From “My Block” to “Born on the Rez”: A Linguistic Analysis of Lyrics by 2PAC, Frank Waln, Litefoot, Nataanii Means, and Night Shield

Authors

Teresa Y. Neely
Sarah Kostelecky
Jorge Ricardo Lopez-McKnight
Monica Etsitty Dorame

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-29-2015

Abstract

The lack of consistent wide-spread media coverage of recent events in North America involving violence against Native Americans and African Americans in the U.S., missing and murdered indigenous women, led the authors to a thoughtful discussion about the similar and parallel issues shared by our people. Although the deaths of Michael Brown (August 9, 2014, Ferguson, MO), Eric Garner (July 17, 2014, NY), and Sandra Bland (July 13, 2015, TX) were nationally covered news events; the deaths of Misty Upham, Blackfeet (October 5, 2014, WA); Native American activist Rexdale Henry, Choctaw (July 14, 2015, MS), and Christina Tahhahwah, Comanche (November 13, 2014, OK), appear to have been covered locally, and shared from far fewer, predominantly Native, social media sources, if at all. The researchers undertook a project to see if Native American rappers were rapping about what went on in their communities, on reservations and pueblos, 20 years after Shakur’s death. The researchers will share their experience identifying Native American lyricists/musicians, creating a dataset from commercially available rap music, selecting digital humanities software, and analyzing the data.

Publisher

Paper to accompany presentation at the Institute of American Indian Arts 2016 Conference, March 31-April 1, 2016

Publication Title

Institute of American Indian Arts 2016 Conference

Language (ISO)

English

Recommended Citation

Neely, T. Y., Kostelecky, S, Dorame, M.E., and Lopez-McKnight, J. R. (2016). "From “My Block” to “Born on the Rez”: A Linguistic Analysis of Lyrics by 2PAC, Frank Waln, Litefoot, Nataanii Means, and Night Shield." Paper Presented at Indigenous Intervention into the "Indigenous Narrative," Albuquerque, NM, March 31-April 1, 2016. Unpublished conference paper, 2016.