♪ - [Sahar] It's KVCaRrts: arts, entertainment in our region, as well as the people and places providing it.

I'm Sahar Khadjenoury with music and conversations with musician, dancer and advocate Supaman.

And, you can find his and other artist music videos on "The AUX: The Aboriginal Unity Experience".

Experience the Indigenous music video series from fnx.org/theaux.

♪ ♪ I leave scientists mentally scarred ♪ ♪ Triple extra large ♪ ♪ Wild like rock stars who smash guitars ♪ ♪ One blood, one life, one cause, one strife ♪ ♪ KRS-One and Nas had only one mic ♪ ♪ Let's stop the gunfights ♪ ♪ And, start building our communities ♪ ♪ Shine like sunlight, divine we children of unity ♪ ♪ What good is love if you only love those who love you ♪ ♪ One blood, one light, no person above you ♪ ♪ Let's bust through, crush grooves ♪ ♪ Unite cuz we all connected ♪ ♪ Family ties, our families rise respected ♪ ♪ We resurrected, now we birds in flight ♪ ♪ Trying to be that person ♪ ♪ Birthed and immersed in the words of life ♪ ♪ Working nights for certain, we merkin mics ♪ ♪ Yo, it's worth the fight ♪ ♪ We earned the right cuz every verse is tight, merchandise ♪ ♪ But it goes deeper than rhyming or even serving Christ ♪ ♪ It's everything, one people shine in a perfect light ♪ ♪ I've got one... ♪ [music fades] - [Sahar] OMG!

This is amazing!

Our stars have aligned.

I can't believe we have got the Supaman here in the FNX studio.

Amazing!

- Yes.

- You know what?

I cannot introduce you as well as you can.

Introduce yourself to our audience.

- Yes.

(speaks in Apsáalooke) What's up, listeners?

My name is Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, A.K.A.

Supaman come from the Apsáalooke Nation in Montana or the Crow Nation, is the mistranslation of our people.

My Apsáalooke name is Agemachile.

which means "Good Fortune on Mother Earth."

(claps softly) Hey.

And, my clan is the Ashitchite which is the Big Lodge clan.

Yeah.

- Awesome.

Okay.

So, talk to us.

How did you get started?

Like, how did "Supaman" come to be?

- Yes.

Thank you for that, as well.

So, Supaman?

I got the name from a DJ battle.

So, I love hip-hop culture.

So, coming from Crow, we're very rich in culture.

You know, we practice a lot of kinships.

I mean, songs, dances.

You know, we're rich in culture.

And so, we have that and then we have other cultures like hip-hop.

And so, when we heard hip-hop we're like, "Yo!

What is this, man?

This is dope!

I like this vibe."

Heard Sugar Hill Gang on the radio or whatever and I was just like-- saw b-boys, you know?

And, saw the breakers and I was just like, "This is amazing."

And then, we heard the MCs.

We heard MCs like Public Enemy saying, "Fight the power."

You know?

♪ We've got to fight the powers that be ♪ And, I was like, "Yo, man!

These guys are talking about us, too."

You know?

Like natives, oppression, stuff like that.

And so, we were just drawn to the culture for the fun of it.

And then, just started b-boying myself.

I was a breaker; "Yeah, don't make me get out here on this table right now."

And, I wanted to be a DJ.

I wanted to be a DJ and then later on, I started to MC.

And, starting to figure my identity out just as a youth, a native youth, an Apsáalooke youth.

You know, you have culture and then you have assimilation going on, and you got other cultures coming in.

And, you're just doing your best to navigate through life.

And so, I just started participating, became an MC.

You know, chiseling away at it throughout the years, and became a producer and everything.

To this day, we've been just staying focused and busy.

Yeah, it's been good.

- You touched something that I think would be so cool to kind of take a step back.

Chat with us about your dance roots.

- Yeah.

So, in our tribe we have our traditional dance, which is called Baá Tawée Lissuua which is "hot dance."

And, we have our-- If you ever saw Crow style at a powwow, up north, you see them more up north and it's significant to us, to our tribe.

