JamarzOnMarz's ‘Tomorrow’ Is A Saxophone-Filled Look To The Future
JamarzOnMarz. Photo supplied.
NSW rapper JamarzOnMarz has just dropped his new single, Tomorrow, and it brings his anti-discrimination campaign to life. He’s Australia’s first openly gay male rapper, and he’s also been challenging private Australian schools for discriminating against students with Afro textured-hair. Australian private schools have primitive uniform policies and grooming codes that doesn’t reflect the population of Australia. You can sign the petition to change this here.
I don’t always talk about music videos, but I think the video for Tomorrow is particularly relevant. It reflects Jamarz’s experience attending a private school, and sees him creating the environment he wish he grew up in in terms of diversity. The cast features a range of BIPOC, and half the total cast identifies as LGBTQIA+. It’s an important film clip that also shows the representation that should be ever-present in Australian music, but often can be far too lacking.
Tomorrow features Jamarz on both vocals and the saxophone, and fuses afrobeats, hip-hop, jazz horns and Gqom, an emerging South African sub-genre. Jamarz raps in both English and Swahili, talking about his love for someone that doesn’t reciprocate in both languages. It’s an act of defiance, especially as homosexuality is still criminal in Kenya. Jamarz is using his platform to give those around him a voice they don’t have.
Speaking about the track, as well as the video, Jamarz says, “Growing up in an overwhelmingly white regional town, I didn’t have many peers who looked like me or who were openly queer. I rectified that through the casting, and lived my Grammar School fantasy; being out and proud, surrounded by diverse and accepting peers, and embracing individuality.
“Fingers crossed this video can influence at least one Australian Independent school to stop discriminating against Black students with Afro textured-hair and protective styles.” Please, if you can, sign the petition. Australian media is far too whitewashed, but if this petition can continue to have a groundswell of community support, then change is coming. There’s hope for a better Tomorrow.
READ MORE: KESMAR Puts The Fun In Funk With ‘Meteorite’
Check out Tomorrow below. I think this song has a really important message of hope for the future, but beyond that, it’s ridiculously catchy. Saxophone is always going to be cool, and Jamarz’s vocals move effortlessly between singing and rapping. It’s easy to talk about this song’s impact, but I think it’s just as important to discuss the actual music. I really don’t think saxophone will ever stop being cool. Certainly not when artists like Jamarz are continuing to rock it.