3% have announced their debut album, Kill the Dead.
Comprising Nooky, Dallas Woods, and Angus Field, the First Nations collective have been making waves in Australian hip hop recently. Scheduled for release this August, the collective’s debut album promises to be one of the year’s most notable Aussie hip hop releases.
Kill the Dead is not just an album; it is a profound narrative woven with the threads of resilience, strength, and pride of the Aboriginal community. The collective, known for their fiery hip-hop that does not shy away from vulnerability, uses their music as a platform to discuss critical issues such as mental health, family, and connection to their country.
“Everything was done to wipe my people off the face of the earth and write us out of history. Policies, chemical warfare of poisoning water holes and lacing blankets with smallpox to create an epidemic of introduced diseases. Massacres, marshal law and policies of removal to remove and breed out our blood. It all failed. Our resilience, strength, pride and beauty live on, in spite of all the monstrous acts of crime and war committed against my people,” Nooky says about the meaning behind their album.
“We still live and we still have enough love in our hearts to want to move forward. In history’s books, we should be dead. In some of Australia’s eyes, we don’t exist. To a majority of Australia, our voice doesn’t matter, we do not matter. How you gonna kill what’s already dead? You can’t. They can’t. The spirit we hold is one with this land, so even when we go, our lineage remembers. The trees, the rocks, the water remember. We are the oldest living, surviving race on earth. We are fukn eternal.”
As for the album title, Dallas shares, “We never kill the dead because they live on in us. They remain in spirit. All the people that they tried to kill – the clans, they couldn’t kill, we still exist. We have survived. So you could never kill the dead, because we’re still alive. Their spirit will always be alive. They might be no longer here, but they are always here spiritually.”
Enhancing the power of the album is the accompanying artwork by contemporary Aboriginal artist Daniel Boyd, who weaves the ancient tradition of dot painting into the historic image of AFL player Nicky Winmar.
Love Hip Hop?
Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“We chose this image, because that was a moment: when Nicky Winmar stood up against racism and echoed the statement he was Blak and proud. We thought the image resonated so much with what we were doing on the album. Kill the Dead is 3%’s Uncle Nicky moment – we bare our flesh and blood on this record and it is undeniably Blak and proud,” 3% explain.
The trio’s debut album features singles including “OUR PEOPLE”, which features The Presets, and “Sleezy Steezy Cool”, which features Tia Gostelow.
Fans can catch 3% perform their debut album in full at Vivid Sydney this Friday, June 14th. The likes of Jessica Mauboy, Becca Hatch, and Isaac Compton and more special guests will join them at Tumbalong Park (more information here).
3%’s Kill the Dead is out August 9th via 1788 Records / Virgin Music Group (pre-save/pre-order here).
