(AllHipHop News) Dakota Sioux Native American Stuart James’ latest track “No DAPL(Dakota Access Pipeline),” is a rallying cry for all natives residing on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota.
The inspirational tune from the 23-year old MC utilizes the instrumental from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” to protest the U.S. government’s construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would transport 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Dakota to Illinois.
“The protest is nonviolent and peaceful which amazes me that the police have been called and are always on standby, not only that but the National Guard has been called in,” Stuart James explained to AllHipHop.com. “There have been many attempts to break our spirit and force us to use violence but we have not given in even when they sprayed our people with pepper spray and unleashed attack dogs on the crowd which was filled with women and children. Keep in mind when the attacks happened we had no idea they would go that far at the work sites to prevent any work stoppage.”
Staurt James says that this pipeline would not only threaten the water supply of the Missouri River, but it may also lead to the desecration of the native’s sacred treaty lands and burial sites of Lakota ancestors.
“I made this song to empower our native people and encourage them to keep pushing forward and don’t flinch in the face of danger,” the artist explained to AllHipHop.com when speaking on the motivation behind the anthem.
“People have little knowledge on what the lands mean to our people and through music it is more effective to convey a story so I chose to use Kendrick Lamar’s beat ‘Alright’ to encourage the message that even though we are facing a threat we will stand strong and be alright in the end. Our people have strong belief through prayer and spirituality so I wanted to encourage the water and land protectors to keep pushing and stay positive,” Stuart James continued.
The Spirit Lake Reservation that James was raised on is filled with negativity ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to lateral oppression and the artist has overcame all of these obstacles, through the strength of prayer and music, including Hip-Hop.
Recently, James released the 13 song project To Whom It May Concern, which is a very descriptive and personal album and also includes the “#NoDAPL” track on Bandcamp.
Click here to learn more about the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy.