♪ [Guitar plays softly] ♪ Man: Roll camera's please.

♪ [Guitar plays softly] ♪ [light bulb surges] Cody Coyote (sings): ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ I was born in '92, Inside of Pineview.

♪ ♪ A youngin' in this land trying to find his way through.

♪ ♪ Asking who I am, I've tried to find roots.

♪ ♪ Everywhere I ask, I couldn't find truth.

♪ ♪ Pops told me what he could but still we didn't know.

♪ ♪ Inner inspiration full but still we had to hope.

♪ ♪ Frustration was the same but still we didn't show.

♪ ♪ Intergenerational but still we had to cope.

♪ ♪ Struggled with identity, didn't know my language.

♪ ♪ They told me I was different, ♪ ♪ Relentless with my anguish.

♪ ♪ No-one was a friend to me, ♪ ♪ they said I needed sanction.

♪ ♪ Disobeyed the privileged, I came back in a vanquish.

♪ ♪ Still they call me savage, still they call me Indian.

♪ ♪ The history of words that I feel is worth digging in.

♪ ♪ Cartier and Columbus, were just a couple idiots.

♪ ♪ Tried to take our culture, ♪ ♪ what it means to be Indigenous.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Searching through the North.

♪ ♪ Where I go to share my story.

♪ ♪ Was raised in the South outside my territory.

♪ ♪ Searching back and forth, nobody cares to worry.

♪ ♪ As I try to figure out who I am with my fury.

♪ ♪ They've been scooping kids from the sixties to the present.

♪ I feel the disconnection, that's lessened by oppression.

♪ ♪ This government has failed when they guided misdirection.

♪ ♪ Neglection to my questions ♪ ♪ leaves me thriving for direction.

♪ ♪ Making some connection, finding some relations.

♪ ♪ Spoke about my journey, had some conversations.

♪ ♪ Learned about the scoop, ♪ ♪ they told me about these agents.

♪ ♪ They were stealing babies, it's all assimilation.

♪ ♪ This woman in a town, She said she held it down.

♪ ♪ When those agents came around, she hid them underground.

♪ ♪ Hid them in a basement, protected from the hatred.

♪ ♪ These children were escaping a governed desolation.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ Bloodline, I need my bloodline.

♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

[bloodline] ♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

[bloodline] ♪ ♪ All I want to know is who I am.

[bloodline]♪ ♪ All I want to know is where I come from.

[bloodline] ♪ Aniin Boozhoo.

Cody Coyote.

(Speaks Ojibwe language) I said Hello, welcome, my name is Cody Coyote.

I was born and raised in Ottawa Ontario Canada and my tribal affiliation is Ojibwe.

From Matachewan First Nation which is in Northern Ontario.

I acknowledge now that I am what they call an Intergenerational survivor.

So for me there was like- there was obviously that cultural disconnect and I didn't really have culture growing up.

My father taught me as much as he knew.

You know after 26 years I was able to connect with my blood relatives from Matachewan.

And we learned what happened with my father.

He was adopted in the 60's.

The Canadian government and the church, they had taken a lot of kids and put them in residential schools.

Or had put them in the foster care system.

I don't understand why it happened the way that it did but it happened.

And when you legalize abduction you're legalizing trauma, your legalizing generations of hurt, and you're saying that it's okay.

My great-uncle had gone to residential school.

And talking with him after 26 years and making that connection.

I know the hurt.

No child should be forcibly taken from their family.

If there's something that's wrong at home, or if they see that their home life is unfit for them, help that home life.

You know what I'm saying?

Help that home life.

It happened from 1876 in Canada and it's still ongoing.

They're still taking our kids.

They're still taking them.

And then later down the road it can lead to a lot of hurt.

It doesn't matter what countries exist right now.

We're on Turtle Island.

People need to represent that and acknowledge that.

It goes to land acknowledgments, it goes even further.

But they need to stop taking children.

Need to focus on the healing.

Need to focus on the love and understanding and learning about each other.

♪ The thing about suicide it's that we often feel like we're not being heard.

I want to say we hear you.

I hear you.

♪ I know you don't know me, I know I don't know you.

♪ ♪ But I want you to know me and I want me to know you.

♪ ♪ I know they don't get it, yeah they're so hard to talk to.

♪ ♪ Slow down for a second, show me what you walk through.

