Supaman
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Born: Christian Takes Gun Parrish
Affiliation: Apsaalooke, Crow Nation
Growing up in southeast Montana on
the Crow Nation reservation near the town of Billings, Christian Takes Gun
Parrish (a.k.a Supaman) had a childhood plagued with the usual vices of
reservation life. Like many Native American children, Supaman’s parents were
alcoholics, leaving young Christian to bounce between foster homes until his
grandfather finally took him in.
The Crow have over 12,000 enrolled tribal
members with over 2.2 million acres of land. The unemployment rate on the
reservation teeters between 45 -50%. Multiple families share run-down houses.
According to Dana Wilson, the tribe’s vice chairman, a “poverty frame of mind” plagues
the reservation. “You live for today,” Wilson says, “You get your check and
then it’s gone the next day.” In hopes to create more jobs, the tribe has been considering increasing coal mining activity, an industry that currently generates about
two-thirds of its budget.
In this harsh environment, young
Christian quickly fell into a life of crime, ironically influenced by rap
music. “It was just nonsense,” Supaman says, “it was gangster rap or something.
The way hip hop influenced me in my early years is in a negative way…We were
wannabees, trying to be like, these rappers on the rez. So we started doing the
crime…” Supaman managed to never get caught during his robbing and drug dealing
chapter, and luckily found a big break for his music career. A Seattle-based
record label took an interest in him and he soon launched out of the
reservation to a full-blown national tour, leaving his wife and baby at home.
On tour, a moment of infidelity
after a show in New Mexico shook Supaman to his core. “I started feeling like
‘What are you doing?’” Supaman recalls, “’You got a wife, you got a baby
girl.’” The incident left Supaman physically sick to his stomach, unable to eat
for days. He missed concerts and questioned his direction in life. “I was just
down and out —rock bottom you could say— and then I grabbed the Bible.” Supaman
was as surprised as anyone when he found himself in a conversation with God.
While begging for God’s guidance, Supaman claims: “I felt right there at that
moment this love, I felt this warmth come over my body.” Suddenly his whole
life’s objective changed: “I said ‘All right, I’m yours God. You want me to rap
for you? I’ll do it.’”
Walking away from his record deal
and returning to the reservation with a new perspective, Supaman began to see
the beauty within the desolation. Though his message became all about peace,
Supaman originally kept his Native life and rapper life separated. In his Native
life Supaman is an acclaimed Fancy Dancer, a pan-tribal dance style that emerged
in the 1920s after other religious dances were outlawed by the United States
and Canadian governments. Wearing a brightly colored regalia of feathers and a
headdress, dancers compete at popular powwows.
When Supaman was to Fancy Dance and rap for
Heritage Day in Bozeman, his two worlds accidentally
combined. “I danced first and then I was going to change into my civilian
clothes to rap,” Supaman explains, “but there wasn’t any time, so I ended up
performing hip hop in my fancy outfit.” Supaman had yearned to unite his two
worlds but was always afraid audiences would not be receptive. When he earned a
positive response from the crowd that day, Supaman never thought twice about
merging tradition with hip hop. Supaman is glad to show people that the
complexity of modern American Indians. “It’s a good thing to embrace who we are
as Natives,” Supaman says, “and be proud of it, but at the same time we express
ourselves in different ways creatively.”
In Supaman’s famous Prayer Loop Song
he seamlessly blends together traditional elements with contemporary style… all
by himself and a looping machine.
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