Rapper Beni Bjah's wake-up call for Australia

'When you recognise, that's how your culture survives,' is the powerful message from Perth rapper's latest single.

Beni Bjah

Perth rapper Beni Bjah. Source: YouTube

They'd rather compensate us

then give us recognition

in other words they'd rather buy you out of your traditions

cause when you recognise

that's how your culture survives...Beni Bjah

From the jarring words of Iron Ore magnate Lang Hancock’s final solution, to sterilise Indigenous Australians, you realise Beni Bjah ain’t here to mess around on his new release called 'Survivors'.

Born out of life-long frustrations of systemic racism encountered no only in Perth but across the country, Benjamin Hasler - or Beni Bjah - took his love of hip-hop, and passion for his people to pen this lyrical wake-up call for Australia.

The beautifully shot film-clip was a collaboration with documentary maker David Vincent Smith.

The beat was provided by Cortext, creating a confronting, but important clip in a  time when prominent musicians like Briggs and Thelma Plum, are openly attacked for standing up.

With lyrics like, "Australia it's time to recognise, we're survivors", Benji Bjah joins other artists in calling out those attempting to “deny our pride.” 

And in a conscious effort to raise awareness of the impact of racial division, Beni Bjah has pledged that all funds raised from the sale of the single, and forthcoming album, will be donated to education programs in Western Australia.

Beni Bjah video clip
A screen grab from Beni Bjah's latest video clip for Survivor. Source: YouTube

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2 min read

Published

Updated

By Craig Quartermaine

Source: NITV News



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