Jimblah has assembled a full choir of backup singers for this week’s Like a Version. He took them along to the triple j studios to perform a really special and poignant rendition of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’.
Ellie May joined him on vocals. She features on his track ‘Black Life Matters’ — don’t worry they perform it live as well.
Chopping and changing lyrics throughout, Jimblah addresses Australia’s cultural issues. He raps, “But I’ma speak to these kids now and I’ma show ’em somehow/Let ’em know where we come from/Let ’em know what we stand on/This is black land fam.”
Referring to the current bushfire crisis he raps,”I let them know about my grandma/’Cause she born from the fire/Now that’s the same one ya’ll going up against now/Reconcile? We been waiting/But ya’ll been debating/When ya’ll clueless to what the hell going on.”
It’s especially poignant after the calls we’ve been hearing from Australia’s Indigenous leaders around the way we manage land.
You can listen to it in full down below.
Jimblah also performed his original track, ‘Black Life Matters’ with Ellie May. It’s super stripped back, it’s just their vocals and an acoustic guitar. It’s really special too.
