APY Lands hip-hop crew DEM MOB take new single on the road

DEM MOB – the hip-hop group that began as a classroom project in one of Australia’s most remote communities and has since performed at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound – are currently on a national tour and have released their latest single, ‘Dream’, while on the road.

The group, which formed in Pukatja in South Australia’s Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, are supporting Regurgitator on a run of dates stretching from February through to early May. Twenty-five shows remain on the tour, which closes at the Blue Mountains Theatre in Springwood on Sunday, 3 May.

‘Dream’ (their first release of 2026) follows last year’s ‘Suit Vibes’ and continues the group’s move into a more contemporary sound while keeping their Central Desert roots front and centre. The song is about self-belief and persistence and the group described it as a message for anyone who has been told their ambitions are out of reach.

“‘Dream’ is for the ones who refuse to sit back and wait” the group said. “The future don’t come from luck — it comes from your daily moves.”

DEM MOB comprises Jontae Lawrie and Elisha Umuhuri (both Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara men) and DJ Matt Gully. They are the first artists to rap in Pitjantjatjara, and the first Aboriginal act to perform at Primavera Sound. In just three years they have won ten South Australian Music Awards, including Best Hip Hop Act, Best Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Artist and Best Regional Artist three years running, as well as the APRA Emily Burrows Award.

The group was originally founded to keep Lawrie (then a teenager) engaged in school after a devastating family loss. Gully, who was Lawrie’s music teacher, joined as DJ after Lawrie and Umuhuri began using rap as a way to work through the curriculum. Lawrie went on to become the first male student to complete his secondary education on Country in Pukatja.

DEM MOB continue to run music education programs in the APY Lands and at Wiltja, a residential secondary school in Adelaide for First Nations students from remote communities. They describe music education as central to everything they do – a way of building confidence, literacy and cultural connection for young people in communities where those opportunities have historically been limited.

The national tour, which has taken them well beyond their South Australian base, brings their music to regional audiences across Australia for the first time at this scale.