Jimblah (born James Alberts) is an indigenous Australian hip hop artist from the Larrakia nation who lives in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and tours nationally. He has released two solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s and an album with his duo Homeward Bound. He is signed to the

Elefant Traks Elefant Traks is a record label based in Sydney, Australia, that predominantly releases Australian hip hop music. The label is distributed in Australia by Inertia Distribution. History 1998–2008: Formation, The Herd, Urthboy, Horrorshow El ...

label and has collaborated with many Australian artists including

Coda Conduct Coda Conduct were an Australian hip hop duo consisting of Sally Coleman (born 1992) and Erica Mallett (born 1993). In addition to performing as Coda Conduct, the two are known as Sally & Erica, who presented the breakfast show program on natio ...

, Horrorshow,

The Tongue Xannon Shirley, better known by the stage name The Tongue, is an Australian rapper and high school teacher from Sydney, New South Wales. He released two EPs (''Bad Education'' and "Victorious Remixes"), four albums (''Shock And Awe'', ''Alterna ...

and

Urthboy Tim Levinson, better known by the stage name Urthboy, is an Australian hip hop MC and producer from New South Wales. He is widely known for his solo music under the moniker Urthboy, as a founding member of the hip-hop group The Herd, and for ...

. Jimblah is also an advocate for indigenous music and indigenous rights.

Music career

Jimblah began rapping and writing lyrics at the age of 12. Ten years later, he was awarded the Hilltop Hoods Initiative and began work on his first album. ''Face the Fire'' was released independently in 2011, and was re-released by

the following year after he signed to the label. His second album ''Phoenix'' was released in 2013. Jimblah has appeared as a guest vocalist on many other artists' releases. He has performed covers on

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's Like a Version including

Matt Corby Matthew John Corby (born 7 November 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter. He achieved his commercial breakthrough with his fourth EP, '' Into the Flame'' (2011), which peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and by April 2012, was ce ...

's "Resolution" and

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's "What's Goin' On?" and has been a Triple J Feature Artist of the Week.

Homeward Bound

Jimblah also raps and produces with his partner Goji (Georgia Humphreys) in a project called Homeward Bound. Homeward Bound's first album ''Whatever You Do, Don't Panic'' was released on Elefant Traks in 2019.

Activism

Jimblah often makes strong social and political statements in his lyrics. An example of this is the single Black Life Matters, which features additional vocals from Ellie May and makes references to his great grandmother, Hilda Muir. Muir campaigned for an apology to the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

, of which she was a survivor, and while the apology was eventually delivered, her parallel campaign for reparations was unsuccessful. Jimblah has expressed his desire to pick up where his great grandmother left off. In 2019, Jimblah started a petition requesting for national broadcaster Triple J to start a First Nations music show. His lobbying led to the formation of the First Sounds: First Nations Collective for Traditional and Contemporary Music. Its members include high-profile artists such as

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and ''List of English words of Malay origin#B, balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as ...

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Emily Wurramara Emily Wurramara is an Indigenous Australian singer and songwriter. In 2018, Wurramara was nominated for Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Awards. Early life Wurramara is a Warnindhilyagwa woman from Groote Eylandt, off the Northern Te ...

Mojo Juju Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga, known professionally as Mo'Ju and previously as Mojo Juju, is an ARIA Award-nominated Australian musician, best known for their 2018 album ''Native Tongue'' and the lead single of the same title. The single won the Best ...

and

Baker Boy Danzal James Baker (born 10 October 1996), known professionally as Baker Boy, is a Yolngu rapper, dancer, artist, and actor. Baker Boy is known for performing original hip-hop songs incorporating both English and Yolŋu Matha and is one of ...

's drummer Benny Clark. Jimblah has spoken out about racism in the Australian music industry and mentors emerging indigenous hip hop artists.

Discography

Studio albums

Awards

Fowler's Live Music Awards

The Fowler's Live Music Awards took place from 2012 to 2014 to "recognise success and achievement over the past 12 months ndcelebrate the great diversity of original live music" in South Australia. Since 2015 they're known as the

South Australian Music Awards The South Australian Music Awards, also known as SA Music Awards, commonly SAM Awards, formerly Fowler's Live Music Awards (FLMA), are annual awards that exist to recognise, promote and celebrate excellence in the South Australian contemporary mu ...

. , - , 2013 , Jimblah , Best Hip Hop Artist , , -

References

{{reflist Indigenous Australian musicians Australian indigenous rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)