 |
January 08, 2008 |
|
 |
|
|
Rez Rap
FOUND by Eric Tollefson
in Bellingham, Washington
My real estate agent and I were touring some potential investment properties when we found this in a vacant trailer home. This young rapper might be advised to stay in school or check into rehab.
Sign in or register to start a profile and keep track of your comments. You may also post without creating a profile, but you'll have to answer some tough spam protection questions.
Office She-yit February 13, 2007 |
Baby Jesus October 10, 2007 |
Dragon Yard Sale January 27, 2008 |
To Prevent a Horse... September 30, 2005 |
 |
|
 |
         |
We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
Everyone can see you skipped class... No need to rap about it. :)
Oy, this makes me nauseous.
Natives and Haters and Feds, Oh My!!
This is just too sad. Although.. I just ran across a "poem" some friends and I collaborated on in high school.. An Ode to Bud Light. So I suppose it's the high school partier's nature to talk/brag/sing/write/rap about the wild times.
The first line of this one is very sad to me, though. I didn't grow up in WA, but I did grow up not far from The Rez in another state, and went to school with a number of Native kids. Kinda bleak. Not much to do out there, and many of them held out little hope for a "bright" future. At least these guys have some Hos to look at. (I see this guy capitalized Hos, but not Native.) I hope they stop that drinkin' and smokin'.
Terrible, I feel for these guys. No direction, emptiness, alone, maybe lonely?
It hurts my soul when I read notes like this...
Poor misunderstood tortured soul. Always being hassled by the Haters and the Feds... Come On!!!...pull your pants up, turn your hat around, drop the blunt and go to class!!!
I am loving that this was found in Bellingham. Lummi, perhaps?
I didn't really understand it at first, but now I do. We don't have to feel for this guy. Maybe he loves it. He probably does. Just perhaps because we are a bit more morally pious, doesn't make it right. I liked this - a snapshot into a completely different life, scenario. Took me out of my comfort zone.
Sadly, this litlle ditty is already being recorded and, given today's market, will probably gain some pretty wide exposure. I note that the FOUND readership is already all abuzz about it.
chugin fiths? Really?
What about the guy that found this? Who looks at trailer homes as investment property? Is it necessary to say "my real estate agent and I"? Sounds like he's writing his own rap about privilege.
I'm really an 11 year old girl, so don't be hatin' yo.
Chugin fiths an' throwin up in th driveway
I got detention but I aint showin up no way
Where did all them hos go to
I can't see no way
Maybe Eric is planning on razing the trailer homes and building a golf course?
Despite what you people say, this person may have a bright future as a writer. The rhythm and rhymes are on point, and they've captured some if the magical heartbreak of life for an Indian kid on the reservation.
I was reminded of one of my favorite short story collections by Sherman Alexie: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Read this:http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/ale
Cheers-
Just to note, on that short story --it was also made into a film called Smoke Signals.
I own that movie Smoke Signals. I loved it, but I haven't seen it in a while. Thanks for reminding me. I'll have to look for it now. Thanks for the website too.
Yeah, thanks Stacy enjoyed. However, I don't see how that reminded you of Sherman Alexie story.
Directed at Sue Bee in the hive:
I was reminded of Sherman Alexie by the language. It is a blend of rawness and poetry, with lines like "It's so hard being a native in the rez" followed closely by "smoke so much, my class can see my smoke". The imagery is overwhelming and poetic, since normally if soemone smokes a lot you can SMELL the smoke on them, but here the author states that the smoke smell is so strong it is visible and mystifying. He captures the Native American voice, which is precisely what Sherman Alexie does.
My first feeling on this find is that we are dealing with a poser. Ooooh,I'm such a bad ass, look at me...
Ah, the life of a player is never easy, but you'd think people would get tired of singing about the same old shit...drinking, smoking, being chased by the police, and staring at ho's. I mean, I suppose there's a voice crying in the dark to hear about such topics, but it's so pervasive in rap lyrics, I don't understand. The "thug life" is not glamorous, let me tell you.
I dont know what i think about this. I feel like he's a poser. Trying to pretend he's cool, by saying all that crap about smoking and drinking, and hos. Trouble is, that's a real way of life for so many native kids, and it is perceived as cool. That, and huffing solvents and committing suicide. Makes me sad.
I do know a native kid, who has awesome potential as a musician. He writes amazing raps. Hope he makes it.
This kid is rather dead already or a total poser and is secretly planning to go to business school.
"ohhh, I skipped class and I drink and smoke....blah blah blah.." If you feel the need to write "rap" lyrics about it; then you're just craving attention. Put down the bottle and go hug your mother!
