NEWS

Frank Waln uses rap to share Native Americans' story

Stacey Barchenger
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Frank Waln was in his first year of college in Chicago when an elevator ride changed his life. He met a young woman on the elevator.

Waln recalled the woman complimenting his long hair, which, as he told this story to a crowd at the Mt. Juliet Pow Wow on Saturday, was in two braids, one hanging down each shoulder in a tapering line.

His story doesn't go the way you might expect.

The woman asked where he was from. He said he was a member of the Sicangu Lakota, a Native American tribe. He grew up on a reservation in South Dakota.

"You guys are still alive? I thought you all were extinct," Waln recalled the woman's response.

The interaction sparked something in Waln, who began researching who was telling the stories of Native American people. It was mostly non-natives, he said.

But it is not anymore.

Native American rapper Frank Waln performs at the Mt. Juliet Pow Wow on Saturday, September 26, 2015.

Waln has used something nontraditional to carry on the storytelling traditions of Native Americans. He tells stories through rap, and his success has landed him space on the pages of national newspapers and airtime on MTV. His performance at the Mt. Juliet Pow Wow was his first show in Tennessee.

Behind a microphone stand, he told an audience of a few hundred the elevator story. Children chucked corn cobs back and forth like a football. Families ate corn soup from paper dishes. Vendors guarded booths filled with feather and stone jewelry.

Waln told them how he grew up poor and at first was shy behind a microphone. He earned a scholarship that gave him a big break to go to college. People told him to be a doctor. He made it through two years of medical school before he switched to study something he loved: audio arts and acoustics.

Now he travels the country rapping and telling stories and encouraging young people to pursue their dreams. It brought him to Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

Afternoon sun replaces rain at the Mt. Juliet Pow Wow on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015.

Vivian Tourtillott heard the music start as she was feeding powwow dancers at Little Winds Favorites booth, where she served up buffalo burgers and fry bread.

She left her apron on and grabbed her cellphone as she headed toward the man fiercely belting lyrics like "they hold our mouth shut and tell us we are voiceless" and "this country's story is written with the blood of my people."

Tourtillott, who is from the Keshena reservation in Wisconsin, had never heard Waln, who has been heralded for his ability to connect with young audiences. She liked him.

"Country musicians sing about their lives, their worlds. Like that, it's speaking truth," she said. She said she hoped Waln would inspire children to be interested in Native American history.

"They don't teach that to kids in school anymore," she said.

Sharlene Brooks, left, and Phaizon Osborne shoot darts with blow guns at a target at the Mt. Juliet Pow Wow on Saturday, September 26, 2015.

Waln was once a child who needed inspiration himself. Now he's found it.

"You guys are helping make my dreams come true, as a kid from the res," he told the crowd.

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.