A black-and-white shot of a man crouching on a rock among the grasses, looking down into the camera.

Ziggy Ramo

When it comes to racialized discrimination and injustice, silence is violence - and that makes Sydney-based hip hop and freestyle artist Ziggy Ramo the roaring sound of peace. Since his first release in 2016, Ramo’s razor-sharp lyricism and effortlessly cool musical talent have positioned him as an essential voice in Australia’s national conversation. Born to an Aboriginal and Solomon Islander father and a mother of Scottish heritage in Bellingen, NSW, and brought up across Arnhem Land and Perth, Western Australia, Ramo – whose full name is Ziggy Ramo Burrmuruk Fatnowna – defies categorisation. In music and life, he’s an activist, but he’s much more than that. With feet firmly planted on the ground, Ramo somehow rises above the fray. From racial discrimination and toxic masculinity to trauma, mental health and even plain old love, Ramo is insightful, articulate and poignant with an infectious energy to match. His musical influences go beyond old-school hip hop greats like Lauryn Hill and Yasiin Bey to include Aboriginal activists such as Charlie Perkins and Gary Foley. His songs reflect the fiery inner-monologue of a person carrying ancestral trauma while navigating the throws of contemporary life, and interrogate issues typically eschewed with gripping humanity and grit.

In 2020 Ramo released his debut album Black Thoughts, an extended version of the artist’s 2016 debut EP by the same name. Written while hospitalised and on suicide watch four years prior to release, the album became a source of healing for Ramo – though at the time, he thought of it as more of an obituary. He might have rediscovered strength and hope, but the conditions of systemic racism and injustice that brought him down in the first place are still at play a year on. Leaving an impression, Black Thoughts attained Best International Indigenous Hip Hop Album of the Year, FBI SMAC Awards Album of the Year and FBI SMAC Awards Song of the Year for track ‘April 25th’ alongside being nominated for AMP (Australian Music Prize) Album of the Year, Ramo also delivered powerful live performances of Black Thoughts at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.

Ziggy Ramo’s previous releases include debut EP Black Thoughts (2016), as well as singles Same Script (2017), YKWD (2017), A to Z (2018) and Pretty Boy (2019). In 2017, Ramo picked up West Australian Music (WAM) titles for Indigenous Artist of the Year and Hip Hop Artist of the Year, as well as triple J Unearthed Artist to Watch.

After striking up a friendship with Paul Kelly that has ranged from coffee conversations to creative collaborations, Paul handed over the original iconic song From Little Things Big Things Grow for Ziggy to rework and share his message through the release of Little Things in May 2021.