Sitting in his hotel room overlooking the land of the mighty Lummi Nation, Anthony Fernandes, aka Block Savage of Savage Family, is thinking about his future and his people. Teaching at a music mentor academy at the Lummi Nation Reservation just north of Bellingham has refreshed Fernandes, and recharged the energy and planning behind his forthcoming record, Native Amerikkkan Idol.

A member of the Lower Elwha Klallam Peoples, Block Savage hails from the Northwest - or as he calls it, "The illegally occupied territory now known as Washington state."  He says this with a clever smile, and he's not joking.  One of the founding members of the Native American organization known as Savage Family - which aims to utilize hip-hop and other mediums to give voice to Native Americans who've seen their history and culture basically gobbled up and discarded by Manifest Destiny - Fernandes has an everlasting commitment to highlighting the plight, struggle and heritage of Native American people via the art and culture of hip-hop. 

"I grew up with hip-hop, but at the same time hip-hop is a force that, as Quincy Jones said, ‘Is a force that if harnessed correctly can change the world.' It's a force that can make a positive or negative impact upon the youth," says Fernandes. "If used right, we can change the world from the ground up."

It's uncommon to see or hear Native Americans represented in the world of hip-hop, aside from personalities like DJ Tee, "Native America's #1 DJ," Lightfoot and a few others. This isn't exactly surprising. The story of the first people of the Americas still has been (for the most part) effectively overlooked, ignored and/or assimilated into watered-down books on history, without much analysis of the affects Americanism and Eurocentrism has had on the lives, spirits and conditions of Natives. It's something Fernandes is all too aware of.

"First of all, I do not consider myself American," says Fernandes.

With Native Amerikkkan Idol, Fernandes, as Block Savage, wants to, "Enlighten people on the contemporary issues facing Native Americans and represent a voice of the unheard truth." Fernandes says the solo effort will focus on, "Imposing the will and ideals of Native Amerikkka through beats and lyrics." His spelling of Amerikkka pays homage to Ice Cube's 1990 release Amerikkka's Most Wanted, which obviously references the KKK. Fernandes sees parallels between white supremacy and what he calls "the American imposition of Western civilization upon anyone who does not agree represents the same sentiment of world domination and capitalism at any cost." 

More than a revolutionary, Fernandes is a representative of the feelings, voices and spirits of many of the unheard, not to mention his ancestors.  Speaking with Block Savage about his ideas, passions and vision reveals that hip-hop's ability to create change and make a powerful statement in representation of humanity still exists.

Fernandes says and does all of it to uplift the youth, like the ones he's visiting at the Lummi Nation this week.  During a talking circle with the children, they're asked who their favorite artist is. Most say ‘Lil' Wayne, Drake, 2Pac and Nicki Minaj. 

But one teenage girl says, "Savage Family, because of their lyrics and they rap for the people." 

Hip-hop lives.