So, people know, "Oh, that's Crow style."

And, I'm a fancy dancer, but that comes from Oklahoma with Ponca people.

And so-- But, I adopted the style and it's okay.

But, for somebody to adopt our style would be like, "What the heck you doing, man?

That's Crow style.

You don't do that."

So, to this day, it's significant to our tribe only.

And so, I dance that style, Crow style.

And then, later on I switched to fancy in junior high, around there.

And, the thing is that was the thing.

I said, "Mom, I wanna dance this style.

"Fancy dancers, man, they're spinning around!

It's energetic."

You know, ours is slower, slower music.

And, she was like, "No.

We're Crows.

"We don't dance that style.

You're not from Oklahoma.

You know, you're not Ponca."

And so, she didn't let me do it because of that.

But, kinda showed her, "Hey, look!

These guys are dancing 'fancy.'

There's other Crows too who are dancing 'fancy'."

And, she finally gave in.

And, I just started dancing 'fancy' ever since then.

- And, that was obviously your adolescence.

And then, as you became a teenager and that's like, I think, when you took your roots and combined that with hip-hop.

And, that's cool to see that fusion come together.

What a unique blend of genres.

Because I remember the first time I saw the "Prayer Loop" song.

- [Christian] Yeah.

- [Sahar] That was, like-- I was mind-blown because what a gorgeous way to introduce people from the outside world into this Indigenous world.

(vocals/record scratches) But, also the other side is to share with our Native youth, man, our culture is so beautiful and it's cutting edge.

It's cool.

Talk to me about your journey or your steps into music video, because, I mean, that's opening a whole different medium.

- [Christian] So, when you see the "Prayer Loop" song and what we do today, I never did that.

You know?

Before, I was like, "Nope, you don't do that."

There's a line.

There was a line between traditional Crow ways or Native ways and then contemporary side of music, or whatever.

And, I was like, in my mind the way I was raised, I was like, "No, no way.

You don't do that.

You don't put it together."

It's just-- Heck, no.

It's too sacred.

It's too, like, spiritual for you just to mix it in and make it its own thing, you know?

So, in my mind I was like, you just don't do it.

It was like a no-brainer for me to keep them separate because I just thought I know what people are gonna say.

You know you just-- You don't do it.

And so, I never did for many years until we went to Bozeman, Montana; Native American Heritage Day, They invited us to dance!

So, I went there as a dancer.

And then, they had drum group.

They had putting up a tepee.

You know, just Native culture all over the campus.

And so, they sang for us.

We talked about the fancy dance, the origin, the history.

And then, we danced and then we got done.

Then, we went off stage.

And, the young lady who was promoting or she was doing the event, she's like, "Hey, hey Chris!

Come here.

Don't you guys rap?"

I'm like, "Yeah, yeah.

We do."

And, she goes, "Why don't you do a couple songs?

"Our other presenter didn't show up and we need some time to fill."

And, I looked at my nephew and I was like, "Yeah.

Let's do it, man."

And, she goes, "OK, alright!

That's good."

And then, we started walking towards the parking lot and she's like, "Wait, where are you going?

I thought you were gonna-?"

You know?

I was like, "Yeah, we're gonna go change into our regular clothes."

And, she goes, "No, I need you to go on right now."

And, I'm in my fancy dance outfit.

My nephew's in his traditional outfit.

And, I just looked at him and he's like, (Sahar laughs) "Let's just do it so we can go eat.

I'm hungry!"

(laughs) And so, we get on stage, man.

We're like, ♪ Put your hands in the air ♪ And, I'm in my regalia.

You know?

♪ Put your hands in-- ♪ We start jammin'.

(bkoo!)

Start rappin'.

Did a couple songs and people were like, "What the hell's goin' on there?

They're jammin' out."

And, it was somethin' that was new.

♪ Put your hands up ♪ (hip-hop beat) ♪ Put your hands up high ♪ ♪ Put hands up, hands up ♪ ♪ Yo, let me hear you say ♪ ♪ We got, we got, we got... ♪ - [Christian] And, it was new in that moment.

