OTTAWA - Hip-hop poet Mosha Folger expresses his explicit eloquence through spoken word.

Mosha Folger does not mince words on his debut album. The poet confronts alcoholism, child abuse, crime and homelessness through hip hop. - photo courtesy of Mosha Folger

Originally from Apex but now based in Ottawa, the 30-year-old recording artist unleashes his debut album online Aug. 11. Eskimocentricty will soon be in stock at Arctic Ventures in Iqaluit.

"I use the word Eskimo because I want to turn people's attention to the darkness of the past and then take ownership of that word and take ownership of that time," he said.

The full-length disc features 14 original tracks, including collaborations with Ritallin, an Ottawa rapper of Caribbean descent, Vancouver's Geothermal MC and South Side Totems, a duo of Tlingit hip-hop artists from Alaska.

South Side Totems join Mosher on Steady Terms, a pan-Arctic lament laced with raw language. The emotionally challenging song sketches the frustration of indigenous youth struggling with contemporary urban life.

Colonialism, alcoholism, suicide, crime, child abuse, domestic violence and "zombies of the government" are the Arctic afflictions condemned by Mosher's words. Hip hop is the medicine.

"I don't want to be flowering up the issues," Mosher said. "I want to hit people hard. It's the southern audiences that need to be informed of the issues that Inuit face today because Inuit know what's going on."

Mosher moved to Vancouver at age 12 where he was raised by his Brooklyn-born father, filmmaker Ed Folger. He returned to Iqaluit at age 19 before settling in Ontario.

"I've been writing since I could pick up a pencil," he said. "I still write about my personal experiences growing up. I was very lucky to have a loving, caring father."

The last time Mosher saw his late mother, Suvina Mikijuk, he was only two years old. She died of liver failure in a Montreal park in 1997. After residential school she suffered from alcoholism for 24 years.

"Part of the personal writing that I do is to come to terms with the lack of closure I had with her," Mosher said, adding that he broke his own pattern of alcohol abuse two years ago.

"I was 28 and going nowhere," he said. "It's hard stuff to write about and hear about. With hip hop I have people's ear so I need to talk about it."

Two years sober, Mosher is reminded of alcohol's impact on urban Inuit every day on the sidewalks around Parliament Hill in Ottawa. He reflects those common experiences of suffering in his rhymes.

"You can't carve a drunk on the street and bring it to a gallery and sell it," he said. "I'm trying to make that sculpture and bring it to the public. What I try to do is bring my view of Inuit art and traditions and project them through this modern prism that is hip hop."

Mosher stepped on stage for the first time in 2004 at a reading series at Queen Street club in Ottawa. He went on to share words at the city's Aboriginal Writer's Festival and has delivered sets in Vancouver Last year he performed for Governor General

Michaelle Jean at the 2008 Urban Arts Forum, a federal initiative Jean launched to amplify the voices of youth across the country.

"I got such an amazing response it really inspired me to concentrate on hip hop," Mosher said. "That's when I began creating my own beats."

While Mosher's lyrics challenge the mind, the music he composes to back his words animates the body. Influenced by everything from traditional Indian sitar music to old-school rappers like New York's Kool Moe Dee and recent stuff by Nine Inch Nails, each track on the album offers fresh sounds to accompany Mosher's innovative voice.

This summer the artist performed in the Museum of Civilization in Hull, Que., on Aboriginal Day and visited Inuvik, NWT, for the Great Northern Arts Festival last month. He heads to Kuujjaq, Que., this week for the community's Aqpik Music Festival.

Mosher hosts an album release party in Ottawa in late September. He said he looks forward to future opportunities to bring his words back to Iqaluit.