Macklemore joins NDN Collective's Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Rapid City

NDN Collective held its fourth annual Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration in downtown Mni Luzahan, or Rapid City, South Dakota, on October 12. The organization said thousands attended; local broadcasters KOTA and SDPB reported crowds in the hundreds.

The free event combined a rally and a concert with Indigenous and local food vendors, shops and interactive booths. NDN Collective said it was held "to honor and uplift Indigenous brilliance and resistance from the He Sapa to Palestine." Cante Heart and Dean LaPointe emceed.

"The annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in Mni Luzahan is a necessary space for community to hold joy and resistance together," Anissa Martin, an organizer at NDN Collective, said in a press release on October 13.

Rally speakers included NDN Collective founder Nick Tilsen, Tyler Star Comes Out, Duane Two Bulls, Marilyn Allen, Eva Cardenas and Macklemore.

The concert featured the Bearhead Sisters, who are Stoney Nakoda, and Oglala Lakota artists Nevad Brave, Miracle Spotted Bear and Santee Witt. Isaac Tonasket of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Lakota artist Tiana Spotted Thunder and Welby June, who is Oglala Lakota, Muscogee Creek, Ho-Chunk and Cheyenne, also performed, with music from DJ A.I.M.

Poet and activist Robert Bordeaux, who is Siċaƞġu Lak̇ot̄a, performed spoken word. "The colonial project tried to erase us, and we're still here," he told SDPB.

The night was capped by Macklemore's special guest performance, SDPB reported. His appearance continues a relationship that extends beyond the stage. On September 15, NDN Collective named Macklemore among the inaugural members of its new national advisory council, which it said was assembled "to strengthen the organization's infrastructure, network, and reach." He also performed at NDN Collective's Indigenous Peoples' Day events in Rapid City in 2024 and 2025.

"From the art, to the rally, to the music, the message was loud and clear: our liberation is only achieved if we do it all together collectively, from He Sapa to Palestine & beyond," Martin said. "Days like yesterday are how we break isolation."