♪ ♪ Uh, tell me what the hell's going on.

♪ ♪ The story you tell ain't what's going wrong.

♪ ♪ Been there before never felt I belonged.

♪ ♪ Felt like an outcast and I had to be gone.

♪ ♪ Feeling so lost like I don't have a purpose.

♪ ♪ Not sure how to work this.

♪ ♪ It feels like I'm cursed.

♪ ♪ This feeling of hurt makes me so absurd.

♪ ♪ Because I feel like I'm worthless, stop.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you shoot.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna be confused, Nah.

♪ ♪ Please put away that gun.

♪ ♪ Please put away the noose, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you cut.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you bruised, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you jump.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you lose, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ Know that you're beautiful.

♪ ♪ That pain is reducible.

♪ ♪ Won't say it's removable.

♪ ♪ But let's not make it usual.

♪ ♪ What you're feeling's diffusible.

♪ ♪ Lifestyle is improvable.

♪ ♪ We can find something suitable.

♪ ♪ So you're far from excludable.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] ♪ ♪ I know you don't know me.

♪ ♪ I know I don't know you.

♪ ♪ But I want you to know me and I want me to know you.

♪ ♪ Wish the world would see.

♪ ♪ You just want to be loved.

♪ ♪ Not surrounded by booze.

♪ ♪ Or inflicted by drugs.

♪ ♪ I see the abuse.

♪ ♪ Know it's harder to trust.

♪ ♪ Those marks on your skin.

♪ ♪ Make it harder to love.

♪ ♪ Know you want to escape.

♪ ♪ But there's nowhere to run.

♪ ♪ Your hearts giving in.

♪ ♪ To the pain that's been done.

♪ ♪ Stop, I don't wanna see you pass.

♪ ♪ I just wanna see you last, nah.

♪ ♪ Please put away that glass.

♪ ♪ Please put away that flask, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you trashed.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you crash, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you smashed.

♪ ♪ I don't wanna see you clash, nah, nah.

♪ ♪ Know that you're beautiful.

♪ ♪ That pain is reducible.

♪ ♪ Won't say it's removable.

♪ ♪ But let's not make it usual.

♪ ♪ What you're feeling's diffusible.

♪ ♪ Lifestyle is improvable.

♪ ♪ We can find something suitable.

♪ ♪ So you're far from excludable.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for], Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [Don't give up] Gi zah gin.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] ♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] ♪ ♪ [Don't give up] no, no.

♪ ♪ [You've got so much to live for] ♪ ♪ [Don't give up], no, no, no.

♪ Cody: I hit rock bottom and I'm pretty open and transparent about it because I feel people need to hear it.

That when we have those thoughts, those dark thoughts, and we go through those dark times it's hard to see the light.

Going back I look at it and I'm grateful that I'm here.

You know there's a reason that I'm here.

That's why I make music.

It's not about fame.

It's not about me.

It's more about we.

It's about reaching people in a good way.

Storytelling in a good way.

Doing it how traditional storytellers used to do prior to contact and continuing with that.

Making it a continuum.

You know how to paint?

Paint the kind of picture of the kind of person I was in high school.

I was that kid who had his hair in his face.

I got bullied but I overcame that and it reflects through my art.

Something that my own father had taught me is that it's okay not to like someone but you have to love them.

And with that I found forgiveness.

Bullies that had bullied me, three out of the five boys that bullied me apologized.

This was gifted to me by my friend Theland Kicknosway, a fourteen year old from back home.

He's a hop dancer.

I wear it and I look at it as a reminder that our life is like a journey.

This is where our first journey starts.

I'm going to go all the way down and this is where our second journey starts to the spirit world.

And our life is like that feather.

All these strands, those are all of those events that are going to happen from this journey to this journey.

But when we look at a feather and we feel it, it's got that smooth side and it's also got that rough side.

It's acknowledging the fact that there's always going to be good and bad experiences along this journey.

But we always keep coming back to that middle.

There's always going to be balance.

♪ [voice singing] ♪ ♪ Cody (sings): Let me paint you all a picture.

♪ ♪ A mother's dying no elixir.

♪ ♪ Children crying cause they miss her.

♪ ♪ She's replying with a whisper.

♪ ♪ A woman dying and they kiss her.

♪ ♪ Asking why they cannot fix her.

♪ ♪ Addiction made the woman quiver.

