Stuart James is a hip hop artist born & raised in Saint Michael on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota. Hip hop has always been a voice for the oppressed. Life on the reservation can be ugly & beautiful at the same time and Stuart encourages listeners to find the good in every situation regardless of how difficult life gets. Stuart is a boxing coach, community organizer & songwriter among other titles. Stuart founded the Tiwahe (Family) clothing brand & Tiwahe Day which is a family day for the youth and community of the Spirit Lake reservation.Tiwahe Day consists of a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, live music and free cookout. Stuart hopes to bring this event to more communities in the future whether it is on the reservation or not.

Stuart was recently featured in a full length documentary titled Oyate, presented by Films With A Purpose in association with Irrelevant Media & Lakota People’s Law Project. Oyate has been nominated for Best Film at the Big Sky Film Festival in Montana and has received the 2022 Audience Choice Award at the North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival in North Dakota. Stuart’s music helped bring the film an interesting perspective through the form of hip hop which brought a modern voice to the documentary.

In the future Stuart hopes for people on every reservation to strive for healthy and positive lives and the music is the driving force of that goal. The big picture is very important but we must also take care of ourselves before we can help anyone. “I know we want change and we want to beat the odds but we should start by cleaning up the trash in our yards”. Stuart understands it is a long road to healing but as long as we make steps every day our people will start to come together and work towards a better life for our future generations.

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