Hellnback and Lisa Muswagon are members of the Canadian hip hop music group The Resilience, focusing on the empowerment of Indigenous voices and promoting awareness of Indigenous social issues. This dynamic duo is also a husband-and-wife couple with 4 daughters and two sons, who surround themselves with family and healing from the impacts of intergenerational traumas. The Resilience music offers an Indigenous flare to hip hop music with impactful lyrics of life experiences.
Karmen Omeasoo also known as Hellnback, is from the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, Alberta.Hellnback contributed to hip-hop super groups such as Warparty and Team Rezoffical with collaborations from some of Canada’s powerful lyricists. While addressing his own powerful voice, Hellnback was on a kidney journey and received a kidney transplant in June 2025. He is a testimony of his love for hip hop music and Nehiyaw culture and perspective.
Lisa Muswagon, a contemporary hand drum singer has been performing since her father gave her the hand drum at an early age. A member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, discovered her love for writing while taking a course in poetry and writing at the university. Her natural ability of storytelling inscribed by her ancestors, led her to follow in her late Moshom’s legacy of storytelling. She is mentored by an Indigenous hip hop legend, her husband.
Facing and powering through the tribulations of chronic kidney disease and post kidney transplant life demonstrates the resilience and inspires healing, hope and cultural pride for the duo. Along with the opportunity to bridge communities and foster understandings of the journey, as others may experience similarities. Together Hellnback and Lisa Muswagon create impactful music addressing social issues while promoting hope and resiliency. Muswagon also believes the importance of acknowledging and addressing the historical traumas associated with Indian Residential School in Canada, voicing the need for reconciliation and healing efforts and to be led by Indigenous communities’ initiatives themselves.