Maybe nobody did that before!

I don't know.

And then, one of our elders who was putting up the tepee, he was doing the presentation on the tepee there.

He was walking over and I was like, "Oh, man!"

He's one of our grandpas, too.

And he's, like, a historian.

He knows the language.

He knows the culture, kinship.

Everybody goes to him.

And, I thought, man, this guy's gonna have something to say and he's gonna say something bad or scold us.

And then, he came up and then I was like, "What am I gonna say to him?"

I could see him in my peripheral vision coming and I just kind of looked up like that.

And, when he got to us, he kind of took off his hat and he was like, "Grandson, I wanna shake your hand.

"That was pretty damn powerful what you guys just did.

"You showed all these guys you're proud to be Apsáalooke "and proud to be Native.

"And, you're good dancers.

You know, you told a story about the dance."

He said, "That's good.

You knew what you were talking about "and you spoke the language "of those young people which was that "hip-hop and they listened to you because of it.

"Then, I heard you had something positive to say.

"Heard you talking about being a husband, being a father, being drug-and-alcohol-free."

He's like, "That's powerful."

He said, "You boys keep that up.

Keep doin' that!

"That's pretty good.

"It's like our young people are dying.

"They're committing suicide, drugs and alcohol.

"We're losing our ways.

We're losing our culture.

"Anything you do-- to do to reach them where they're at is-- it's good.

It's worth it."

And so, that was the moment is when I changed up here.

'Cause I always kept them separate and I thought, "No, you don't do it."

But, to kind of get encouraged by our own elders that it was good?

You know, I had more confidence after that.

So, when I got invited to go dance and do music, I wouldn't change.

I wouldn't change to my regular clothes.

I just stayed in my outfit and I rapped.

It's not a big deal really 'cause the dance, fancy, it's just a contemporary dance anyway that was created for the show.

You know?

It's for the show.

So, that's how that all started.

- He stepped in when you needed that little boost and he knew.

And, he got it!

- Mm hm.

Yeah!

Yeah, that's right.

- I gotta thank him.

Here's something I'm curious about.

Did you eat something really Indigenous after you ate?

What was dinner that was the incentive?

(chuckles) (funny voice) - Ate some raw kidneys, here!

(laughs) Back on some buffalo kidneys, here!

(chuckles) - If it was a Navajo, I'd be like, "We had mutton stew!"

- Ooh, blood sausage!

Ooh, deadly.

- Oh!

You know about blood sausage?

- I never tasted any, but I always hear about it!

Some people say, "You gotta try some.

It's good."

Other people are like, "Hell no!

Don't try it."

(laughing) - We call it "dihlth".

- Oh, "clith".

- Dihlth.

- Mm hm!

Mm hm.

(Sahar laughs) - So, I'm curious.

Can you walk us through the creative process of a Supaman song?

- There's a lot of ways.

There's many different ways how that process starts.

Like, if somebody-- If I'm making a beat, you know, and it has a certain vibe to it?

Like, the certain vibe, I'll go with that.

You know?

I'll be like, how it makes me feel.

You know?

I'll go in that direction when it comes to writing for that beat and it'll just create itself.

And then, there's other songs to where I just wanna be creative with wordplay, you know, with punchlines.

Or, just hip-hop lyricism.

And, I'll have a stack.

I'll have, like, a little folder of just...lines, you know?

Just punchlines that I write down and I keep together.

And then, if I hear a nice beat, I just put all those punchlines into a verse.

And, it doesn't mean nothing.

It's just rhyming.

It's just, like, skill wise.

So, that's another way.

And then, there's also what I wanna say; if I wanna say something to my family.

Something heartfelt?

It'll start with some writing and I'll make the beat for that.

So, it can go both ways.

And, like, I just made one for my brother who passed away.

And so, I started off with the keys.

The keys are, like, heartfelt; some good chords.

It's just emotional stuff like that.

