Creealias The Shihbastik

A member of the Moose Cree First Nation and the Bear Clan, Shibastik is an accomplished painter, lyricist and hip hop musician. His music and art, deeply inspired by life in the James Bay Lowlands, create an awareness and appreciation for the land and Aboriginal culture, as well as an understanding of the Aboriginal experience, past and present. His connection to the land and the Creator are evident throughout his work.
His distinctive brand of hip hop and thought-provoking lyrics have inspired and empowered audiences of all ages and backgrounds. One of Canada's first Aboriginal hip hop artists, Shibastik has released three independent albums, numerous underground releases and has toured many parts of Canada over the past decade.
Through his artwork and music, Shibastik promotes the importance of traditional values and ideals, culture, positive self-expression and self awareness.
Shibastik has spent over three years working in a secure custody youth detention center and has over ten years of extensive training and experience working with youth. It was while working at the youth detention center that he developed his 'Healing Through Hip Hop' workshop. Shibastik has since presented this workshop at schools, conferences and events Nationwide.
Shibastik currently resides in Thunder Bay, but was raised in Moosonee, Ontario, which is an isolated Northern Cree community located on the James Bay Coast. Growing up, he lived and learned many valuable lessons on the James Bay Lowlands. These lessons would later help him through many aspects of life and also made him the person he is today. He feels that in our busy modern day lives it is sometimes hard to find the time to pray and often too noisy and hectic to hear God's answers. When alone on the land, he learned you can't help but feel the presence of the Creator. He learned respect and honour when he was taught to hunt in the traditional way. The value of hard work was also ingrained in his head at a young age, and he was proud to be Cree and to be learning to live off the land in the ways of his ancestors.
The land and all that dwelled therein inspired Shibastik to express himself through art. He started painting the landscapes and animals that once thrived in his childhood but were seemingly becoming scarce. He wanted people to experience what he had through his paintings. Later in his youth, he became a fan of hip hop. At that time, Native hip hop didn't exist, as far as he knew. He was then inspired to write lyrics that would enable people to see native life as he knew it and to also create awareness amongst his own people.
More and more Native youth were becoming involved in gang violence and substance abuse. Teenage pregnancy and the spread of STD's continued to rise. And pride in Native culture was threatened. He began to recognize that all this negative behaviour was practically being encouraged by mainstream media and the corporations that control it.
This became the fuel to his fire. He saw that these corporations were shamlessly using television, movies and music to promote materialistic, superficial and greedy ideals. He also saw why. Shibastik feels what IS important is that he expose the truth which is that they're all about their own profit and not the betterment of mankind.
His message is simple. "All this materialism surrounding us is not what is important. Family and community is. Respect and Love is. Spirituality and Faith is. So, as Native people, all we have to do is return to our traditional ways of living and thinking."