Ziggy Ramo; a voice for the voiceless?
Not necessarily. Rather one who adds his concern, focus, and energy to an already powerful din.In recent years, the Sydney-based rapper has, thanks to his cool hip hop inclinations, surfaced as a staunch advocate for Indigenous justices and relations.
"The difficulty is – and it's not to take away from the improvements that have been made, it's important to acknowledge the progress – it's why have we had to do it [educate]," Ziggy says of his observations of a national conversation.
"There are some pretty systemic, deeply rooted issues that are entrenched in the invasion of Australia that have been left to fester.
"Everything here has been stolen. It needs to be returned. It's acknowledging we've made steps, but also keeping an eye on what's deeply rooted in real change.
"It's like putting band-aids on a broken leg. It doesn't make it better, it's still a broken leg."
Ziggy needs a splint. Until doctors recognise that leg is broken, for Ziggy, until that diagnosis is correct, 'round and 'round we go. "I don't think people understand what's happened here," he says.
"You have people with really good intentions, but good intentions don't garner good outcomes, necessarily."
Growing up with what he calls the privilege of being aware of his people's tumultuous struggles since colonisation, Ziggy's perspective is one that has otherwise, he says, been hidden and gives the musician the leg up to educate.
Most recently that's been through adding his cutthroat lyricism to his spin on Paul Kelly's landslide song 'From Little Things Big Things Grow', which dropped back in April.
"I've had the privilege of understanding what my purpose here is. I think it's a shared purpose for humans – we're caretakers of country. The current system we have is one that dominates country and that's not a symbiotic relationship.
"We [humans] talk about how we were primitive and [the] lack of intelligence we had and use it as a framework to remove our humanity. That for me isn't a harmonious relationship.
"We're part of an ecosystem that means we're high functioning. Even though that means we can dominate, it doesn't justify it, and demonstrates that we need to be the best caretakers that we can be."
Ziggy sees the stage as his place to educate and offer something back to the community.
"A lot of people have never known that that's what their purpose is or have an understanding of it, because the system they've been indoctrinated in hasn't allowed for that connection to country.
"My whole thing is 'how can I be the best caretaker for country?'. One individual cannot take care for country by themselves, it's going to take all of us.
"My best way to care for country is to care for people, [to] try shift their ability and capacity to care for country also."
Ziggy Ramo plays Splendour XR, which takes place virtually 24-25 July.
