The future haunts my mind… The reason my eyes stay open at night… The truth so hard to find… Just can’t cosign a niobium mine / Across the river and through the swamp from my family camp? Just imagining that I feel the last strand of my sanity snap // How can they expect us not to go crazy? They work us all to death then say we’re so lazy / Used to amaze me... Now it enrages me… Go ahead and taze me… Nothing could shock me at this point… They point with no safety // We are of the land... So much more than stewards… But don’t have rights to anything below these mouldy sewers / We must protect the past… Being squeezed in greeds grasp… They sugar coat their lies… I spread seeds of sweet grass // Then wait for the rain to come to raise creeks… The Cheepash My home land.. Abitibi to the Shipsands… I beat paths / Then I walk em in my Air Jordan moccasins… Smudging dollar bills praying one day this will all make sense // But for now it doesn’t… that’s why I keep about as quiet as the sound of thunder... The beast is a / pink pig sucking on a pound of butter… Sniffing the powder… Loves it… But ain’t proud of nothing… It’s got a // Shadow full of shame… And the hounds are coming… With the wolves, lynx and bears… Yea, the ground is rumbling / The eagles and the ravens and the owls above them… The condors from the south by the clouds are buzzin’ //

They put the real ones in muzzles while the fake take our bundles… Talking way too loud… We make em bounce like bustles / What do they know about the Moosonee struggle? Moose Factory hustle or this moose meat muscle? // It takes thousands of pulls on cold skidoos… Hundreds of miles through the bush in snowshoes / Tons of piles of wood spilt... Cords of spruce… Many hours stuck in the slush with soaked boots // Patching holes on a canoe in a hail storm… Calling moose and spending 4 days waiting for him / Praying for him... When he comes straight aiming for him... Sharpening my blade for him... Red rain pouring // Blood stains on my mitts… It remain on em… Grip mics with them… Spit like I’m flame throwing / It’s a cold world… They’re numb… They want our brains frozen… But I will not succumb and be a slave for them // Nothing made foreign… We’re all local… No quiet Natives where I’m from… We’re all vocal / Big rapids up ahead… Think I’m shooting them… Sometimes you gotta just do it… (Just do it den) // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Do it for your dootemn… Where you from? Do it for the land and do it for the fam… Do it cause you can even though they said you can’t // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Make em say dootum… Just do it den “” “” Bear clan Moose Cree with the spirit of a lynx… I will share what I’ve seen… I don’t care what they / think… I don’t care what they preach and I am never going to Sink… Down to their level… They trap you like a // mink… They’re wearing our fur… They’ve stretched us to the brink… Skin torn from our flesh… Infected with the / Stink… It doesn’t smell the same… We call you out Quick… Can’t question this… I was born a bush // Nish… First rapper from the Land up North to push discs… I ride a moose like horse… I’m bush / rich… She’s plucking a goose on the porch to cook with Potatoes, wild rice and corn… Keeps it tradish // thick… Our culture deeper than the roots dig in… They’re stealing from our knowledge keepers holding truth within / We call em out and kick em out cause it’s who we’ve been… When it’s time to face the drum they better do it den // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Do it for your dootemn… Where you from? Do it for the land and do it for the fam… Do it cause you can even though they said you can’t // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Make em say dootum… Just do it den “” “” If you don’t want the smoke why you playing with the fire? Saying Native rap don’t exist is saying I’m a liar / Oh now that there’s money to be made all of a sudden you’ve been hunting on these lakes? Fronting like a brave but keep // ducking like a drake when the gun about to blaze? Tuck your mic away when it comes to where you’re raised / I’ve been hunting on these bays since I was a boy… The maze of Rivers and creeks saved me… It’s the land that made me so // You can’t shame me… You can’t change me… Talk a- Bout culture shock… I live through that daily / But I move so wavy… These streets won’t sway me… I’m a Moose River Cree and the beast won’t tame me // But in the city we can feel like castaways… If you weren’t raised in the culture you can’t relate / So Why scrape food off of my plate? When it’s all I have and you already ate? // Mooshkamee sweat… Veins got moose stew in them… If they've been claiming they’re Native they better prove it den / We call em out and kick em out cause it’s who we’ve been… When the community says prove it better do it den // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Do it for your dootemn… Where you from? Do it for the land and do it for the fam… Do it cause you can even though they said you can’t // Just do it den… Make em say dootum… Make em say dootum… Just do it den “” “” We call em out and kick em out cause it’s who we’ve BEEN… When the Great Spirit says “Do it” better do it den..