But, all the time when I look back at my writing process and creative process, I can see the time that I spent in prayer.

You know?

Spent in prayer, getting grounded, kind of meditation, and having a good intention of I'm making this music and it's good intentions to it.

When I look back, I can see those are the most popular ones.

Those are the ones that people felt the most.

Even at performances, I can see the impact that they have.

And so, I think that's the main thing is being mindful and intentional with music.

- That is great that you mention that because I think when we listen to mainstream music, it might have a catchy chorus or a bassline that we play on the radio, but it doesn't have the same oomph I think that Indigenous artists really capture.

One of the videos that we play is the song "Why" on The AUX.

- [Group] ♪ Hanawena ha wen hey yo wa ♪ ♪ Why is one man rich and another man poor?

♪ ♪ Why we ain't satisfied, why we gotta have more?

♪ ♪ Why is suicide rates on the rez so high?

♪ ♪ Why I tell you the truth, but you say "don't lie" ♪ ♪ Why is being a good father at an all-time low?

♪ ♪ Why is it acceptable?

♪ ♪ Yo, why?

I don't know ♪ - [Sahar] Chat with me about the production of the video and how did that particular song come to be?

- Yep, good question.

The song "Why" was a second loop song that I did from the "Prayer Loop" song.

And so, all my bros were like, "How are you gonna top that?"

(chuckles) Like, that thing went viral and like millions of views.

And, I'm like, "Well, I don't know I got this idea to where I wanna sample a jingle dress."

I wanted to sample the sound of a jingle dress and a peyote gourd.

And so, when I was gonna make that song, I was listening to Jadakiss.

He has that song, "Why".

And, just the way it makes you feel.

And, he's asking all these questions.

He makes you ponder, you know?

We think of all these things, and we ask the same question.

We ponder these things in life.

And, I thought, "That's powerful."

And so, I'm gonna do my own, with this looping idea with the jingle dress.

And, not only am I gonna have the jingle dress, I'm gonna sample the jingles of the best jingle dress dancer there is and that's Acosia, my sis, and she's the dopest!

And, I reached out to her and I was like, "Hey, I'm gonna do this video.

This is the idea."

And, she's like, "Yeah, I would love to."

And so, she was on board and we put that together.

And, it was so crazy, 'cause I was coming back from Arizona and one of my partners was like, "Hey, are you in town?

"I have a friend who does videos, you know, and they're doing some-- a non-native guy from D.C."

He's from D.C.

He's on my rez.

I'm in California, Acosia's traveling back from a powwow in South Dakota.

And, we're just all over and he goes, "I need to do this tomorrow," this video.

And, I was like, "Let's do this!"

And, we just all (imitates plane engine revving) met at the same time.

I picked up Acosia.

We drove back from Bozeman to Crow.

We went, by the time we got there the moon, the blue moon was coming down and the sun was going down and he's like, "Go!

Shoot it."

And, we shot that thing like within two hours right on the money.

And, that's how that came together.

Yeah.

- [Sahar] Ooh!

That-- I love when it all comes together.

- Yep, it all come together!

- It might be crazy.

Hey, this interview came together!

- Yeah!

That's right, man.

We're aligned, yes.

- Can you bring that blue moon in?

- I know, right?

- Cue in extra nature cool stuff!

- [Christian] Too-too-too!

(both laughing) Cue the eagle!

Yeah.

- Could you do like the eagle cry?

Like, (imitates eagle screeching).

(Christian imitates eagle screeching) (both laughing) So, how do fans respond to your music and your music videos?

I'm on social media.

I see Supaman everywhere, and it's nonstop.

You are constantly on tour and in high demand.

You are booked in communities often because people recognize your talent, but they also recognize this positive, Indigenous representation.

You're a fabulous father.

You're a fabulous spouse.

You're a great community member.

Like, all these great things and it's really so powerful to see young people recognize that.

And, even at conferences, I see people stand up and they're vibing.

They love it.

- Cool.

- What is that like?

What are those conversations or what are some of the comments or feedback that you hear from your fans?