I wonder if he lives on the Slapaho rez? Kickabitch maybe? Either way, I'm wanna pop a arrow in this kid's ass.
Wow living close to bellingham this makes me laugh. I'm calling poser. Thats so funny. I moved here from WV and this rap is universal, some of my HS boyfriends could have wrote that! We thought we were so bad ass. SPAM question, who was the first president (WASHINGTON)
I read it like this: (in an English accent)
It's so hard being a native in The Rez, fighting all the haters, running from those mother-fucking Feds. In school, skipping class to go smoke.
Parties on the weekend, me and my bro's, straight drinking beer, chugging fifths, checking out all these ho's.
Yah, it's just not as fun.
I, too was wondering about the whole trailer park as "investment properties". Wow.
Not to mention I live basically in a "rez" (my development is leased from a tribe and on tribe land) and it aint that bad.
Turbo - lmao
While the rhythm and rhyme are nice, I get so sick of seeing this nearly illegible, misspelled ignorance being passed off as writing. Rap is an aural medium for a reason!
Google the finder and order up a 30 dollah ball cap.
I wonder if he calls his mother a "ho"?
I'm afraid I don't see much "poetry" here. Rhythm? Rhyme? Really? And that would be...where?
But then I am spoiled by contact with French rap. Which is much better than most American rap--harder-hitting, biting social commentary, not just "poor me, I'm a victim and the world owes me a living." In grammatically sound French, too, for those who care about such things.
I am also spoiled by daily contact Shakespeare, Donne, Jonson and Rochester--true poets who dealt with the real nitty-gritty.
Orinoco--it doesn't really "rhyme." I think most of the "rhymes" would be classed as assonance. And we all know what "assonance" means, according to Julie Waters--"they got the rhymes wrong."
OOOH! I just got what "Rez" was supposed to be. Wait... no... no, I am mistaken. I still don't know. What is the Rez? Residence?
Rez=reservation... Poor kid; probably a poser though but I don't doubt he lives a sucky life and won't get out of there.
Rob, thanks, I see your point.
I hate reading stuff like this. I feel morally superior and even though I know it's wrong cause I never met the kid......I just can't help it. Boo to me.
I thought this was going to be a child's homework when I first opened the page.
It's really sad that this kid slipped through the cracks and never had a teacher acknowledge that their reading/writing/spelling skills are so below their grade level.
Kids on the "rez" don't slip through the cracks; they're born into them. Kids on most reservations live in some of the most impoverished environments in our country and often graduate with no more than a fourth grade reading level. That's true of Montana anyway. I'll admit, I'm very ignorant of the status of other reservations. With a "rez" less than 90 miles from my hometown, the reality of it makes me giggle.
This written...thing, makes absolutly no sense. Please disregard it.
"Ho's" could be an abbreviation for "Navahos" couldn't it?
Kayla. you hit the nail on the head, born into the cracks. What's really sad is Christina's comment. This is more likely the norm, rather than the exception.
I am so glad for all these comments that have put this find into context. I live in a big city on the East Coast and needed help to recognize that the is a native american living on a reservation. In this context, and if you can read between the lines, this find is poignant and somewhat heart-breaking.
Oooh! I too want one of those fibre optic hats!
Sometimnes kids listen to the radio, where they hear the "hardships" of the rappers they look up to, and decide that they, too, can rap. this is an obvious attept to be "badass" and have some "street cred" and be... Cool. yes, i can see how it could be hard for him i guess...but Feds? really? come on.
It's not that bad, it just needs some metric work. Everybody needs an outlet, even kids in the R-E-Z.
Who cares if he can spell, can he count to 21?
I might have to get one of those Tarheel light up hats.
@Jenny in IL: Indian reservations are sovereign nations. If the rez doesn't have their own police or court system, it falls under federal jurisdiction.
This could have been written by myself 25 years ago, except it would have been in 80s hair band ballad style. It was hard being a rez native dealing with prejudice. I fought. I skipped school. I got so high every day everyone could tell. I partied and chugged beer on the weekends. I checked out snags, not hos. I also had the second highest GPA in my class when I graduated from high school. The honor was given to the white, church-going, nursing home volunteer that finished below me. She was also one of my best friends. For the record: I graduated college Magna Cum Laude, my Master's degree is so close I can taste it, and am the only female high-level manager of a large construction company in a five county area (the 2nd largest non-union one). I still party and chug beer on the weekends, but have taken a liking to martinis. I work hard so I can skip out of work early every day. I don't get high anymore because of our workplace drug policy. I still check out men like they could be snags.
We may have been born into them, but we don't all fall through the cracks. Those that do are more newsworthy.