Nish vibe… Nish flow and Nish weaponry I’m a moose hunter but my scope is on my enemy / True straight shooter… They are known to twist Everything… Next question, and you better speak respectfully // You better not be selling me something you think is better… See, my Culture is alive inside… It’s not dead to me / And for my Natives that died… I ride deadly… They want us taking it light… I take it heavily // Every time time they’re telling me that we should just let it be… It’s unacceptable the way they won’t accept the Cree / way of life was blessed… F*** manifest destiny… What’s put in the dark will all come to light eventually //

This is Nishnawb Hip hop… Shotgun red hot like a sweat rock… Make a city Native do the rez stomp… This is Nishnawb Hip hop… 30-30 with the head shot… Straight shwoosh with the rez rock… Ever try to shoot a goose flying passed you? That’s what I call fast food / Ever try to grab a moose by the rack, you? That’s what I call a bad move // I’ve always represented for the Native North... Call me Thomas Shepard; way I play with cords / Trying to create a sound to catch the vibes // Of the machataywayow... It’s land and skies / Still bringing high notes from the Lowlands... If you really Wanna go we can go den / I fight with my words... Musko Dotem... On a track first one to say “Skoden” // 94 calls to action… Still waiting on all the action…. / It’s looking like it’s not going to happen… It’s looking like we’re going to have to take it all back den…. // If you know some politicians better at them… Talking bullshit? We’re going to throw it back at them… / No more stretched words and talking… The ancestors are watching // This is Nishnawb Hip hop… Shotgun red hot like a sweat rock… Make a city Native do the rez stomp… This is Nishnawb Hip hop… 30-30 with the head shot… Straight shwoosh with the rez rock… I’ve made some shoolean but it’s more than business... Every word... Every verse dropped for my Nishes / But when it come to the critics and haters hating specifics about the way that I did this? All I hear is crickets // I’ll never take a deal... I keep it independent… I own the rights to every record… Each and every second / I wear it proud around my neck just like a beaded pendant… Peace sign folded in a fist my only needed weapon // They don’t want to see us rise up… Want us to keep our mouths closed and our eyes shut / They taught of a God made their image… Said the theft of our land was pilgrimage // They still grimace at the thought of me doing a sweat… Brush off the fact their economy’s doomed to dept / They’d probably hate to know that I still pray for them… Cold world… But my father taught me how to stay warm // I’m a hunter and warrior through and through… It’s nothing that I need to prove… What’s true is true / I truth pursue as I’m moving through these ruins… Smooth Stepping wild lynx who has never jumped through a hoop // I knew I was no chicken so I flew the coop… Showed them I had eagle vision… Saw through the noose / I heard a calling from the fallen and I made a promise… No matter how much truth hurts… I’m staying honest // This is Nishnawb Hip hop… Shotgun red hot like a sweat rock… Make a city Native do the rez stomp… This is Nishnawb Hip hop… 30-30 with the head shot… Straight shwoosh with the rez rock… This is Nishnawb Hip hop… Shotgun red hot like a sweat rock… Make a city Native do the rez stomp… This is Nishnawb Hip hop… 30-30 with the head shot… Straight shwoosh with the rez rock…

