Indigo
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Indigo

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"Mood Indigo"

Some Days, You Wake Up and Feel Like Changing the World
Mood Indigo


by Amber Schadewald
August 8, 2007

Indigo
Kiri'ke'
Self-Released

When your daily dose can't keep the demons away, why not replace your prescription with hip hop, and call a fellow MC in the morning? Raps and rhymes will refresh you and leave you ready to conquer whatever lies ahead. Take it from Indigo—a local rapper who used her art to phoenix after an intense streak of tribulations.

"It seems the more bad stuff that happens, the more good stuff that happens," muses the young woman who, although identifying herself as a person of color, prefers not to elaborate on precise details of heritage. Her beaded earrings dangle as she concludes with a shrug, "It's some kind of karmic balance."

In the last five years, Indigo Leah Bartizal, 26, lost both her father and grandmother, became homeless, sent her mother to treatment, gave birth to her first child, and struggled to survive on "welfare checks." She coped by making her own music, and her determination to share her voice with others carried her through studio stresses and molasses-paced production.

The end result is Kiri'ke', an album of polycultural beats and familiar local names. Besides her son's debut six-second freestyle, the album features indigenous flute solos from Shock B, underground beats by NinjaGator, guest spots by P.O.S. and Spikaboxxx—plus nature sounds and bird chirps. And like a feather-ruffling wind, Indigo's message of hope and challenge flows over the top of it all.

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"The American dream rips the earth at its seams," she raps. "Knowledge is power/Ignorance is slavery/Freedom is strength/Think, double-think."

Even on a drab and drizzly Thursday evening, Indigo is a glowing beam of inspiration. "I feel better than ever, but I'm just holding my breath until I can actually hold [the CD]," she says. Wearing a Culture Shock Club T-shirt and turquoise jewelry, she sips on a red bean-coconut tea shake, looking through the paper for the night's concert calendar. The Tea Garden has become her latest obsession—last week, after accidentally dropping a bag of shakes, she found herself carefully pouring the spilled contents into a cup when she got home.

Home for right now is the south side of Minneapolis, but she grew up in St. Paul, never staying in one place long enough to feel settled down.

"I was switching schools every year until fifth grade," she says. "It was hard, but it taught me a lot about dealing with shitty people. I learned early how to let go and move on. I got really used to people coming and going in my life."

Her parents were preoccupied with issues of their own, and without much supervision as an adolescent, she nearly partied herself out. She had a bleak take on her own future. "I didn't think I was going to live past age 19," she says.

But that changed when she began turning her childhood love of writing raps and poetry into a career. Of course, some people had discouraging words—she was warned of the difficulties she would face in the male-dominated rap community. Being taken seriously as a female MC wasn't going to be easy.

"I don't know if people just wanted me to be a pretty little thing, or if they just wanted me to shut the fuck up," she says with a pout. "But I couldn't help it. Rap becomes me."

Just like her personality, Indigo's music is full of sass. With lyrical swoons and provocative spits, her album oozes a sexuality that comes across (she hopes) as confident and respectable.

And while she's dead set on holding her own onstage, she'd rather share a friendly fist-pound than have an MC battle.

"I don't want to tear people down," she says, speaking not just about the rap community but of the world at large. "It's about connecting, not dividing."

Her music aims to give women and youth a soundtrack for their own voices, and for their opinions on love, violence, and the environment. Her heart lies in fixin' stuff. "I wish people would follow good trends, like composting. Not whatever Britney Spears is doing," says the former Environmental Studies major.

Kiri'ke' is clean of profanity; Indigo doesn't want to provide kids with an excuse to muddy up their vocabularies. (After all, four-year-old son Eli often sings his mom's songs while sitting in the back seat of the car.)

Indigo currently uses her rhymes on tour with Culture Shock Camp, a crew of hip-hop artists headed by her beau, DJ Shock B. Together they travel to Native American reservations across the country, from Oklahoma and Arizona, to northern Minnesota and the Dakotas, rapping and sharing hip hop that has a higher agenda than bragging about bling, hos, and rims.

