Born This Way
Photo courtesy of Melinda Myers
Action Figure
Frank’s hip-hop mixes Native drums and cartoon samples, while naming injustice wherever he sees it. “Tell me why you think the red man is dead / With a fake headdress on your head,” he calls out in his single “What Makes the Red Man Red.” Tackling environmental issues like the Keystone Pipeline has earned Frank the title “activist.” He simply calls it the Lakota way: “Our community, the land, water—these are things Lakota people talk about.”
Photo courtesy of Sokz Photography
Making Change
Frank travels the world with indigenous artists, connecting with young audiences at concert halls, music fests and school gymnasiums. “The one thing that gives me hope?” Frank muses. “I get to see change in my lifetime, with young, indigenous people connected to culture and language, and strongly rooted in who they are.”
Building Bridges
Frank calls his latest album, The Bridge, “a story of healing.” It was released last fall with the single “Good Way” celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day. frankwaln.com