The braid remains…. The braid remains… They buried them deep… But we dug up all the braid remains… Some were locked in museums... Some were thrown in the flames… But the braid remains… The braid remains... They cut them off with dirty blades... Didn’t mark our graves… But our spirit survived… Can’t put a spirit in chains // Killing our culture and robbing our soul like copper and gold… Potash and coal… That was their ultimate goal / Fill us with fear and hate then offer us no sense of respect… Disconnect us from all that we know // Up here in the north a deep sadness resides… But it’s also where traditions of our past have survived / Up here is where our stress and pain and anguish has thrived… But It’s also where we kept our Native language alive // We’re still walking through the clay… Soaking in the shade… Discrimi-hate imbedded deep in kokum’s DNA / But we still got truth and strength flowing in our veins… Still some still lose their way coping with the rage // Still hunting on the bays trolling in the waves… Still smudging while we pray… Growing out our braids / Listen… This one right here is for the young braves Driven… Keeping old ways living when they show them that the…// The braid remains…. The braid remains… They buried them deep… But we dug up all the braid remains… Some were locked in museums... Some were thrown in the flames… But the braid remains… The braid remains... They cut them off with dirty blades... Didn’t mark our graves… But our spirit survived… Can’t put a spirit in chains // I started hunting way before I was allowed to shoot… Sitting in that blind was just something I was proud to do / Watching those giant clouds of wavies glide down… It made my pride howl… Loud like the sound of the booms // I was eleven when I started hunting moose… Way up the Kwatabahegan with my father… Cutting through / the Swamp like a spoon through stew… I never knew I was Hunting for a part of myself too… I fell through the // Ice as a teen on the river in the spring… Lost my dads snow machine… Watched it slowly sink / Frozen in fear as I stared in the cold water… Felt the current but the thought of surviving was pulling harder // Took off my soaked parka and my mitts and I backed away… Crawled along a high ridge that a crack had made / Funny how the broken spots become the strongest… The same goes for our hearts… you know the song say… // The braid remains…. The braid remains… They buried them deep… But we dug up all the braid remains… Some were locked in museums... Some were thrown in the flames… But the braid remains… The braid remains... They cut them off with dirty blades... Didn’t mark our graves… But our spirit survived… Can’t put a spirit in chains // The way that I was taught to hunt is a ceremony… But I’ll never forget my first sit in the sweat / Talking about our history’s a scary story… But every word that we’ve said should be written and read // To us it’s written in red… In blood... The ink that we’ve shed… We’ve been dripping… We’ve bled… We’ve been hit with the lead… / It’s time for them to stop speaking and just listen instead… To our Native knowledge keepers where the wisdom is kept // So let your braids down and let em wave in the wind… Let your braids down and rep the Native within / Let your braids down and be a brave like you’ve been… Let your braids down and show them they didn’t win / So let your braids down and let em wave in the wind… Let your braids down and rep the Native within / Let your braids down and be a brave like you’ve been… Let your braids down and show them… / The braid remains… They buried them deep… But we dug up all the braid remains… Some were locked in museums... Some were thrown in the flames… But the braid remains… The braid remains... They cut them off with dirty blades... Didn’t mark our graves… But our spirit survived… Can’t put a spirit in chains //