♪ ♪ Made mistakes because it hit her.

♪ ♪ Looking far beyond the bitter.

♪ ♪ A high never meant for quitters.

♪ ♪ She later made a fixture.

♪ ♪ Of needles, drugs, and the liquor.

♪ ♪ Now who the hell is gonna diss her.

♪ ♪ She knew the hell injected in her.

♪ ♪ Now what is found to deliver?

♪ ♪ Another shot to the liver.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ I walk street's full of addicts.

♪ ♪ They say Natives are the baddest.

♪ ♪ Who are they to manage?

♪ ♪ Lies based on habits.

♪ ♪ Cause not every Native has it.

♪ ♪ Some make life to be an average.

♪ ♪ Succeed to have advantage.

♪ ♪ Funny how they call us savage.

♪ ♪ Enough rumors and the nonsense.

♪ ♪ Stay strong province to province.

♪ ♪ Cut the booze for alcoholics.

♪ ♪ Cut the noose if you're on it.

♪ ♪ I refuse to be on it.

♪ ♪ That abuse that is haunted.

♪ ♪ They lied for they wanted.

♪ ♪ At least I'm being honest.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ See me I'm a warrior, Best friends a warrior.

♪ ♪ Been to hell and back so for me that's a warrior.

♪ ♪ Tomahawks on corridors, Built up by foreigners.

♪ ♪ Tell me every fact that will bring back the warriors.

♪ ♪ No help from coroners, Tell poor to thirst.

♪ ♪ Don't mourn them at first, Swarm them to hurt.

♪ ♪ Swarm them to burn, don't warn them at first.

♪ ♪ Watch as we turn, as one man will learn.

♪ ♪ To stand up and curve, the things that they curse.

♪ ♪ Stand up and earn, the things we deserve.

♪ ♪ Beautiful language I wish I could learn.

♪ ♪ I'd use it to thank them within every word.

♪ ♪ That woman you beat down you will no longer corner.

♪ ♪ That man on the street you will no longer torture.

♪ ♪ Those people you see give them their closure.

♪ ♪ Judging from me I would make sure there's order.

♪ ♪ Ogichidaa, Ogichidaa, Ogichidaa.

♪ ♪ Ogichidaa, Ogichidaa, Ogichidaa.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [warrior] warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ [I'm a warrior], Warrior, warrior.

♪ ♪ Warrior, warrior.

♪ Cody: When it comes to my music and it comes to those lyrics and writing about things, I talk about what's in here in that heart space.

I talk about what I felt from that cultural disconnect.

I talk about the drugs and alcohol because that was a part of my story.

And conflict with the law.

So on and so forth.

I spent three years in a gang in Ottawa.

Three years on the east end.

Really hard times.

But I've managed to overcome my demons and it was still acknowledging that I'm in recovery.

You know and it's literally one day at a time.

I have six years of sobriety under my belt.

There's no drugs, no alcohol, and its walking in Anishin way, walking in a good way.

And with that when I'm going through this Ottawa music scene, trail blazing through the industry, I've always had a positive mind set and I've always stayed true to myself.

Once upon a time when you go and look in a mirror and you say, "I don't like that guy. "

I don't like that person. "

I don't like where he's going.

"I don't like what he has become."

Now I'm able to reflect and look at him and be like, "Hey, I love that guy."

I look at hip-hop and I look how it saved my life.

I see music as a platform to reach people and we all need hope.

I remember sitting there and being like, "I give up.

I'm done with this."

But then I would jam to some music and I'd find some hope.

There's so many different stories and so many different songs that people can resonate with.

They just got to look for it.

But you just got to keep that positivity going and keep that hope going for the people and for the future generations of this world.

♪ ♪ [Cody Coyote, Bad Look & Classic Roots]: ♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ [Cody Coyote] Let the flow grow, right down to ♪ ♪ the floor, [Down to the floor] ♪ ♪ All my boys wear braids, let everybody know, ♪ ♪ [Everybody know] ♪ ♪ Pride will never break, always let it show, ♪ ♪ [Always let it show] ♪ ♪ All my boys wear braids, let everybody know, ♪ ♪ [Everybody know] ♪ ♪ We carry the pride of our kin.

♪ ♪ Through these difficult times that we're in.

♪ ♪ Got these bullies here but I have no fear.

♪ ♪ My heads up high for the win.

