Arabic version: «بونوبا بيبي» لكايبس يتتبع الثقافة وحقوق الأرض

According to ABC News, Walmatjarri and Bunuba rapper Kayps has used his debut album Bunuba Baby to explore identity, family history and culture. The album, released in August, reached number two on the Australian hip hop charts within a week and has been nominated for a major Australian music award.

Kayps, whose name is Kurrungaya Bieundurry, chose a photograph of his grandfather during the 1979 Noonkanbah protest for the album cover. His grandfather helped organise a blockade against an oil company seeking to drill at a sacred site. The protest galvanised the Kimberley land rights movement, though police broke up the blockade at Mickey’s Pool on Noonkanbah Station and arrested 22 people.

The artwork also represents three generations of his family. Kayps said his father painted the Pirlirr, an Indigenous symbol and the family symbol, on the cover. He said the album draws on his family’s fight for land rights and could encourage younger mob to connect with culture.

Born in Broome and raised in Wangkatjungka, Kayps recalled a community shaped by family gatherings and shared country, blues and gospel music. His grandmother was a blues artist and his father was a guitarist and singer. After moving to Perth at about age five, he discovered hip-hop at 13, busked at the Kalamunda farmers market to afford production software and later performed his own beats before a live crowd in Fremantle.

Now 21, Kayps said the lyrics on Bunuba Baby are more politically charged than his earlier work. He said conversations with his uncle and father about community issues, culture and responsibilities informed the newer material. He hopes the album tells people who feel disconnected from country that it is not too late to reconnect at their own pace. Kayps is also hoping to run workshops at Fitzroy Crossing’s Night Place, while he has been nominated as triple j’s unearthed artist of the year and Bunuba Baby is up for Australian album of the year at the J Awards.