…This is more than a verse to me… Can’t help but approach it all personally / S and the feather forever encouraging Us to remember that money ain’t with a thing // It’s dollars they’re making they’re worshipping… They want to enslave us to purchasing / Shut up while they’re raping and burning and murdering… Trust me I say this with urgency // It messed me up on the day it occurred to me There’s been nothing kept sacred from burglary / They took it all… Taking absurd to me… The land wasn’t made by a person, see // We are of it… We’re not above it… The Truth is I love it so much that it’s hurting me / I am from it… My mic it has fungus and Roots… The earth it bleeds… Dirt is now Burgundy // The blood of the past is resurfacing… Mixing with mud and grey matter and mercury / Hunting our cultural currency… Call to the drum is a call to emergency (emerge and see) They tried to beat the drum out of us… Cause nobody beat the drum proud as us / Nobody beat the drum loud as us… So they tried to beat the drum out // They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum proud / They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum loud!! // Been saying it for years… They prey on our fears… They feed on our hate… But it isn’t here / Our vision is clear… Like water should be… Wasn’t for profit it probably would be // Still tracking on land that was robbed from me… Still hunting for what was not taught to me / Still walking for justice and stepping in harmony…. Fighting for freedom, respect and equality // Path has been twisted we need to un- wind it… Planet has tilted cause we have a- / ligned with each other in numbers for mother earth… Climate change is for real… Rich aren’t // buying it… Right, just acting so righteous... Laughing and smiling at lateral violence / Violently laying their pipes through sacred sites while babies cry… Elders are praying with // pipes… Tobacco and sage is priceless… Rights… They’re what we demand… We have no price… Defending the land they sacrifice… Each river is sacred.. Water is life // The system was made to be twisted by dollars and riches… It’s all ‘bout the business… We / need to rebuild this… The beast it is greed and it needs to be killed… A disease and a sickness // Music my method for beating the odds… Brutally beat up the beat for the cause / Bare handed… Two tons in each paw… Bear clan and I’m coming to march // This thunderous beat in my heart… Keeps Thumping and beating so hard / This thunderous beat in my heart… Keeps Thumping and beating so hard // They tried to beat the drum out of us… Cause nobody beat the drum proud as us / Nobody beat the drum loud as us… So they tried to beat the drum out // They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum proud / They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum loud!! // This is assimilation!!! This is a simulation!!! This is assimilation!!! We are living in a simulation!!! They tried to kill my Nation!!! This is assimilation!!! Cultural disintigration!!! This is a simulation!!! Want land back… We’re sick of waiting… This is assimilation!!! Got our bones mixed in the pavement… This is a simulation!!! So many ghosts living in the basement… This is assimilation!!! So many worms holes in the matrix… This is a simulation!!! This is assimilation!!! This is a simulation!!! This is assimilation!!! No more living in a simulation!!! We’re going to rebuild the Nation!!! No more living in assimilation / Cultural Revitalization!!! No more living in a simulation // Want land back… We’re going to take it… No more living in assimilation!!! / This is our home… Our land… We’re Native No more living in a simulation… // We’re on our way back… Our path is ancient… No more living in assimilation… / To the future our past we’re taking… No more living in a simulation // They tried to beat the drum out of us… Cause nobody beat the drum proud as us / Nobody beat the drum loud as us… So they tried to beat the drum out // They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum proud / They tried to beat the drum out of us… But still we beat the drum loud!! // Still hunting on the land… Proud… No such thing as a government handout… Only given back just a handful… I stand out Like a tamarack on the flats full of candles... Lighting on fire… Spreading heat on a cold wind… You’re not alone… You’re surrounded by spirit… They’ve tried to defen you… But you can hear it If you listen real close… On the land it’s nearest…

