TALL PAUL
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Born: Paul Wenell Jr.
Growing up on the South Side of Minneapolis, Paul Wenell Jr. (a.k.a Tall Paul) originally discovered hip hop by watching BET’s “106th & Park.” Paul was one of four siblings, and while their mother repeatedly struggled with addiction, he and his siblings bounced amongst foster homes and their grandmother’s house. Paul’s family was instrumental to his development as a rapper, claiming that his childhood favorites consisted of “whoever my brothers and cousins were listening to—Snoop, 2Pac, Biggie, The Fugees, the Luniz, Bone Thugs, Twista and the Speedknot Mobstaz, DMX, and the list goes on.” Watching his cousin rhyme into a tape recorder one day sparked 14 year-old Paul to start writing rhymes of his own. “From that point on I just liked the release it gave me.” With increased focus and hard-work, Paul watched his dream come true as he began recording songs and performing to sold-out crowds in some of Minnesota’s best venues…and even getting the attention of famous comedian Dave Chappelle.
Paul struggled his whole life reconciling his Indigenous identity with his unsupportive, poverty-stricken, inner city environment. “I felt I wasn’t a quote-unquote real Indian,” Paul claims, “I not only struggled to learn the language, I struggled to have a desire to do it.” Yet Paul committed himself to search deeper for his true identity and even learned Anishinaabe, his ancestral language, while attending the University of Minnesota. Paul then began to infuse Ojibwe culture into his music, in hopes to honor his heritage and attract more children to learn the language.
The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act officially recognized the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe as one of the six members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Since the 1950s, notably the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 that encouraged Indigenous people to move into cities, Native Americans have faced forced assimilation and cultural bombardment; 'ethnocide' as some call it. Two-thirds of all American Indians live in cities, a population cut off from the (albeit limited) federal and/or tribal services offered on the reservation. Urban Native Americans face (compared to the general population) above average poverty rates, lower than average access to health care and an education gap with only 1 in every 5 individuals graduating high school.
Prayers in a Song narrates Paul’s personal urban struggle: “I feel the latent effects of assimilation/inner city Native raised by bright lights skyscrapers.” Rapping prayers in both English and Anishinaabe, Paul pleads “…grandfather please help me learn it/ help me, assist in keeping it from burning/ don’t let me quit and flee from working for a worthy purpose.”
Chorus Translation:
Gichi-manido wiidookawishin ji-mashkawiziyaan
(Great Spirit help me to be strong)
Mii dash bami'idiziyaan
(So that I can help myself)
Miizhishinaam zaagi'iiwewin
(Show us all love)
Ganoozh ishinaam, bizindaw ishinaam
(talk to us, hear us)
Mii-wenji nagamoyaan
(That is why I am singing)
Nimishomis wiidookawishinaam ji-aabajitooyaang anishinaabe
izhitwaawin
(Grand father help us to use the Native ways)
mii-ji-bi-gikendamaan keyaa anishinaabe bimaadiziwin
(so that we'll know how to live the Native way/the good
life)
Even amidst growing success Paul has found time to directly impact the youth as a math and language tutor at a K-8 magnet school for Ojibwe, Lakota and Dakota children. Paul emphasizes the importance of learning Native ancestral traditions, elegantly expressing his suspicion of the American schooling system as a culture suppressing agent in his song Protect Ya Spirit.
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