Chapter 26

Kobie Dee’s second EP was written and recorded at the age of 26, hence its title. It takes stock of the events in his personal and professional life over that 12-month period, while placing them in the broader context of his journey to date, and the realities of being a First Nations man living in Australia. “It’s a piece of me,” the proud Gomeroi artist from Maroubra in South Sydney, Bidjigal Land, tells Apple Music. “It’s my journey; the best way I can tell my story.” Given that Dee experienced myriad highs as a 26-year-old—the birth of his second child; getting engaged to his partner; having his 2019 single “Jody” go gold; building a studio in his neighbourhood—the EP is a story of persistence, self-improvement and self-reflection, and of triumphing over his personal struggles to secure a positive life for his family. It doesn’t, however, shy away from the harsh realities of life in Australia for First Nations people. Witness sombre opening track “Statistic”, in which Dee raps, “I’m a Black man living in this country where it’s normal to be sent/To a place where my people make almost 50 per cent/That’s half of the population in our prisons today/We only make up three per cent of this country ain’t that a shame?”. Later in the song, he looks for light at the end of the struggle: “It’s time to change the way we see the world/But more important, it’s time to change the way we see ourselves.” “When you grow up, it can be a toxic cycle, because you feel like that’s where you’re meant to be,” he explains. “And so for me, it was about changing the way we think about that, and changing the way we see ourselves, and making it normal for Blakfellas to be successful. It just starts with the way we see ourselves.” A powerful, confronting and, ultimately, uplifting EP in which the rapper solidifies his reputation as one of Australia’s best MCs and storytellers, here Dee walks Apple Music through Chapter 26, track by track. “Statistic” “It started off as a conversation about being as young as 10 and seeing older people in my community go to jail. And seeing that as a possible future for me and not wanting to become a statistic. But then I also wanted to show where that comes from. I speak about the introduction of alcohol and drugs into our communities, I speak about the incarceration rates; another stereotype is that we’re not good dads. Yes, we do fall into some of these statistics, but these aren’t a part of our culture. These aren’t a part of who we are, these were all introduced things. As much as I wanted to highlight the statistics, I also want to highlight where those come from.” “Father’s Eyes” (feat. Stan Walker) “I grew up without my father. For me, the song ties into ‘Statistic’. It’s like the next chapter. Not wanting to become a statistic, and then not wanting to become another stereotype: that Blakfellas aren’t good fathers. It’s telling a story of how I nearly fell into that and how easy it was for me to fall into that. How my father kind of fell into that, having his own addictions. And me kind of reflecting and thinking, I was 21, and I was making the same mistakes my dad made, living that lifestyle while becoming a father. I think it took me not having my dad, and my dad being like that, for me to realise that’s not how I want to be. But also reflecting and thinking, my dad was only 16 when he had me. I got the help, but he didn’t, and that was the difference between us, and not putting the blame on my dad anymore.” “Father’s Eyes Interlude” “‘Father’s Eyes Interlude’ is pretty much like a ‘Father’s Eyes Number Two’. I’m at a completely different stage in my life, and this was the way I wanted to speak to my son and tell him things that I wish my dad taught me. Mental health stuff, seeing your friends go to prison, people expecting you to go to prison, being a young Indigenous man. Suicide was a massive thing that no one could have prepared me for, but it’s stuff that I was never spoken to about. So for me, it was like, bringing awareness to that, so if my son ever comes across those things he can speak to me about that. I start off the song with his heartbeat when he was in his mum’s stomach.” “Lifetime” (feat. Miss Kaninna) “‘Statistic’ sets up ‘Father’s Eyes’, not wanting to become a stereotype and speaking about my daughter; ‘Father’s Eyes Interlude’ goes into speaking about my son. Then at the end [of that song], I basically say the way I treat your mother, I want to set that example of how you treat women in your life. It’s a good segue to then go in and speak about my partner and where we’re at today in our relationship and what I see for our future. It’s really like my first love song that I’ve ever written.” “Ride for Me” (feat. Zia Jade) “You’ve got ‘Statistic’, ‘Father’s Eyes’, ‘Father’s Eyes Interlude’ and then ‘Lifetime’, and that’s my personal life. Then ‘Ride for Me’ comes on and I start speaking about my career and where I’m at, and speaking about people in my life and thinking like, who’s really there, who’s really riding for me at this point. Who’s around for me, or who’s around because I’m getting to a point in my career where I’m getting a name. Also, I speak about getting all this praise and not knowing how to accept it. So it’s changing the project from personal, and now we’re getting into my professional life.” “Time” (feat. Oddisee) “Time don’t wait for no one. And realising, at this point in my career, how valuable we’ve got to be of that time. Not only in my career; I speak about my daughter not being in a pram anymore and how fast time has gone. I speak about ‘time tick tocks while we scroll through TikTok’. For me it was all of that together—my career and being a father and realising how much time I need to put into both of those things.” “Warriors & Storytellers” “This was reflecting on the year that I just had. Because it was one of the best years I’ve had in so long. I got engaged, started building the studio in my neighbourhood, had my son, ‘Jody’ went gold,—so many things just in that one year. I really wanted to speak to that. Because for so many of my tracks, I speak about a lot of my pain and struggles, going through addiction and all these things. For this one I was like, I want something that reflects how I’m feeling at the moment—a celebration track of big things ahead and big things that have just happened.” “Reflection Freestyle” “This is a way to wrap the whole EP up. From ‘Statistic’ to ‘Warriors & Storytellers’, it’s like a timeline of my life. And then ‘Reflection Freestyle’ is kind of a timeline of my life in three minutes. I speak about being 14 and starting rapping. I speak about when I first dropped ‘Jody’. I go into a bit of ‘Father’s Eyes’ stuff and a bit about my father, then where I’m at today. I finish with, ‘I think about the past and now it seems so distant but one quick mistake can take me back in an instant.’ It’s reminding myself that one little mistake will take me right back to the stuff I’m speaking about in the EP and tear down everything that I’ve worked for.”