My kwe’s built hotter than a fire… Hair real dark and longer than Elvira’s… She’s My lady hawk… More fly than Michelle Pfeiffer… I turn into a wolf at night… Just wanna bite her… Grew up on the land… Guess I’m an outsider… Call me Pony Boy and she’s a Night rider… Glide in like a condor, man… I rise higher… When she’s looking at me with the eye of a tiger… Nish earrings… The nativest necklace... I don’t take her to the club I take her to breakfast… Glass beads shining makes a Darryl Hanna splash… Dripping like Jenny Beals she’s doing a flash dance… She makes deadly bannock... Wanna shove it in my face I help her clean the mess up and she does the Jenny Grey... See, my Kwe likes to dirty dance sober… I told her "Nobody puts a Native in the corner"… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… (Neeee) I really love the way she kneeds that… Traditional corn flour… Bleached wheat’s bad… / And even when she’s being “ever mean, ah”… Probably deserve it.. So much love for my Creecat… // She’s never mean… I’m being stupid… Jus kiddin… Sweeter than a strawberry… Cuter than a kitten… / Her auntie bun’s thicker than the stew we’re going to dip in… Scented candles lit and playing music in the kitchen… // I swear her bannock’s sacred… The sweetest ever… Blessed with sage… Smudged with an eagle feather… / Nobody does does it better… Not even close… When she makes the dough I make a toast // Forget frybread… That grease? Can’t have it… See… I’ve been trying to beat that habit... / Wood stove top is where she heats that bannock… Got the whole spot smelling like magic… // I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… (Neeee) Spread your eagle wings… Ever, don’t be shy… Feel the wind beneath your feathers, you can fly… Spread your eagle wings… Ever, don’t be shy… Feel the wind beneath your feathers, you can fly… Spread your eagle wings… Ever, don’t be shy… Feel the wind beneath your feathers, you can fly… Spread your eagle wings… Ever, don’t be shy… Feel the wind beneath your feathers, you can fly… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… (Neeee) I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… I love the way you knead that bannock… I love the way you knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… Girl, you know I knead that bannock… Girl you know I knead that… (Neeee, that bannock) (Neeee, just beautiful this mom)

I find myself praying for every life that I’ve taken… About a few thousand now… But I might be mistaken / And it’s sad how many got away wounded… Took a slug up in the gut but kept moving // Blood spewing Bullets flying by em… trying to consume em / Fumin… Probably wondering why I was trying to shoot em.. Was just a part of the cycle of life loopin… // Those I found I smothered til their lungs were still... Maybe in another life I’ll be the one whose killed / But the thing that I’m thinking is “Would you kill me?” And that’s the thought that’s got me feeling guility // But it’s the way I was raised so I accept it… Expect it… Life on the James Bay gets hectic / I stay connected… Practice my Native method… And I always pull my trigger with respect… So respect it //

I no longer wonder why there’s pain in the thunder’s cry… Tears shine like pearls… They rain from our mother eye / Her heart is heavier than gold and getting dug up… Mines are getting deeper every day ‘cause they see money // My provider and my comforter… As I child I used to run to her every- time that something hurt… Then with pride I learned to hunt for her / Now I’m rhyming trying to comfort her… She’s dying cause her lungs are burnt…. A deep red sky is rising up from under her // She’s wondering if we’ve given up on her and lost love for her… We’re struggling cause they stripped us of honour and robbed us from her / Still I’ve felt her with me everywhere I’ve ever been… The strength I draw on when I fall and need a second wind // The moss I walk on and the water that I’m stepping in…. When they took us from the land; they took us from our medicine / They’re killing her with chemicals and we’re all getting sick... They steady give sedatives cause it’s better biz // They severed our umbilical cord to soon… We were still connected by the sweat and stayed warm in the womb / Kept us protected… Our culture was our cocoon… Ripped us out before our wings could bloom… All they do is consume //

