Photo courtesy of Stuart Lohnes
For Spirit Lake’s Stuart Lohnes, music is a form of expression. He has used his hip-hop music to spread positivity and his perspective of the world. Using his music to tackle issues that affect the Native American community, has made him a unique voice amongst Indigenous artists. He is one of five Indigenous artists who received a $5,000 fellowship. The money is used to help further their artistic endeavors. He will speak on Friday, Feb. 21 at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck at 3 p.m. about how the grant has helped him as an artist.
This fellowship is a partnership between the North Dakota Council on the Arts and the Sacred Pipe Resource Center. Cheryl Kary, executive director of the Sacred Pipe Resource Center, said 20 people applied for the fellowship. Each candidate was independently reviewed for this first-time fellowship. Qualities considered were the artist positively impacted the Native and Indigenous communities, what the funds would be used for, and their plans for the future. “Stuart’s work is creative and brings positive to the Indigenous community,” Kary told the Journal.
Growing up in St. Michael, Lohnes said there “wasn’t a lot of outlets, not a lot of therapy or counseling,” regarding the reservations’ issues. “It just wasn’t a thing for a lot of us because we didn’t understand it,” he said.
While growing up, Lohnes said he listened to hip-hop artists such as Nas and Jay-Z. He said their music “resonated” with him. He said he had some cousins who were recording their music and he heard their music on the reservation radio station. reached out to his cousins and asked them how to record his own stuff.
After his cousins told what him he wanted he needed to do, he started writing his songs and putting them on the internet.
“It allowed me to take personal feelings and put it into the music,” he said. “It helped me a lot in life. It helped me express issues that would normally drive people to suicide or drug dependency. It helped me avoid that stuff.”
After making several songs, he started to do workshops at schools such as Four Winds High School. His goal was to inspire students to be creative and think outside the box.
“Our gifts we need to use to benefit others. I felt the responsibility to pass it on to others,” he said.
With the fellowship money, Lohnes said that the money would be used to get better equipment such as a laptop.
“I think it was a validating feeling,” he said about the fellowship. “I’ve always felt as an artist I was overlooked. I know how hard I work. It validated the work I do. It showed that because you’re not appreciated in this crowd, there’s another crowd who loves what you’re doing.
James’ music can be found on most streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Soundcloud. He is working on an album called “What a Life” which is slated for release soon.
