Orlando indie rapper Marco Dupa
Marco Dupa Credit: David Lawrence

Like it or not, these are times of war. Around us, between us, within us, conflict rages everywhere. From the political arena to the battlefields to the social sphere, blood has been drawn and no one has the luxury of neutrality anymore. Orlando indie rapper Marco Dupa is no exception, with a new mini album he says is “the most overtly political I’ve ever been.”

“This hasn’t been my lane per se,” he says. “But things happen and you get inspired and you follow that.” And go there he did, opening full-step with a Malcolm X sample on the new seven-track False Idols record. Even though Dupa doesn’t go all Public Enemy from there on out, he nonetheless comes with some new force and snap, beginning with the big-kicking boom bap of following track “Pay Up!” 

But even when the vibe settles back into his usual soulful groove, Dupa’s lyrics drop with sharp intent, hitting timely targets like abuses of power from government (“They Locked Up the Ice Cream Man,” “No Kings”) to law enforcement (“D.A.M.N.”). 

“I watched Ben from Ben & Jerry’s get arrested for protesting the Middle East conflict, and I thought the optics were so ridiculous I wrote ‘They Locked the Ice Cream Man Up,’” says Dupa. “That was gonna be a one-off, and then the No Kings protest happened and I wrote about that. And then it just evolved into a full-length. It felt disingenuous to write about anything else at the time.”

Even with the new political thrust, False Idols still weaves Marco Dupa’s signature canvas by threading the needle between organic indie rap and conscious rap. This time out, though, his chill soul happens to pack a sharp, awakened edge that makes this record not just a document of the embattled times but a declaration of side. 

False Idols now streams everywhere minus the notable exception of Spotify. “I’m no longer uploading any music there,” Dupa says. “A lot of reasons behind this but the ICE ads and their acceptance and promotion of AI-generated music were kinda the straws that broke the camel’s back.”

You can catch Marco Dupa live next at Will’s Pub alongside an excellent local lineup that includes Skeletizer, Blunder Club and Girth Brooks. (7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, $10-$15)

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This article appears in Jan. 21-27, 2026.

Music columnist.