- Yeah.

We hear a lot of good feedback within our communities.

I mean, there's both.

You know?

There's always people who have something negative to say and stuff like that.

But, for the most part, it's all positive.

You know, you might've heard the saying, "Nobody's perfect."

I've even used that: "Nobody's perfect.

We do our best."

But, these days, I'm the opposite.

I'm like, "Yeah, I am perfect."

You know?

You are.

You're perfect.

Having that kind of mindset of, like, everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be.

It's more freeing as a artist.

So, I can hear people, like, you know, give me praise and all that.

And, it feels good and all that, but I know that I'm just like them.

We're all just the same.

Everybody on Earth, we're all in the same game.

And, like, fame is-- or popularity.

Fame or popularity; it's not who the person is, you know?

It's who somebody thinks they are.

You know what I mean?

It's like, that's what a collective people think somebody is.

It's not really who they are.

So, I try to stay in that mindset of being humble.

But, I love hearing the positive of making music.

The impact that it has.

It's definitely fulfilling.

I mean, this lady came up to me and she had tears in her eyes.

She's looking at me and just-- They're waiting in line.

People waiting in line to meet me, taking pictures with everybody, and it was her turn.

She came and she's looking at me, and her tears were just coming down.

And, she was so nervous and so emotional.

She just kneeled down and kissed my freakin' moccasins!

Yeah.

I was like, "Oh, my god.

What the heck?"

I was just so-- I didn't know how to feel.

And, she just got back up and she just said, "You know what?

I was suicidal."

You know?

"I was suicidal and your music helped me."

And, I was just like "Oh, my god."

I was just, like, blown away.

And, she's just like, "Can I give you a hug?

I'm just so thankful for you."

And, I just hugged her and I felt like crying!

I was like "Oh, man!

This is amazing."

And, that's just one story, you know?

There's so many like that.

- Oh, that's powerful!

- Yes, yes.

- We need people who are unapologetically themselves.

That's exactly what we- - Mm hm.

- experience when we hear a performance from Supaman.

And, just, like, the raw, unplugged conversations.

I love this!

- [Christian] Do our best.

Yep, yep.

- And, your work is not a solo performance.

I mean, you've been doing a lot of collaborations lately and even your music video, you're sharing-- your videos, you're sharing with others.

Chat with me about some of your collabs and then chat with me about the DeLorean.

- Oh, yeah.

So, collabing with Native artists has been day one, you know?

Like, it's a small circle.

The world is small and it's even a smaller Native world.

And then, even a smaller Native music world.

So, it's like that.

So, I think as artists we need to stick together and need to support one another.

And so, yeah.

We did this collab, I think with Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas.

He reached out to us during Standing Rock, man.

And he had Doc, the Battiest Brothers from Seminoles, and Emcee One and he had, like, PJ Vegas.

He had all-- you know, Drezus, all of us on this track.

And, we all collabed on this track, our contribution to the movement at that time.

And then, we ended up winning the MTV VMA!

And I was like, "What?!"

And so, just to be on that platform.

And, I always tell this at my performances.

I tell them, I was like, "Yo, man!

We collab.

"Man!

We're on the top of the mountain, man.

"MTV VMA!

Whoa, whoa!

You know, like Natives, you know?"

Boom, we were there, which is amazing.

You know?

It's like, yo!

It is awesome.

And, we took the Moonman home!

You know?

And, I always tell this story.

I said, "I got home.

I walked through the front door, my wife gave me a hug and 'I'm proud of you, babe.'

Kids ran up to me, 'Proud of you, Dad.

Good job.'"

And then, I said, "I put that Moonman on the coffee table and I just stared at it."

You know?

Just looking at it.

And then, I thought, that's it?

You know?

(Sahar laughs) That's all?

(scoffs) You know a little bit of happiness and then gone just like that!

And, I was happy for that.

I was happy for that moment; to be at the top of the mountain and know that it didn't sustain my happiness.

You're just onto the next.

Gotta win a Grammy.

Gotta do the-- I knew that society has us all in the rat race.