Even though I know that you’re already home… Those are more than just bones... So much more’s been exposed... The injustice that’s tortured our souls... We’re the ones who’ve been cold... Cause our ashes are what’s in their stoves… Smoke rose… Seed to rose… Rest in peace they believe we won’t… but (We will) You were too good for their graves... Your names too good to engrave No phrase or words that could say... what you’d mean to us all today... Still it’s for you that we pray... And we see you in the youth of today... Can’t imagine someone taking them away… Making them their slave and breaking them with hate We’ll slam the gates on the pastors face cause YOU’RE the ones who’ll emancipate us Little souls sweet hands embrace us… You’re giving us our faith back... You’ve saved us Truth…. It hurt like booze in the wounds… Feeling cursed like our truth wasn’t truth… To the church our youth weren’t youth… We KNEW that they tried to bury the proof but the roots of the ancient spruce that they cut held you close like a blanket Smell you in the flowers in the forest so fragrant Our Tiger Lillies... So orange and radiant Coming for justice… And it’s ain’t just us… We’ve got the whole world backing us Up… Little bones underground… But you’ve been looking down from above… So sick of these government bluffs… An apology’s just not enough… The RCMP was a crutch for the Queen.. I’ve seen what benevolence does when it comes from a place that’s fake… No Love… They preach it but what we feel’s hate… No trust... I was taught to give back what you take... No buts... No if’s or ands or maybes... Just what’s right... White lies they tell are still lies... Just dressed up nice in dis- guise… While the truth is darker than night skies... I look where the moon light shines… On the highway I night drive… Never touching those white lines… It’s for you I Fight… Rise up everyday and I try… Coming for the land back… Yea we are… And we’ll start with the spots they buried our future… The properties of priests and nuns that abused yea… We lost you once but we’re Not going to loose you now… You’re memory’s going to be written down… We’ll find Peace in knowing you’re found… In sweet release we will cry out loud… So hurt and so Proud… So hurt and so proud So even though we know that you’re home… Still going to find each bone… The truth’s going to be exposed… You’re story it’s going to told… Even though we know that you’re home… We still cry for your souls… Going to find… Going to find each bone… Won’t stop til we find each bone… Won’t stop til we find each bone… (Little bones)

Was a good day to die but we lived through it… still we play with fire… Cause we sip fluid / That kills everything it touches… pain included… But there are other ways to do it I’m staying in tune with // To get a moose you gotta go where the moose go... 5 day ride up the river to where the spruce low / Currents got you burning gas fast while you move slow... Quick with the steel like Val Kill in Tombstone // They don’t want to let my truth speak… Muzzle Me til I can’t breathe… But roots deep tunnel through the red soil… Rise and I cruise creeks… Strong as a musko… Cause I eat moose meat // This is for my rez natives... That rock braids and my dog faced head shavers / Keeping the feathers faded so yea see em right... Been in a better place but still we’ll eat tonight // Tkrue knowledge is knowing where all the fish are… Tobacco offering… Smoking them like a cigar / This is an abominable system we live in so I’m Sliding right on top of the snow… Slick like a nigik // 500 years weve been shot in these streets… Throwing water on the fire but it’s not going to cease / Til we get our land back… From the swamps we will creep… We will build our own future with the knowledge we keep // For 500 years they’ve been chopping our trees... Damning our rivers and robbing our streams / Of thought… What they’ve taught? It is not what it seems… Time to get up… Time to stop the machine // I was taught to always treat a gun like it’s loaded… I was the one sitting in the front of the boat with / My eyes on the shore lines... Huntin while coastin… No mud on my scope, man… The son of a boatman // The James Bay coast... Yea I come from the Lowlands... Underground flow… I am Covered and cloaked in the / Land... They said we can’t sweat… Said we can’t sun dance… Cause they fear what they don’t understand // The beast is brutal and he’s cruising through the streets… A poodle without his piece… See’s you like you’re on his leash / But you been out in the trees with the bears and wolves… Walk that bridge fearless… Ain’t scared of trolls // As I drive from Thunder Bay to the Alligator State I can Still hear the chains as they rattle like a snake / I can taste the venom injected into the steak… We’ll have beef as long as there’s cattle on the range // But Sagabon a goose and watch me salivate and shake… Nemeshtek for the road in can from up the bay / I hit em with the truth… They can’t handle the “tabway”... I never did it for the juice it’s just happening that way // Don’t let anybody tell you what you can or can’t do… Your path ain’t paved… It’s a river that moves / Canoes of birch bark and tamarack roots… With bullet holes patched with sap from black spruce // 500 years weve been shot in these streets… Throwing water on the fire but it’s not going to cease / Til we get our land back… From the swamps we will creep… We will build our own future with the knowledge we keep // For 500 years they’ve been chopping our trees... Damning our rivers and robbing our streams / Of thought… What they’ve taught? It is not what it seems… Time to get up… Time to stop the machine // For 500 years they’ve been chopping our trees... (For 500 years they’ve been chopping our trees) Damning our rivers and robbing our streams… (Damning our rivers and robbing our streams) Of thought… What they’ve taught? It is not what it seems… (Of thought… What they’ve taught? It is not what it seems) Time to get up… Time to stop the machine… (Time to get up… Time to stop the machine) I can’t tell the difference between capitalism and cannibalism… That’s cause there’s no difference between capitalism and cannibalism… I can’t tell the difference between capitalism and cannibalism… That’s cause there’s no difference between capitalism and cannibalism… (Stop the machine) It’s disgraceful… How did they get to the point they’re this wasteful… Living like the future is missing… They’re ungrateful… Twisting all the truth… Keep it hidden… They’re unfaithful… Where did they’re faith go?

