Passage III

HUMANITIES: This passage is from the article “Culture Shock Camp: Sending a Message" by Tara Gatewood.

When the hip-hop phenomenon really began to take hold in the 1980s, a seed of inspiration was planted in Native Oklahoma. Several decades later, it's grown into a youth-empowerment movement called Culture Shock Camp.

One person who's been part of the evolution since the beginning says he counts himself lucky to have inserted himself onto the scene and watched it unfold over the years. What he didn't know then was that stepping to the ones and twos or the DJ table would someday be the reason many Native youth would find their inner strength and connect with Native culture.

“For some people, all they need is that one time or that one person to share those few words of encouragement or just listen, ” says Brian Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole) , an actor, music producer and promoter, rapper and motivational speaker. “Just that can change their life.”

This is the story of IndiGenius Shock B (aka Brian Frejo) and Culture Shock Camp, and what's been seen as a viral motivational movement.

As a young boy, Frejo learned how music could move people. At first, it was the irresistible allure of the world of music and its ability to open up a space that had him transferring songs from vinyl to cassette tape for his own enjoyment. Some of the early tracks at his mix command were by James Brown, Elvis, the Temptations and other artists. The work of a DJ—arranging and rearranging songs—felt freeing, he says.

“That energy that comes out of music puts vibration out in the air and hits people's bodies. It connects to their spirit, and that's what makes them move. Whether they are moving physically, mentally or emotionally, it is a serious lesson of music, ” he says.

As a Native tied to his traditional roots and the powwow world, Frejo found that his spinning and hiphop didn't come without criticism from within his own tribe.“ At first I was told, 'That's not Native, that's not Indian. Why [are you] doing that?'” he says.“ I was also asked why I was dressed like that.” But he didn't care, because he loved the music and the culture.

Being in the spotlight as a DJ on the mainstream Oklahoma scene, Frejo says he was constantly being asked his ethnicity. It would “blow people away” to learn he was Native, he says, leading people to take notice.“ I was proud to be known as a Native DJ. I wanted to represent our people, ” he says. “It started something."

"There was also a bigger message to communicate to know Natives had talent and could go out there and be successful,” Frejo says. And he wanted to send the message to Native people that success could be theirs, too. “I was seeing different races get exposure. I figured we needed to do this,” Frejo says.

In 1997, his idea to show off Native rappers and DJs jumping into the hip-hop mix turned into a huge event: the first annual Tribal Hip-Hop Summit, which brought together youth and artists from different tribes to the historic Will Rogers Theatre in Oklahoma City.

“We wanted a name for the summit that connected to culture, ” Frejo says. When he heard that term, he thought, “Yes 'culture shock'! It's kind of like a catch-phrase when someone is somewhere and they are like, Whoa, 'because of the culture.” A year later, he and his crew picked up the name Culture Shock Camp and Frejo's DJ name came to be Shock B. Years later, it would evolve to IndiGenius Shock B. “It wasn't planned out with a mission statement or a big goal; it was more organic as it was growing and progressing,” he says.

The need for Native youth to connect with a healthy, positive cultural message led Culture Shock Camp to hit the road. Frejo, along with his recording-artist brother Marcus “Quese IMC” Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole) , dancer and vocalist sister Happy Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole), and Marcus Anthony Guinn (Osage/Potawatomi/Delaware; aka Emcee One) connected with different communities as the core group. As time went on, others joined the presentations, including b-boy crews from Arizona and Oklahoma.

The biggest message Frejo says they relayed to youth was to be proud of their identity. “I was once told, 'You are going to be the leaders to bring the culture back. You have to make a choice to know your identity, our language, our culture, our songs. '” Since its inception, Culture Shock Camp has shared its words, music and energy with youth from different tribal nations, some of which include the Pawnee, Meskwaki, Suquamish, Blackfeet and Menominee nations.

From the article “Culture Shock Camp: Sending a Message" by Tara Gatewood. Copyright ©2014 Media Concepts Group, Inc. nativepeoples.com.