"We bring the true stuff, the part of hip hop you can't just consume," she said. "We want to show these kids music that brings meaning to your life."

Indigo believes the stage should be used as a soapbox, and that music is for educating people. She hopes to serve as a role model and likes to surround herself with young people (her CD release show is all-ages.)

"With the mic in your hand, you have the choice to become either a performer or an activist," she says.

Her choice is obvious. - City Pages


"Electric Fetus Top 10 Review"


Indigo - Kiri'ke

Local female rapper/activist Indigo is the epitome of a role model.
Having overcome more obstacles in the past five years than most people
experience in a lifetime, 27-year-old Leah Bartizal (aka Indigo) has
emerged triumphantly with a powerful message. "The American dream rips
the earth at its seams," she raps. "Knowledge is power/Ignorance is
slavery/Freedom is strength/Think, double-think." Originally from St.
Paul, Indigo has her hand in numerous local creative outlets for young
people. She teaches recycled art at ArtStart in Minneapolis, along
with an art of lyricism class at the Creative Arts High School in St.
Paul. She writes for Liberator magazine, and works with an
organization called Culture Shock Camp. Indigo describes her work with
Culture Shock, "we travel to Indian reservations all over the US
bringing music and culture and positive messages to children who need
the seeds of inspiration and skill." Her debut album, Kiri'ke, is a
lyrical masterpiece that is clean of profanity, and rich with
infectious beats. The album includes flute solos by Shock B,
underground beats by NinjaGator, guest spots by P.O.S. and Spikaboxxx,
and a six-second freestyle from Indigo's 4-year-old son, Eli. "With
the mic in your hand, you have the choice to become either a performer
or an activist," she says. Kiri'ke highlights her abilities as a
performer, never straying from her strong standing as an activist.
- OneStop


Discography

Radio Singles Include- Criminal Limerick, Hip Hop is the Way, and XOX TNT
LP - Released 11/11/07- Kiri'Ke
Featured on - It's Her Turn Out of Europe, InRadio Compilation out of MN, Culture Shock Camp Sampler 2007, Bloody Black Eyes EP

Photos

Bio

Indigo

Since 1998 Indigo has been an outstanding member in the Twin Cities
and Midwest Hip Hop communities. An Emcee true to self and spirit
Indigo follows her heart as she creates songs about self actualizing, revolution, gratitude, and hard times. A representative for
women's rights, she is uncompromised in her dedication to create music
that shows females in a positive, respectful light. Raised in broken homes and living in over 30 places by the time she was 21, her music is expressive of real life issues and situations that are easily identifiable but difficult to diagnose. Indigo's music has been described as food for thought, with desert included. The City Pages full page article on Indigo is quoted as saying "Like her personality, Indigo's music is full of sass. With lyrical swoons and provocative spits, her album oozes a sexuality that comes across as confident and respectable." Aug. 2007

Indigo survived a difficult childhood that included poverty, upheaval
of living situations, divorce, changing schools, family drug and
alcohol abuse and the eventual suicide of her father. These real life
situations while painful, helped to make Indigo
resilient and and modivated to make change in the lives of people that need inspiration to keep going thrugh hard times.

A member of Culture Shock Camp since 2006, Indigo frequents
American Indian Reservations with Shock B and others of CSC bringing a
positive representation of women, Hip Hop and Native Culture. Indigo blends the boundaries of her cultures and
brings a world perspective to her art, while relating to young women,
men and children on a personally cultural level through spiritual
values and walking the Good Walk. Her goal is to inspire and teach
young people how they can create and find meaning through art in their
lives. Whether their personal expression is in the tradition of old
ways or inventing new styles, Indigo believes that art in all forms
saves lives.

Indigo and Shock B bring an eclectic, high energy show to any venue. Their musical stage show ranges from traditional American Indian songs and flute, to bangin Hip Hop tracks with Punk Rock energy.

Indigo has opened for Cee-Lo, Slick Rick, Jean Grea, The Coup, Anacron, Kill
the Vultures, Power Struggle, The Anomalies, El Vuh, Keith
Secola, and I Self Divine to name a few.