[Intro: Shailene Woodley]
They call it a pipeline
But those on the front lines know
That black snake was sent for us to grow
To shed the skin, our ancestors pray, of wounds old and calloused, so that we may stay
So that we may unite, unity our tool
No weapons are found in this court of rule
Men become [?], steadfast in their guard
Protecting women's hearts as their songs become roots
Roots to cast out healing for all sentient beings
To honor sacred mother, heart forward we heal
The salmon will run, the mowna will grieve, the rivers will flow
The river is here and prophecy tells us all generations will hear
[Refrain: Taboo]
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
[Verse 1: Taboo]
Stand up with the First Nations
A people that been livin' here for thousands of years (stand up)
We been fightin' for our freedoms since the Niña and Pinta and the Santa Maria (stand up)
Like Geronimo, Sittin' Bull, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier
Now they poisonin' the waters for our sons and our daughters
So we on the frontier (we one)
One nation, one cause, one people, one tribe
Now it's us against the pipeline
Get on your feet for Standing Rock and we'll show you how strong we can be when we unify
[Chorus: PJ Vegas]
To all my native people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my tribal people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my native people, to all the original people, to all my indigenous people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standin' Rock
[Verse 2: Emcee One]
From the beginnin' we was winnin' this game on Planet Earth
It's been spinnin', we been livin' and dyin' but givin' birth
The first of many nations, celebratin' them days
When all that got made came after what God made
These days we cater to these internet memes, internet streams
It seems them streams aren't clean
We need the whole story seen
We're hassling before water has gasoline in it
Malcolm X moment, Martin Luther King with a dream and war bonnet
Wounded Knee and Alcatraz, doggonit
This is for the rock, with prayers we stand on it
[Verse 3: Drezus]
Oh yeah we playin' on with the Earth
We camp on it in a sweat lodge, singing our songs with grandfathers
Heat rocks all in the spot, we splash on 'em
With a beatbox from my boy [?]
Said a prayer for the black snake killers
Trained on the front lines, they are the realest
Stand for your people, stand for your family
Stand for Standing Rock, stand for humanity
[Chorus: PJ Vegas]
To all my native people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my tribal people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my native people, to all the original people, to all my indigenous people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standin' Rock
[Bridge: Supaman]
[?] [Apsáalooke]
[Verse 4: Doc Battiest & Spencer Battiest]
To all my native people
Woke up to change, we won't go quiet
To all my tribal people
Don't mistake our peace, as we stand and fight
To all my native people
It's the calm before the storm and I can hear it comin'
To all my tribal people
I'm ready for the battle and we ain't runnin'
[Chorus]
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standing Rock, for Standing Rock
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standing Rock, for Standing Rock
[Verse 5: Temryss Lane]
Standing Rock where standing feet
As history is on a sad repeat
Is it liberty, or are we just acting free?
As our land depletes from these hands of greed
See, fate is found, how we face the hounds
Take a vow for your sacred grounds
Make a sound that'll shake 'em out
Say aloud "what can save us now?"
What can save us now?
They call it a pipeline
But those on the front lines know
That black snake was sent for us to grow
To shed the skin, our ancestors pray, of wounds old and calloused, so that we may stay
So that we may unite, unity our tool
No weapons are found in this court of rule
Men become [?], steadfast in their guard
Protecting women's hearts as their songs become roots
Roots to cast out healing for all sentient beings
To honor sacred mother, heart forward we heal
The salmon will run, the mowna will grieve, the rivers will flow
The river is here and prophecy tells us all generations will hear
[Refrain: Taboo]
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up
[Verse 1: Taboo]
Stand up with the First Nations
A people that been livin' here for thousands of years (stand up)
We been fightin' for our freedoms since the Niña and Pinta and the Santa Maria (stand up)
Like Geronimo, Sittin' Bull, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier
Now they poisonin' the waters for our sons and our daughters
So we on the frontier (we one)
One nation, one cause, one people, one tribe
Now it's us against the pipeline
Get on your feet for Standing Rock and we'll show you how strong we can be when we unify
[Chorus: PJ Vegas]
To all my native people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my tribal people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my native people, to all the original people, to all my indigenous people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standin' Rock
[Verse 2: Emcee One]
From the beginnin' we was winnin' this game on Planet Earth
It's been spinnin', we been livin' and dyin' but givin' birth
The first of many nations, celebratin' them days
When all that got made came after what God made
These days we cater to these internet memes, internet streams
It seems them streams aren't clean
We need the whole story seen
We're hassling before water has gasoline in it
Malcolm X moment, Martin Luther King with a dream and war bonnet
Wounded Knee and Alcatraz, doggonit
This is for the rock, with prayers we stand on it
[Verse 3: Drezus]
Oh yeah we playin' on with the Earth
We camp on it in a sweat lodge, singing our songs with grandfathers
Heat rocks all in the spot, we splash on 'em
With a beatbox from my boy [?]