♪ ♪ Yeah that patience met, that discipline.

♪ ♪ My hair reminds me of this.

♪ ♪ That self-respect, traditions kept, they ♪ ♪ won't deprive me of it.

♪ ♪ Yo, here we go!

♪ ♪ [Cody Coyote, Bad Look & Classic Roots] ♪ ♪ Let the low grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ [Cody Coyote] Got my hair tied back, got my hair tied back.

♪ ♪ All my boys wear braids got their tied back.

♪ ♪ [Hair tied back] The pride we have lasts.

♪ ♪ won't ever hide that, [never hide that] ♪ ♪ The choices we make will bring our shine back.

♪ ♪ [bring our shine back] ♪ ♪ This is for those boys in the schools.

♪ ♪ Overcoming the words of the fools.

♪ ♪ Those ones that carry the tools.

♪ ♪ To teach the ones that are cruel.

♪ ♪ Those ones that have grown into men.

♪ ♪ Who walk that road to defend?

♪ ♪ Those teachings that we have kept.

♪ ♪ So the next gen learns them again.

♪ ♪ Yo, here we go!

♪ ♪ [Cody Coyote, Bad Look & Classic Roots] ♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ ♪ Those boys with braids.

♪ ♪ Those boys with braids.

♪ ♪ Those boys with braids.

♪ ♪ Those boys with braids.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let the flow grow low.

♪ ♪ Let the flow grow, let it let it let it grow.

♪ Cody Coyote: Ogimaa, it means leader in my traditional language of Anishinaabemowin.

And I felt it was very important to create a song for our future generations.

Let them know that you have the ability to be a leader in your community.

You can, you will.

You are able to.

Just let everyone know like yo we can all have fun.

Let's put a hot beat behind it, let's dance.

Let's vibe with each other.

Let's talk about who we are.

My prayers to the Sacred Fire.

From the ashes I will learn.

Tobacco down, prayers up for the years that I have yearned.

That's my story I'm talking about that finding culture.

So don't get discouraged if you don't know your culture.

Don't get discouraged if you don't know your language.

It'll come.

It'll come.

Keep looking, keep asking, and it will come.

But know that you can rise above all that negative and you can be an Ogimaa in your community.

You can be a leader.

♪ ♪ My prayers to the sacred fire, from the ashes I will learn.

♪ Tobacco down, my prayers up, for the years that I have yearned.

This disconnect, I will object, my future won't be burned.

♪ I show respect, I will connect, My future won't be turned.

♪ ♪ When I do this, do it for the youth.

♪ ♪ Indigenous giving back to my roots.

♪ ♪ Do it for my kin, Do it for the truth.

♪ ♪ With diligence when I'm back in the booth.

♪ ♪ When I move in, move with me too.

♪ ♪ Walk all together we move as a group.

♪ ♪ No matter the weather, No matter the route.

♪ ♪ Birds of a feather we say boozhoo.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Fresh on the scene, follow my dream.

♪ ♪ Living life clean if you know what I mean.

♪ ♪ Don't want you to follow, I want you to lead.

♪ ♪ The youth of tomorrow, they're gonna see.

♪ ♪ Never live faded, keep my hair braided.

♪ ♪ Leading the nation with no separation.

♪ ♪ Know we can make it, know we can break it.

♪ ♪ Feel the vibration through all generations.

♪ ♪ Ripple effect, trickle the steps.

♪ ♪ Bridging the gap with civil context.

♪ ♪ Don't cripple the next, with little respect.

♪ ♪ Fixing the past because you know we all blessed.

♪ ♪ Opening doors, use education.

♪ ♪ Carry the torch with participation.

♪ ♪ Opening boards, Use conversations.

♪ ♪ The future is yours it's time that you take it.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Revitalize traditions let the youth bring it back.

♪ ♪ Revitalize traditions let the future bring it back.

♪ ♪ Revitalize traditions let the youth bring it back.

♪ ♪ Revitalize traditions let the future bring it back.

♪ ♪ [Baby, baby, baby] woo!

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ ♪ Ogimaa, oh, Ogimaa.

♪ ♪ Just let your spirit guide, our future generations.

♪ Cody: I want people to know my name.

I want them to know where I'm from.

I want them to know what Nation I belong to.

And I want them to know I'm not going anywhere.

It's all love at the end of the day.

[soft music]