So here at the Native, we believe that it isn’t enough for artists to make good music, find fan bases and ‘blow’ as it were. If they want to truly find longevity, they cannot ignore the socio-political climate that directly or indirectly influences their ability to make music. But it also isn’t enough to ape the artists who have come before you, and blindly replicate their ideas hoping to gain the socio-political traction they did. You have to find your own way and make music that comes form you. Perhaps someone is listening because rapper Dusten Truce just went all social justice warrior on us, dropping his two cents on the pervasive corruption that defines our continued existence as a nation.

“Pablo Dieziani”off Dusten Truce’s new EP 23 to Life, is an amalgam of Mexican drug lord Pablo Escobar and former Nigerian minister of petroleum resources and accused money launderer Alison Dieziani Madueke. Both came to control obscene amounts of wealth by fraudulent means and publicly bragged about their wealth before they were either arrested or had their wealth frozen/confiscated. The instrumental is discreet enough to not struggle for prominence with Truce, only a skeletal bass Midi drum loop, a hokey piano solo and Dusten Truce’s voice. He references the abysmal state of public infrastructure in the country, the widespread corruption that starts at the very apex of the government and trickles down to NEPA staff. He even references the recent Whistle blower policy with which the government is currently fighting corruption and uses it as a metaphor for how tempted he (and most of us to be honest) are to either join in the carnage or seek to profit from it.

But ultimately Dusten Truce only cares about one thing, making sense of it all, and perhaps this helps him do that.

Listen to “Pablo Dieziani” here.

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