NEW SINGLE: STRICTLY D.T
TRACK TITLE: ‘MY LIFE’
RELEASE DATE: THURSDAY 7 JULY
LABEL: INDEPENDENT / UNITED MASTERS
Strictly D.T spits a powerful message of self-determination and community resilience on new single ‘My Life’ + upcoming live shows
Melbourne via Perth via Seattle artist Strictly D.T returns with his first new music in two years on the contemplative and empowering track ‘My Life’. Since breaking out on his own as a fully independent artist and releasing the first of a new chapter of self reflective works with his EP Note to Self in 2019, Strictly D.T has garnered a reputation as one of the country’s most madly respected lyricists. Fast forward to 2022, with an International Songwriters Competition win endorsed by Ziggy Marley, Lorde, Booker T. Jones, Tom Waits and more under his belt, the unstoppable artist is finally back with some fresh bars to sink your teeth into.
‘My Life’ is the first offering from an upcoming album tackling mental health, relationships, family politics and much more. The single is a self-determined, community-focused call to arms to maintain autonomy and resilience amidst ongoing oppression and adversity. Produced by prolific New Zealand DJ and beatmaker Spell, and mixed and mastered by MattyMadeit, ‘My Life’ sees Strictly D.T at his most fluid and earnest, his rhythmic mantras spat atop a dreamy bed of subdued synths and bass, creating the perfect atmosphere for dreaming big and living even larger.
“Despite the countless encounters that dominant culture attempts to shut down minority groups in any shape, way, or form, “My Life” is proof that you have failed. My very existence is proof that you can not tear down what is not properly yours. I am not above you, I am not below you, I’m right beside you.” – Strictly D.T
Since moving to Australia Strictly D.T has supported the likes of Mos Def, Common, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and has hosted his own B-Boy shows and spoken word nights as well as making an appearance on triple j’s Bars of Steel alongside some of the best established and emerging rappers around Australia. D.T has worked with the likes of veteran DJ Tek, Sydney based producer Ralph Radical, and most recently with the HALO Vocal Ensemble, selling out both the Melbourne Museum for Melbourne Music Week, and Northcote Town Hall for Melbourne Jazz Festival, as well as performed packed shows at the iconic Fremantle Arts Centre, Mojos Bar and the Rosemount Hotel. Now Strictly D.T is gearing up to open for Aussie hip hop icon Drapht at his Melbourne show on the evening of My Life’s release, Thursday 7 July at The Night Cat.
UPCOMING SHOWS
Thursday 7 July
The Night Cat
Supporting Drapht
‘My Life’ Credits
Written and performed by Strictly D.T
Produced by spellspellspell
Shot and Directed by Justin Macawili and Vanessa Valenzuela
Mixed and Mastered by MattyMadeit
Recorded at Strictly D.T’s Closet
Artwork by Strictly D.T
Photography by Rachel Bradley
Supported by the Australian Council for the Arts
‘My Life’ Lyrics
(Language Warning)
I grow stronger every sentence
Top 5 no mentions it’s awkward
Could cut through the tension
K.dot said no one could call Candyman but what’s that to a dentist?
Don’t count streams count blessings
and count every step my sons taking in the right direction
Non violent, but you don’t know how it feels to pray for a gun when they run through your
house with weapons
It’s more affective, being a Samurai in a garden then a farmer in armageddon
Peep the lesson this is my truth in fact
I been holding onto these tears hoping it won’t impact
My life, my family, an my cream
Outweighed the consequence of building my team
But I’m lacking the focus to keep everything
In balance so now I have to sacrifice morals or talent
Cause this games got me stressed out,
Love Hip Hop but to make it you gotta sell out
Guess we came from a different route
I rap for respect, they rap for clout
Then try and justify their reasons with bank accounts mm
It’s just lousy
I’m Mike Lowrey, gunning through the city with no repercussions proudly
Oh that’s why they say “f*ck police”
Fists in the air, hands up, banging on tambourine’s mm
Difference between the screens and the streets mm
Different views when yo face in the concrete
I must admit, it’s a limited belief
That you could feel the same things that I’ve seen
Where I have been, a grounding humbling self esteem
Racism, as many as there were fiends
So polluted it’s haunting me in my dreams
It’s a wrap though government hold us down
It’s cap though
don’t believe 1 conspiracy we can’t chat bro
It’s pistachios, but it’s my life I flaunt it
Got you thinking that every *cough* is covid
Hard to believe every bar, I wrote it
Just for labels to try and claim they own it
Nah. Just like the land, it’s stolen
Man thinks that nature, we control it
All odds are against us,
But we pride ourselves on the bigger picture
We are not limited to these scriptures
Cause once we’re gone it’s fact. they gon miss us
So You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
That’s what I tell’em everyday
So You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
I get the feeling that these people don’t understand,
That the destruction of earth is product of man
I made it in the conversation because of my fans
and I ain’t even have to flex any of these brands
A mortal man, with disbeliefs of failure
Got half the country think I fake my accent like Iggy Azeila
Don’t worry where I’m from, it’s more of who I become n how I no longer run I won boy i
tell ya
Truth never changes. Lies change forever
I took a break to raise my son, somehow I got better
I wanna raise him as if there were never a letter, of Willie Lynch it’s been a pinch
To grasp the idea to being rich
To grasp relationships with money to benefit
It pains me to think that this poisons the innocent
Breaking cycles of oppression life lessons just to find I’m still illiterate
Of manifestation, a man of much patience N exercising these bars Until I’m Roc Nation
I know Hov’s waiting, for lyrical salvation
I’m defensive on the culture I’m raps Gary Payton,
So You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
That’s what I tell’em everyday
You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
I wanna make’m all say
You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
That’s what I tell’em everyday
You will not make me hate my life
You will not make me hate my life
Uh
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