They’re thinking they know… But I know better… They don’t want to go with a go getter… I kill it… They feel it but won’t ever admit it… I’ve been in the cold weather with a headdress made of crow feathers… Been building a village of bones…. tell them the ill have been filling my cold cellar… Truth: spilling it til their exposed (Tell em) Trappin these actors in snares like rabbits.. These bears I track with ain’t scared to scrap and we carry hatchets and spaids… Chop up, bury rattling snakes… Axe to the face of the real that blazed these trails… You’re ship has been sinking… But you didn’t notice… Too busy “raising sales”… Money ain’t the motive but it’s been rolling in in waves… While I make this moola with my braves… Wetum boys out making change while heads are rolling off the stage… There's no royalty… It’s fake… They take more than our rivers and lakes… They def- orest… Our cities inflamed… Even our soil is living in chains…

It’s the weekend… I know what you’re thinking… I know way too much about that hole that we sink in / Ice hits the glass… All alone with the clinking… Flash backs haunt my soul when I’m blinking // 38 hanging from a rope thanks to Lincoln… Luxury cars avoid the roads that we link in / Riding through streets with my mind on the geese… That would glide to my blind where I’d hide with my piece by my // side… Like when I’m gliding up creeks…. Got my sights nice and clean… Truth hides in the trees... / Fine dining we feast… Moose hide for our sheets... Sleeping real deep… Moon shines on our dreams // Heads high like tide when it rises our streams... To divide they proceed to feed lies to our feeds... I smell the greed... Know it Hides deep beneath story lines on TV… But my mind holds the key // The gangrene’s getting hungry… It eats… It’ll start at your feet and creep up while you sleep… You’ll wake // up and you’ll be nothing but meat… At a corporate feast on a plate… What’s at stake is your peace… The greed… It’ll rob you of sleep… End up with a dead horses head getting blood on your sheets…. Me… I’m a Cree… My style covered in grease… And I’ll never stop hunting the beast //

The sun is low and dim... His back to the glow... A Thin Line between the shore and him... Too heavy to float and swim... / So all alone he’s been On a solid stone feeling so Cold and hollow, soaked within... Stuck in the open wind... // It’s like his home just So far away it don’t exist... Searching for a hope that lives Somewhere inside the lonely mist... / No longer safe in this Place where he chose to sit... He built a dam to stop the waves But they’ve broken it... // Now they’re coming all at once.. He knows they’re going to hit / Hard... He’s gotta roll with it or drown... There’s no boat... but wait... / Feels the pain lift... Decaying leaves drift away... Sees it’s not as deep as he thought... And he begins to wade… //

