“It’s about wanting to belong, but still feeling alienated.” This is the way Adelaide’s self-made sonic activist Gabriel Erjok Majer Akon, a.k.a DyspOra, describes his experience as an Australian on 2020’s long-awaited debut EP, ‘AUSTRALIEN’.
Born in time of desperation in South Sudan, as his father fought in the civil war and his mother struggled to bring his family to safety, Akon spent his first years in a refugee camp before finally resettling in Adelaide. “I became a man in a land that isn’t my own – but I’ve learnt to embrace that”.
A new partnership with Melbourne’s Music in Exile label has finally bought us DyspOra’s long awaited debut, recorded throughout 2018 in the suburbs of Adelaide. The sound is decidedly old-school, finding a home somewhere in the soul-jazz sound of Rawkus-era mid-nineties hip hop with a nod to contemporary beatmakers and sample culture.
An artist with so much to give this country, DyspOra believes in the power of music to spread a positive message. There is a conversation to be had, and this is his way of having it.
lyrics
Resistance
Playback 808 Kingdom
DyspOra
It’s the boy from Meroe
My grandfather had three more wives than Fela Kuti
Predisposition to chasing down hella booty
Flix n chilling, watching parts of the movie
Then destiny start calling I gravitate to my duty
Overtime Dys, So illuminated I can over shine lights
We been killing time, tryna find life
But we all stars so we gotta shine bright..
I met the girl of my dreams last night
Went back to sleep but couldn't find her
I've been looking for her since last night
Now every single day is a reminder
But I ain't really tryna live on regret alone
I been working on a biz tryna get a loan
I've been tryna put the Kids in happy home
When I make it big put the family on
Multiply every single thing that the family owns
Playback mob don Corleone
Don't test for the kingdom man I go beyond
All measure
Time is priceless money the wrong treasure
Black diamond under this strong pressure
But I keep it to myself was never a Con-fesser
And I'm repping for the refugees
All round the world and the seven seas
They Lost everything so they plant seeds
Hoping that their sons and daughters grow to be better trees
And when you’re feeling down listen to this melody
let it give you ENERGY
Anything.. That you want, you can be
Plant the seed, in your mind
That’s the secret they ain’t willing to sell you
That’s the secret I’m willing to tell you!
I met the girl of my dreams last night, now she claiming I really wasn’t beside her
but I figured out my dreams last night, I gotta get chase this shit before my time’s up
so fuck all that trendy shit I’m a stay poetic
had a dream Anei told me get up and go get em
respected like a vet but I aint no veteran
dancing with the devil… and we slow stepping
but I’m inspired behind enemy lines
Jah told me go get em… DYS get em
It strikes fear when I mention
deadly bars, the shit I spit is life threatening
808 platoon soldiers are hard body
we break bread if I got it the squad got it
daily stress got me intaking narcotics
don’t let them fool you the truth is within
Che Guevera, Malcolm X… Let the REBELUTION begin!
And I'm repping for the refugees
All round the world and the seven seas
They Lost everything so they plant seeds
Hoping that their sons and daughters grow to be better trees
credits
from Exile at Home: Music in Isolation,
released April 30, 2020
Produced and recorded by Weirdough in Adelaide, South Australia.
Written by Gabriel Erjok Akon & Alaak Pager Alaak.
supported by 10 fans who also own “Better Trees (feat. Nezzy NeSs)”
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell