“Every song could be a wrestler’s song,” Adam Briggs tells Apple Music of SONGS IN THE KEY OF WRESTLING, the debut album by the rapper’s punk-metal-rap project BIG NOTER. “For me, it kind of encapsulates my love of entertainment. That visceral feeling of Stone Cold Steve Austin hitting a stunner. Going to the video store when I was a kid and looking for the most hectic video cover I could find. But there’s serious messages on there too.” SONGS IN THE KEY OF WRESTLING channels the energy and intensity of the metal and punk acts Briggs grew up listening to in Shepparton, such as Rage Against the Machine, Body Count, Guns N’ Roses and Sepultura. The proud Yorta Yorta man adds a hardcore edge to his commanding vocals and enlists collaborators including Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, IDLES singer Joe Talbot, Public Enemy’s Chuck D and producer Nick DiDia. Here, Briggs talks through SONGS IN THE KEY OF WRESTLING, track by track. “MY GENOCIDE” “You’re hearing about genocides around the world. In Palestine, obviously, in Sudan, and it’s like, ‘Well, we’ve got ours here.’ It’s reminding people that it happened here and it’s still happening because it never got better. [First Nations people are] still the most susceptible and disadvantaged people in the country.” “IT’S ALL GOOD TIL IT’S NOT” “It’s a song of frustration. It’s very short, very punk rock. It’s like, if [the movie] Falling Down was a song. Again, it’s looking at it from a Blackfella’s perspective, because that’s where I write from; that’s who I am. We get told, ‘You should be thankful, you’re in the lucky country.’ Then when we snap…it’s all good ’til it’s not.” “TALK STRAIGHT” “This song’s about armchair experts. Everyone’s got an opinion. When I started doing this, everyone [had] an opinion on what I should be allowed to do. There’s a lot of experts who’ve never written albums and never stood on stage.” “IDENTITY” “It about how Blackfellas interact with each other: ‘What’s your name? Who’s your mob?’ There’s an A and B verse that speaks from both sides of knowing who you are and the strength in knowing who you are. Sometimes, the challenges come with having to hold on to yourself and who you are and your identity. It’s a double-edged sword. There’s a lot of fakes and frauds.” “A MESSAGE FROM CHUCK” (with Chuck D) “I wrote the words for Chuck. I wanted a powerful voice who’s in tune with everything that we’re talking about. And Chuck’s a hero of mine. At the start of Public Enemy’s ‘By the Time I Get to Arizona’ it has Sister Souljah doing a radio announcement. So this is my salute to Public Enemy and Chuck. It naturally flows into ‘BY THE TIME I GET TO YORTA YORTA WOKA’.” “BY THE TIME I GET TO YORTA YORTA WOKA” “The Shepparton Council repealed their decision to get rid of 26 January celebrations. They have a statue of [First Nations activist] William Cooper in the middle of the Queens Gardens in Shepparton. They’ve got these giant murals of [pioneering First Nations leader] Uncle Doug Nicholls on the walls, and all this set dressing. ‘BY THE TIME I GET TO YORTA YORTA WOKA’ is about that. It’s kind of my message to people and to the community: Don’t wait for them to fix anything for us. They should be held accountable, but we can’t wait. We have to be proactive.” “WHAT YA SWINGIN’ AT?” “It’s a very satirical song. It came out of me and Nick [DiDia] watching baseball. I think he said it, or someone in his baseball group chat was like, ‘What’s he swinging at?’ It’s like this bravado song [about] this big man. This macho kind of punch-you-in-the-face track. The tongue is firmly in the cheek.” “F.M.D.” “It was [inspired by] this idea that Blackfellas get things for free. Bro, the only thing we got was diabetes and low life expectancy. In the verses it’s also a call to arms [to First Nations communities]. They’re not going to give you anything, so you have to take what you need, take what you want. Nothing was ever given to me.” “B.M.F.” “I wanted to dial it back. Like, what would Mike Patton do? [That] was my approach vocally; let’s try something different. ‘Stomp a Nazi out his uniform and anyone who love him’—I was like, everyone can enjoy that. The only people who don’t enjoy that are Nazis, so fuck ’em.” “BIG NOTER” (with Joe Talbot) “I was creating this character in my head, almost like this human wrecking ball. And Joe’s voice fits so perfectly on it.” “WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH ADAM?” (with Tom Morello) “It’s the idea that people get this justice system and health system that doesn’t help. A lot of preventative care just mitigates risk. And we’re not closing the gap. One of my beliefs is they’re not truly that invested in closing the gap because they would miss a big chunk of their welfare economy. I tell a story about a guy who steals and gets sent away. Everyone’s asking, ‘What’s the matter with him?’ All you have to do is look around and be like, ‘Jeez, what’s fucking right with anything?’”