The moment I hear the familiar keys of geese above the swamp canopies These memories rush back to me Like water on the roots of my family tree Spring time in the snow blind sipping that tea Late fall in a twenty foot v-stern In the swamp in the winter with the snowshoes on Following tracks 'til my feet hurt You connected me to my destiny You taught me what being Native means In the shade of the trees you made me believe in something sacred and free On the land you'll be forever with me Making me see was the greatest gift that you could ever give me Always have your strong essence in your taught lessons Your calm presence in the reflections of the sun rising over the tree line horizons I'm rewinding this time inside of my mind and finding a pride that's shining I walked the shoreline with the rope You walked the riverside and guided the boat City lights in the distance glowed Glistened off the rivers flow When the currents started churning You knew that you had to just let go But you should know I won't stop pulling Even if it seems I'm moving slow Through the rain and through the snow I'll proudly hold my past at my side Son of one of our last great men One with the river, the land and the sky I was blessed to hunt moose with my moochum… 3 generations on the river / cruising… Once came back soon cause he ran out of smokes… That year no shooting… No rack in the / boat… Really wished that he brought just one more pack… But cigarettes took his life and that’s facts… Now I wish we could have just one more chat… There’s so much inside that I have to // ask… But mostly want to say meegwetch… Cause he help mould he as proud as a / Cree gets… I hope he forgets any regrets… And he feels only our love and our respect… And the love of his life… My Kokum… I know they’re together now holding each other CLOSE in the spirit world… Coastin… Back of the boat with him.. laughing and // joking… So here’s to them… The ones that passed… Blowing past in the wind… / Spreading words of encouragement… They’re the messengers from the world within / Never left this earth… With the earth they spin… / Every Lesson learned will be learned again… I rest assured we’ll return to them… We’re the last great women and the last great men //

Tears have been flowing But I'm fearlessly floating Waited years for this moment Now it's here and I know it Feel you near when I'm broken You appear and you show me where to steer Bring me home and sit me near to the stove It's the culture... He's the culture She's the culture You're the culture We're the culture It's the culture (4 pushups)

Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… Everything ain’t alright… But it will be ok // Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… We all make it back one day… That’s tapwe // I see you looking hard sitting at the party sipping… On the hard liquor with the pop hardly mixed in / Hang overs hit you hard… So you started sniffing… Snow… Now like a river stone your heart is skipping // Hard to sleep feeling it beat in an awkward rhythm… The Doctor’s given you a week unless you stop... He’s scribbling / Prescribing some other pill that’ll have your conscience drifting… Now every single prescription’s another hard addiction // Walking around the Rez with a ghost face… Your Just Killing time sipping rye… No chaser / Hit the bootleggers trying to catch a cold case… Hurts Less… To the burn in your chest you’re no stranger // You hear the land calling… Waiting for you everyday… The cedar stands are a safer place to get away / The memories you make hunting; they will never fade… Grab a shotgun, bag of shells, lighter and a knife… Put tobacco down… Head high… Head out into the night / Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… Everything ain’t alright… But it will be ok // Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… We all make it back one day… That’s tapwe // I do it for the ones who didn’t have a dad to teach them… Cause moochum had a preacher giving him a savage beating / I do it for the fathers that were unable to hunt… The camp’s not a place to be drunk... The land is too sacred for drugs // So they would stay in the house… All day they laid on the couch in a deep haze… Looking out while geese came from the south / They should have been at the blind… But instead they were blinded By regret… Now they’re dying behind the enemy lines // They were taught about a God that rejected their cries… They were taught their skin colour made them less in his eyes / They weaponized religion, fear, deception and lies… Residential school scissors used to sever the ties // But our braids grew back and we’re still stretching the hides... Our sweat rocks are still hot and you’re still welcome inside / Trust me when I say the culture’s waiting for you… Your ancestors walk with you and they’re praying for you // I see you bouncing on the pow wow grounds… Always hitting every beat… I feel your proudness pounds / So loud it drowns out the sounds of doubts howling now in the distance… Persisstant but you count them out // You may have lost your way but are strong and brave… I know you’ll Make it back no matter how long it takes / Just keep a constant pace… Don’t fear them; cross these lakes… You’re guaranteed to make it home if you keep walking straight // Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… Everything ain’t alright… But it will be ok // Here’s to you… I hope you make it home… I pray the Great Spirit helps you walk straight / Coming or your going what we say is “Wachay”… We all make it back one day… That’s tapwe // I know you're going to make it back... Faith is hard to have but I have faith in that...