After a huge year defined by ARIA wins, critical acclaim and anthems that hit as hard as they heal, multi-award-winning First Nations rap trio 3% are taking a reflective turn with their new single, “These Days”.
Out now via Believe, the track drips with nostalgia; all gleaming keys, slick flows and sun-drenched memories of simpler times. Over twinkling production and tight bars, Dallas Woods, Nooky and Angus Field take listeners back to their youth — weekends that stretched forever, scraped knees and BMXs, the smell of hot chips and the hum of a PlayStation left running too long.
“Every now and then I take a trip down memory lane to remind myself where I’m from and how far I’ve come. Reminiscing is a superpower tool to draw inspiration from and also keep me grounded,” says Woods. “I haven’t been home in a while and conversations over the phone with my closest people really set the tone for my verse thinking back to a simpler time when the weekend was more than just days but a way of life. I know everyone in Wyndham will understand the image I painted.”
For Field, “These Days” captures that exact energy — a throwback to the days when the only worry you had was getting home before the street lights came on. “Simple days, good friends and leaving the world to wait until you grow older, ‘These Days’ is a story of our generation growing up through the ‘90s and 2000s,” he says. “When the equivalent of a mobile phone was a Nintendo DS and your most prized possessions was a Mongoose BMX and new pair of Wave Zone boardies.”
And Nooky? His verse is pure storytelling. “I go back to riding my KX around West Nowra and jumping off the Flat Rock Dam Bridge,” he says. “It’s me and my good friend Pauly D flying around on Thumpstars with red, blue lights blaring behind us. It’s $2 Tuesday down at Nowra Blockbuster, it’s buying $2 worth of chips at IGA while stealing blocks of chocolate. If we wasn’t out lapping the streets of Nowra then it was Tekken and GTA on the PlayStation. Back then me and the cuzos made our own fun.”
Sometimes, he adds, that fun led to trouble. “It was all for one and one for all. We was rocking World Industries and punching on over Pokémon cards,” he says. “This song is for anyone who ever used Windex to fix a scratched up and dirty disk in hopes that you make it past the load screen.”
The accompanying video, filmed at Clem’s Chicken Shop in Sydney and directed by Nick Rae with cinematography by Johnathon Karalis, opens with Nooky reflecting on his early days and the community that shaped him. It’s a love letter to the small acts of kindness that helped carry him through, and the gratitude that still lingers.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
“These Days” by 3% is out now via Believe.
