Last month's "Reject and Protect" protest in Washington on the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline included appearances by Neil Young, actress Daryl Hannah, and hundreds of cowboys, Indians, and environmentalists. But only one person came armed with a rap song.

Frankie Waln, a Sicangu Lakota hip-hop artist from the Rosebud Sioux tribe in South Dakota, was invited to the protest to perform a set that included the song "Oil 4 Blood," which he wrote about Keystone.

The song was written and recorded three years ago, but Waln said it's found "a whole new life" in the past year as the Keystone protests have heated up. Waln, 24, will graduate from Chicago's Columbia College this month studying audio design and production.


In an interview with National Journal, Waln explained how the song came about, what it meant to perform it at a protest, and why it refers to his mother.
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