Bringing it home to Country, rapper and role model Kobie Dee has today announced a Gomeroi Nation Tour.
Partnering with Jackson Street and Create NSW, Kobie Dee will visit Tamworth, Narrabri, Walgett and Boggabilla before rounding up the tour with a block party in Moree alongside Triple One, Nter and Nooky.
"For ages I've wanted to do a show back in Moree. It was after South East Block Party in Maroubra, I just knew I had to take this out there,” he told NITV News.
With the support of his team, the dream became a reality – and more.
“The Gomeroi Nation Tour is an opportunity for me to perform on my Country. This means a lot to me from a cultural and healing perspective, performing on Country and telling my stories through music and dance, passing on knowledge, experience and wisdom like my ancestors have,” he said.
“To be able to tour where my people have walked for thousands of years gives me a feeling that no other show has. This is for my Old People, my mob, my ancestors watching over us.”
Now living on Bidjigal Country in Maroubra in Sydney, the tour is a homecoming for Kobie Dee and a chance to reconnect with mob and family.
"I've never been through Walgett or Boggabilla, I haven't even been to Tamworth. I've never been to these places so to bring this to them is really exciting,” he said.
"I'm a McGrady, and a Duncan . . . I'm a Smith and Hammond so I got a lot of family all around. That's what I'm so excited about too, I get to meet more family and connect with mob.”
Despite being born and raised on Saltwater Country, Kobie Dee says he’ll always be a river boy.
"I was born in Randwick, but I was living in Moree when I was baby. We moved back to Sydney and Mum and Dad split up. I sort of didn't speak to my Dad for a while, it wasn't until I was in my early teenage years I started heading back up to Moree. I moved up there for a bit to reconnect,” he said.
“Even though I’ve grown up here down by the beach, on Saltwater Country, every time I go back home, it's just a different feeling. I'm definitely a river boy.”
Kobie Dee has stepped up in the last couple of years, finding his feet as a role model.
“Growing up we didn't exactly have those positive role models, or those positive male figures in our lives. If I can be that for the next generation, I know I’m doing something right,” he said.
“I want to help youth not go down the same path I did with drugs and alcohol, culture is what steered me onto the right path, along with my daughter. Teaching culture and passing that on you know, that's the key.”
The Gomeroi rapper is a Youth Ambassador of Weave Youth and Community Services and Just Reinvest NSW, positions that help him give back.
Gomeroi man Kobie Dee wants to be a role model for young mob. Source: Supplied
"Growing up seeing the stuff that happens in our communities, now to come back and help the next generation is really what I want to do,” he said.
“We had youth programs growing up, programs like Weave, I know those are the things that have made me want to go down this path. Those programs changed my life and make me want to give back in the same way.”
The Gomeroi Nation Tour is a free event and will see Kobie Dee work alongside each town community to provide performing and supporting opportunities to local First Nations talent.
The tour will kick off on March 13 in Tamworth, and continue until March 16.
