Dallas, a Noongar man, grew up in the small and remote town of Wyndham in Western Australia’s East Kimberley. As a teenager he relocated to Melbourne, a move that eventually led him to start making music. Now less than two years on from his first release, he’s already one of Australian hip-hop’s most hotly tipped acts. And with what Dallas Woods has on the way this year, the big moments are going to keep on coming.
Australia already knows the skills, smarts and incredible flow of Dallas Woods. But in 2020, the East Kimberly-bred rapper is back to dial everything up a notch.
After spending much of 2019 touring alongside and writing music with his close offsider Baker Boy, Dallas is ready to unveil new music of his own. The first single in his armoury is ‘If It Glitters It’s Gold’, which was crafted together with his frequent collaborator Jerome Farrah, the co-producer of runaway Kian hit ‘Waiting’.
'If It Glitters It’s Gold’ blends hard truths with tongue-in-cheek rhymes and clever punchlines – which is the Dallas Woods way. The 25-year-old’s music uses wit and wordplay to get his messages out, weaving comments on big issues into rapid-fire rhymes. His three earlier singles, ‘9 Times Out Of 10’, ‘Hoodlum’ and ‘Chapter One’ saw Dallas rap about the justice system and racial stereotyping, while his Baker Boy collaboration ‘Black Magic’ stormed in with bravado, Blak pride and that classic ‘90s hip-hop-style charisma.
Since releasing his first single in 2018, Dallas has been named triple j Unearthed’s Indigenous Artist of the Year, dubbed “powerful” and “blistering” by triple j tastemakers like Richard Kingsmill, and enjoyed high rotation with each of his singles so far. Woods has also performed at the National Indigenous Music Awards and played to huge crowds at Bluesfest, Groovin the Moo Bendigo and the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, where he stepped up to support Sampa the Great. In 2019 he was tapped to contribute to Red Bull’s 64 Bars series, delivering an incendiary three-minute rap about his hometown that’s pulled in over 300,000 views on YouTube.