Said a prayer for the black snake killers
Trained on the front lines, they are the realest
Stand for your people, stand for your family
Stand for Standing Rock, stand for humanity
[Chorus: PJ Vegas]
To all my native people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my tribal people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
To all my native people, to all the original people, to all my indigenous people
Recognize yourself, keep your head up
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standin' Rock
[Bridge: Supaman]
[?] [Apsáalooke]
[Verse 4: Doc Battiest & Spencer Battiest]
To all my native people
Woke up to change, we won't go quiet
To all my tribal people
Don't mistake our peace, as we stand and fight
To all my native people
It's the calm before the storm and I can hear it comin'
To all my tribal people
I'm ready for the battle and we ain't runnin'
[Chorus]
Stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standing Rock, for Standing Rock
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
Stand up, stand up, stand up
For Standing Rock, for Standing Rock
[Verse 5: Temryss Lane]
Standing Rock where standing feet
As history is on a sad repeat
Is it liberty, or are we just acting free?
As our land depletes from these hands of greed
See, fate is found, how we face the hounds
Take a vow for your sacred grounds
Make a sound that'll shake 'em out
Say aloud "what can save us now?"
What can save us now?
inviata da Pierre-André Lienhard - 26/7/2025 - 11:14
×
![]()
Song produced by Printz Board as a video.
Written by Taboo
Video directed and edited by Johnny Lee, filmed by Baxter Stapelton and includes actress and Divergent series star Shailene Woodley; artists: TABOO of Black Eyed Peas, Tony Duncan (flute), Perry Cheevers (intro/native chant), PJ Vegas (hook), Kahara Hodges (hook), Emcee One (2nd verse), Drezus (2nd verse/pos-hook), Supaman (bridge) Gerald Danforth (bridge), Spencer Battiest (last verse), Doc Battiest (last verse), and MyVerse (verse), Martin Sensmeier, Bethany Yellowtail, Lehi Thunder Voice Eagle, Shalene Joseph, Temryss Lane, Gina Tiger, Indigenous Enterprise, and Jukasa Media Group. Additional footage provided by Heather Rae, Stacey Thunder, Ben Dupris, and Cody Lucich - Thank u all for Standing Up 4 Standing Rock.
"Stand Up / Stand N Rock” is a collaborative project between the People’s Climate Music and Hip Hop artist Taboo, member of the Grammy Award-winning pop group Black Eyed Peas. Taboo has Mexican parents and Shoshone heritage from his grandmother. Written and performed in response to the Dakota Access pipeline project, the song rallies indigenous people around Standing Rock, where protestors intervened in the pipeline’s development. The song includes numerous references to prior struggles for indigenous rights, specifically referring to the achievements of the Lakota Sioux.
If this song and video were created in support of the Standing Rock Reservation and the Sioux Tribe, as they lead a peaceful, powerful, and diverse movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), it is not to be seen as a sole indigenous issue, but as a larger environmental concern. It is about the risks put to clean water and about investments made on unsustainable energy, in an economical logic that ignores the climate change.
The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests or the Standing Rock Protests, also known by the hashtag #NoDAPL began in April 2016 and, after several violent attempt of the police to end the protest, the National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted the last remaining protesters on February 23, 2017. The protests would nationally and internationally acknowledge the role of indigenous people as water protectors. One of the most shared slogan during the protests was: "Water is life".
For the whole story, see Wikipedia: Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests/wiki
A complementary educational presentation hosted by the Smithsonian Institute, including the perspective of young Sioux:
Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access Pipeline - Teacher Resource
The protests, including an intervention at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 2016, received a large public echo, relayed not only by the media, but also by artists and filmmakers around the world.
Notable songs are:
- Indian Givers, by Neil Young
- Simmo tutte Sioux, by Terroni Uniti
- Black Snakes, by Prolific the Rapper x A Tribe Called RED
- So what, by Dee Snider
Links to documentaries can be found here:
Tommaney Library: #NoDAPL: The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests: Visual Art
The hashtag #No DAPL will provide access to further contributions.