They got us thinking that the next moment is better than right now.

And, we're all trying to achieve, achieve, achieve, thinking that we're going to arrive someplace at happiness and we made it.

And, it's a lie.

And so, that moment I realized it's not all about that.

It's about mastering your own happiness every single day and being emotionally intelligent.

You know?

That's the real success.

- I think that's-- Having a Moonman in the house, we need a two-- a second and a third Moonman to keep him company.

- [Christian] You betcha.

- And, maybe an Oscar and an Emmy.

- Mm!

- And then, we'll just bead them some outfits.

- There you go!

(both laughing) - I gotta hand it to you, though.

Everything you put out is quality.

I can't wait to get the next video, "Alright" on the channel so we can- - Oh, yes- - Feature that on The AUX.

- [Christian] Definitely.

- [Sahar] What was that like filming?

I mean, was that, like, a huge crew?

Did you have several days of shooting?

What did that look like?

- [Christian] Yeah, yeah.

We put that together because the dude-- We were actually shooting something else.

We were shooting a pilot for another friend who's a chef.

He was putting that together and I was supposed to be on some episode of his.

And, we put that together and that's how I met the crew.

And then, I saw homeboy's nice camera and the way it looked, I was like, "Hey, man!

You should shoot a video for me."

He was like, "Yeah, man!

Just reach out to me."

(laughs) And so, I reached out to him and he goes, "Give me your idea or whatever."

And then, he's like, "You should reach out to the Montana Film Office.

They got money for Native stuff."

And, I don't know!

I never did that before.

And so, I reached out to them and they gave us some money to do a music video.

I didn't even have to pay it back.

My brain just started going.

My brain started going [upbeat music] and I was like "Yo!

Like, seven years ago, I took my car to get its windows tinted and the guy in there is like, "Hey, man!

I know you, man.

You're that rapper."

He's like, "Come here!

Come here, man."

And, he took me to the garage and showed me the DeLorean, he showed me the freakin' "Back to the Future" replica!

And, I was like, "Yo."

He goes, "Anytime you wanna use this, it's yours for free."

You know, I'm like, "What the heck?"

That was seven years ago.

And so, when I started brainstorming, I was like, "I wonder if that guy still gots that car?"

(Sahar laughing) I freakin' called him up and I was like, "Hey, man!

You still got that car?"

And, he's like, "Nah, I sold it."

I was like, "Aw, man."

He goes, "But, I sold it to my bro "who just lives down the street.

He loves your stuff, man!

Yo, hit him up."

So, sure enough, man!

He's like, "Go ahead, use it.

You don't even have to pay me."

So, we put that together.

I was like, "I'm gonna go back in time.

"I'm gonna speak to the relatives.

"Then, we're gonna go the '80s.

You know, '80s hip-hop and then go to the present day."

I mean, it could go so much.

It's just one song, but you could actually just take that on a whole journey.

And so, yeah, we put it together and got the people together.

Got the buffalo hide tepee in there!

You know, like, got my-- My family's in it.

So, yeah, it's amazing.

- Oh, my gosh!

I am-- I have so many more questions, and I wish I could chat with you for much longer.

Any last ideas, remarks, words?

- Yeah.

I'd say to any young people out there, not even young people, just anybody.

You know, like, anybody-- Live life to the fullest.

We're only here for just a blink in time.

And, I often share this at my presentations.

I'm like, the Earth is literally breathing life and death at all times.

At any given moment, there's a infinite amount of death and an infinite amount of life; (inhales deeply) breathing in, breathing out.

Just life and death.

It's constant.

And, we are all in between the breath, just (fingers snap) barely here, just for a moment in time.

So, live it up.

- Ah, powerful.

Yeah!

- Yes.

- Well, thank you so much for joining us.

- Appreciate you and we'll do it again!

- Thank you.

- Alright!

♪ (hip-hop beat) (bright flute music) ♪ [hip-hop beat] [bright flute music] ♪ [music stops] Can somebody help me up?

Uh, who?