You have never seen a love like his. You've also never met a rapper quite like him either - One so truly and unequivocally devoted to his people, their legacy, and his hopes for their future. Through the mastery of words, he seeks to make dreams manifest in the form of rhyme-driven oration, syncopated to perfectly complementary beats. His intensity gets the blood moving to a pounding pace; it's virtually impossible not to empathize with his desires and connect with his enthusiasm. His passion is evident and when he rocks the mic, the crowd is moved. The man's name is Redskin, so don't get it twisted.

Like many a success story, Redskin's starts with the delicate formula that combines large parts grind and hustle with the necessary catalytic components of chance meetings and timing. He managed to find a mentor of sorts in DJ B-Mello, who he met about ten years ago while hanging out at Western Washington's KUGS 89.3 with DJ Jacque Cousteau on his show "Gorillas in the Mix," where B-Mello mixed once a week. At that time he hadn't yet committed himself completely to the rap game, but while having a heart to heart with B-Mello about a year later at the Art Bar, he professed, "I know in my heart that I can rap. I know I can do this."

It was at this point that B-Mello added Redskin to his promotions company, Point Blank Promotions, to get him involved. It didn't take 'Skin too long to realize though that he was too big for that position, and only a day later he was off the team. For years thereafter though he remained a sidekick of sorts for B-Mello, a confidant. He helped out wherever he could, while continuously developing himself as his own entity in the hip-hop game, independent of the crutch of association.

Fast forward to around four years ago and we find the pair headed off to New York for the annual CMJ music conference. It was at that point that Redskin's talents were tapped to contribute to one of DJ AP's many mixtapes. A problem arose quickly - space on the tape was limited, so Redskin would have to share a track with another MC. On that day, the gods were smiling on 'Skin, because he was paired with another gifted MC, Jersey's Z-Nuff Starr. It didn't take a rocket scientist, or in this case a musical genius, to realize that the chemistry between these two was undeniable. Weeks later, back in Seattle, with the two on a high after CMJ, no second thought was required when 'Skin and Mello decided who they wanted to link up with to work on their new mixtape. They dropped the cash and flew Z-Nuff Starr out to contribute to what would turn out to be the birth of something great. That tape was called "Burnin' the Block".

"Why don't we call ourselves the Block Burners?" And with that, it was decided.

These days the Burners seem to be everywhere: Sundays on KEXP's "Street Sounds", where B-Mello acts as DJ and Redskin co-hosts; handing out almost a thousand copies of the "Block Burner Summer Sampler 2004" at KUBE 93's Summer Jam; and appearing on DJ Scene's many mixtapes. Not only are they saturating the local scene and making their presence felt, but their membership is spreading across the face of the US, making them seemingly ubiquitous across the nation. Their crew now contains members from Mississippi, California, NYC, Jersey, Philadelphia, and of course right here in Seattle - or technically Tulalip, with respect to 'Skin himself. They're a collaborative crew of talented MCs hoping to help each other as a springboard to fame and fortune. Their sheer numbers combined with their hunger and skills makes them a force to be reckoned with.

Much like the rest of his crew, Redskin has much at stake and thus values personal success as much as that of his crew. Over the course of recording material for the group, Redskin managed to develop his own solo catalogue as well, enough to drop his own album. And he, along with Z-Nuff Starr, plans on doing just that really soon.

"It's not just Block Burners time, but it's Redskin's time, too. It's my time to shine and hold down my peoples as well." In an effort to continue spreading the word about the Block Burners, Redskin and B-Mello recently debuted the video for their first single, "Sunny Days", at the 29th Annual American Indian Film Festival held in San Francisco. The idea of debuting this video, the first Native American High Definition film, was done at the urging of Ben Dupris, a Native American filmmaker, who has jumped on board with 'Skin to help him out however he can. And what a fruitful suggestion it turned out to be, because now the doors to the Native American community in Hollywood are wide open to Redskin. He brought the Native community exactly what they were looking for, someone that didn't use his Native heritage as a crutch to earn their success. Instead, he is a phenomenally talented individual in and of himself who just happened to be a Native man that embraced his people and respected their legacy.

When asked about the impact of his heritage on his career and his life, his response made it clear that the impact was significant, "I will stay true to my people. I love the reservation. I live on the reservation. When I blow, I'm going to stay on the reservation. They say we're dysfunctional; that we're just a bunch of alcoholics. But you can't get the love anywhere else that you can at the reservation. The support structure is solid. We're here still here despite attempted genocide and folks trying to hold us down, so it's our obligation to support [our people]. And my obligation as a red man. [.] Make this point clear: I want Tulalip to know that we're finally here. And we're about to stay. It's about to get big. I can smell it."

As Redskin aims to keep the ball rolling, be on the look out for his joint effort with one of his primary producers, Malay, a multi-instrumentalist, "Mean Streets Volume One", mixed by DJ Hi-Jack. Or if you've already experienced the Block Burners sound and are fiending for more, be sure to check out their recently launched website, www.blockburners.com, where you can find such stand-out songs as "Stay", with Redskin holding down the rap responsibilities and Malay crooning on the hook. Three short months ago, Redskin declared emphatically to me in confidence, "We'll be felt by the beginning of the new year." Time will tell, but right now, the Block Burners' forecast only seems to hold one thing, Sunny Days.