Why Ziggy Ramo took five years to release his music

Ziggy Ramo is a Wik man, powerful storyteller and rapper – but it took him five years to release his first album because the world wasn’t ready to embrace his art and perspective.

Ziggy joined Antionette Lattouf on The Weekend Briefing this week to explain how racism in Australia continues to dehumanise groups of people and what lead him to rap.

In the interview, he talks about how it took him five years to release his album.

“Yeah, I mean, in hindsight, it probably feels more strategic than in reality. I was twenty and had this album about systemic oppression and the dense history of colonisation in our country. And so when I was walking into label meetings, no one was really jumping up and down like, ‘Oh my God!’”

Soon after the Black Lives Matter movement Ziggy set his words into the world, releasing his music.

“With with the murder of George Floyd… the world and Australia start having a conversation about, black lives matter. And it was a very interesting thing because at the time it felt like – and from our leaders -there was a sentiment of like, ‘let’s not make American problems, Australian issues’ and that was a really interesting thing to hear.

“Scott Morrison, had recently also proclaimed that Australia didn’t have slavery and, you know, and all of that stuff was in direct, direct contradiction to my understanding through what I had lived.” 

Ziggy Ramo speaks with Jan Fran and performs songs from Human? at the Athenaeum on May 10. At the Melbourne Writers Festival also joins Chelsea Watego and Lamisse Hamouda  at the State Library Conversation Quarter on May 11.