Under the Volcano, the annual festival of music and art that takes over North Vancouver's Cates Park the first Sunday of every August, has long billed itself as a celebration of resistance, protest, and social change. That suits Kiwi, one half of the California hip-hop duo Native Guns, just fine. "I would like to consider myself to be an activist," the rapper says, reached at his day job in the Bay Area. "At least that's what I'm kind of striving towards. What activism means to me, it's very holistic. It's learning about the stuff that's going on, both theoretical stuff and the actual issues that are happening, from a local level and from a global level, and then working with different groups and organizations to raise awareness and take action on these issues. So I definitely consider myself an activist first, actually, and an artist second. It's a very close second, but I think that if the activism wasn't there, then I would have nothing to talk about as an artist. Nothing meaningful for me."

Listen to any Native Guns track and what's meaningful to Kiwi and his partner in rhyme, Bambu, becomes clear. Set to classic laid-back Cali-style beats, songs such as "Champion" and "Look in the Mirror" speak to the specific experience of being young Filipino men growing up in Los Angeles, surrounded by gang culture and systemic racism. At the same time, though, they touch on global issues and address the plight of the disenfranchised everywhere.

"We want to acknowledge that there are parallels with other peoples' struggles," Kiwi says, "and that we are really all a part of the same struggle, and that we are all fighting the same system of oppression and exploitation, which is capitalism and imperialism."

The aforementioned cuts will be featured on Native Guns' upcoming CD, Barrel Man. Until it is released, they are available on the duo's Myspace page (www.myspace.com/nativeguns/). Those looking for a longer taste of Native Guns' rebel rap can also pick up the raw Stray Bullets Mixtape, which will be available when Kiwi and Bambu play Under the Volcano on Sunday (August 7). This will be Native Guns' first performance outside the U.S., and Kiwi sounds grateful for the opportunity to spread the pair's message. Not content to merely point out the world's problems, he hopes to be able to offer solutions.

"My own personal feeling is that people need to organize and plan around how to create change, whether it's creating programs in our communities or as big as finding ways to change and dismantle the system that exists with the government," the rapper asserts. "I think those are positive things."