Why Mona? It all sounds perfectly plausible to me. I applaud Native in the Rez for rising above the less than ideal cracks into which she was probably born.
I too, applaud native in the rez for finding her way out of the cracks. She's also right about the ones in the cracks being more newsworthy. I thought Christina was being naive.
I dont get what youre not getting about what i said.
never mind, Mona- sorry. There was a post from "Mona Lisa" that accused Native of being full of it. It's gone now, so it must have been one of the cowardly posers.
It's hard out there for a pimp...
This made my day. Hilarious.
Some of these people who wrote comments need to have some heart. Governments have screwed over the Natives in so many Western countries that it is beyond obscene. It's not this kid's fault that he was born into a vicious cycle of poverty, alcoholism, etc. The governments that treated (and still treat) Natives like animals is at fault. It's important to recognize the source of the Natives' problems.
At least he used the contraction "Party's" correctly, even though he or she doesn't know how to spell.
@ Stowaway- I think you have a point there. Ho's could be an abbreviation for 'Navaho's'...definitely.
except for the fact that it's spelled NavaJo, and there probably aren't that many who travel from NM or AZ all the way to WA to be checked out by the Rez boys in Bellingham. Not even at Pow Wow time.
I bet the record label that took M.C. Hammer, would take this guy too. -can't touch this.
Feds could actually be a reality for our poet rapper since any crimes or misdemeanors committed on a reservation are handled by the federal government verus state or local authorities. Hope he shakes off the homeboy-ness and does something great with his life!
Well, its iller than Jah-Rule. Get this kid a contract!
Yeah, as a student of the verbal arts I've gotta say boy, check yoself before ya wreck yoslef.....
I know running from the feds (and school teachers) can leave you with a bit of angst but smoking yourself into a stuppor and writing wack rhymes aint going to make it better.
It is really sad that so many people are judging this poem/rap that was never even meant for us to see. We are lucky to have the opportunity to see into the mind of this young person and we can learn from it. Perhaps this kid is expressing himself through poetry INSTEAD of through other maladaptive ways (fighting, drugs, etc). I don't know if this child is Lummi, Nooksack, Upper Skagit....but many Natives in Bellingham face an extreme amount of poverty, prejudice and hate. Keep that in mind as you judge.
I couldn't even read that... it gave me a headache! Oi... >_<
I find this text really pathetic..
I am Cherokee and it saddens me very much to see things like this. I grew up outside in the white world, but I know that alcohol has been a very big issue on many of the reservations. Men and women who fight to keep it out of the Nations by denying access to trucks carrying it have been jailed for their attempts.
The youth on the reservations know that there is little hope for them and there are few if any jobs available to them on or off the lands. There are help organizations in existance, but the problem with them is that they send things in through the councils and the BIA representatives and very often it isn't distributed properly or at all. There is a coalition based out of Great Britain which is dedicated to helping the Lakota people on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations and I know one of the ladies (Brenda) who helps to run it, she personally sees to the distribution, of whatever is donated or bought with donated funds, to the people. http://www.lakota-aid.co.uk/ This is her site.
I strongly recommend anyone who finds this particilar find offensive or even amusing should go and find pictures and commentaries from the People, the Nations and see for themselves that this is the norm for kids there rather than the exception.
Mitakuye Oyasin. I am Cherokee but this is a Lakota saying, in Iyapi (sp?). It means "We are all one" or "We are all family".
Is it hard being a native?
You apparently have ample access to hoes, fifths, parties and beer. No?
Skipping class makes you write like that, btw.
America is dying.
Native American sovereign nations are third world nations within the boundaries of the United States. Until this is fixed, until this is recognized, we have no place to criticize grammar or vapidity.
Eminem, the lost tapes.
I think this is first attempt of those kids as a rapper. In an actual Rap there should be rhymes, Smooth Flow, catchy content and much more. So I will say that is not Rap!!
i close my eye's and picture a place with sunny dayz, open'em to the rez and just wanna run away, 2 escape the stress and escape the worry, dont wanna c another n8iv get burried,askin mama why its so hard 2 smile thruogh out the miles, i was hardend at the heart as a child that's why i'm wild, born w/less n sentenced to reside on the rez, can u picture the circulation up inside of my head, mamas on dope pops infatuated w/bottles, just take a look at a natives role models, do what i c not what i'm told so i turned 2 liquor and drugs,livin corrupt i chose 2 kick it w/thug, an adolecent age 13 on the scene running the streets, i had 2 hustle 4 some money 2 eat, up at the butt crack of dawn 24/7 on the grind, thats how a natives spending most of the time