating that they abstain from all uses of tobacco — she is urging them to use it in its proper, spiritual context.

While young people were educated on how the plant holds special significance to Native American roots and customs, they were also encouraged to explore their contemporary culture of choice — hip-hop.

Native Fusion was part of the "Many Voices, One Message — Keep Tobacco Sacred" campaign. While youths were spinning records and laying rhymes, on the other side of campus mainly adults sat in on numerous lectures on spiritual and ceremonial uses of tobacco. Needless to say, things were much more tame — not a pair of baggy jeans or a backward hat among them. But the idea was still there — to revere the sacred plant.

And that is the idea behind Native Fusion, to mix the old with the new — use traditional values and fuse it with hip-hop culture — a culture Native American youths have adopted, explained Victoria Augare of the Great Falls Indian Family Health Clinic who was busy supervising a handful of young people spray painting designs on pieces of cardboard.

"Gang signs will be removed," she reminded them.

The art of "tagging" is when you spray an insignia, gang symbol or design on a wall. It is vandalism and it is illegal. However, when done properly, on your own property, it can be a way to exercise your artistry.

Augare was encouraging them to spray paint something in keeping with the theme of tobacco and keeping it sacred.

"This is the way they express themselves," she said.

Part of Native Fusion activities involved listening to Tribal elders and learning about how tobacco was used in ceremonies.

"Some of them are familiar with Native American culture and customs and some of them come from urban settings," she said. "We are putting a traditional twist on what they are into today."

For example, a girl demonstrated a traditional shawl dance, but she did it to hip-hop.

So why have Native youths embraced hip-hop? That is part of what Native Fusion attempts to figure out, explained Toves-Gourneau.

"We grew up with it," explained Kevin Tall White Man of Missoula. "We were exposed to it."

Tall White Man is an amateur rapper himself. He has an album in the works. And as for the cigarette he was smoking, he was quick to add that "smoking doesn't go with hip-hop culture."

And it doesn't go with Native American culture either — at least not tobacco of the Camel and Newport variety — explained Theda New Breast of the Blackfeet Prevention Program. She said that, historically, the plant was regarded as sacred.

"If used properly in ceremony, it could make your life happy," she said. "If you gave it as a chief offering, it could make your prayers more powerful. Now it is set up for addiction."

To help further explore hip-hop, Native Fusion brought rappers and DJs from all over to tutor young people on the music and its culture, including the famous DJ Kool Herc, who is credited as the founder of hip-hip, according to his flyer. The hip-hop maestros offered workshops on scratch DJing (the art of using turntables to mix beats) and beat rhyming.

DJ Elias, a California rapper, instructed students on how to compose a rap song using TuPac Shakur's "Dear Mamma" as an example of a song that holds "universal truth."

"Universal principles are found in his music," he said. "You don't have to grow up in a big city to relate to it, but you can relate to being human."

Sitting through his lecture was like taking a class in Hip-Hop 101. DJ Elias, whose real name is Ellias Wallace, is a teacher in one of the poorest schools in southern California. He holds a Master of Arts in Administration from Azusa Pacific University.

"What can you make songs about?" he asked the students. "What is your reality?"

Students then compiled a list of cultural aspects that make them unique and a rap song was born. The song was about life on the reservation with references to powwows, "rez rockets," and alcohol abuse — not exactly ingredients found in a typical hip-hop song.

New Breast explained that this is not an anti-smoking campaign, but a gathering of like minded Native Americans who are trying to get in touch with their roots. The Blackfoot reservation has established a no smoking law that went into effect in April. She hopes other tribes will follow their lead and only use tobacco for spiritual purposes.

"We are the first tribe with the balls to go smoke-free," she proudly declared.