Still stylish, ten years on

Ten years on, Stylin’ Up has not only given us wicked beats and launched many hip hop careers; Brisbane’s multicultural community now has something to bond over - music.

Indigenous Intrudaz' MC DCP remembers way back when the Inala festival was just being born, the group would be on stage so early that the roadies and stallholders would still be setting up.

Flash forward ten years and the boys have been on the line-up ever year since, alongside big names like Jessica Mauboy and Christine Anu. They're local celebrities these days, are headlining the show and even help to organise it.  

"I see it as an illegitimate child so to speak,” MC DCP says. “We saw it grow and prosper from a baby, then it started walking and now it's almost fully grown and it keeps growing every year. When we started in 2001 it was really community-based and you would have been lucky to get 100 or 200 people show up. From that to 15,000 is a giant leap in the right direction. It's been getting bigger every year."

Tons of emerging artists feature on this year's line-up, along with Archie Roach, arguably our most iconic indigenous musician. MC DCP says the message in Archie's music inspires many musos when finding their feet.

“[It's all about] being true to yourself and putting indigenous flavour in the music instead of just going for what's hot at the time. Real people can relate to it; it's not made up stuff; it's speaking from experience and the spirit and soul.”

MC DCP says the tenth anniversary show is going to blast Stylin' Up’s past out of the water. He's particularly excited about catching some of the smaller acts that are making their way onto the scene; hopefully it'll kickstart their careers like it did for Indigenous Intrudaz.

"The organisers aren't really concentrating on a drawcard like the other years ... it's more based around showcasing up-and-coming artists and that's what I like about it. Without Stylin' Up we would have had to struggle a lot more than what we have, just in terms of getting ourselves out there.”

But he says it's not just the indigenous community that benefits from the gig, because acts from a whole range of backgrounds are on the bill. The award-winning event, which was set up by a group of local elders, has played a great role in taking positive steps toward reconciliation and cultural pride. After all, music's a language everyone can speak.

“It's something that gets the whole community involved, not just the indigenous or non-indigenous parts. It's basically the community's event so everyone feels like they're a part of it. Music can cross colour lines and social boundaries, so to speak.”

Indigenous Intrudaz address many issues Aboriginal kids face in their lyrics and they try to be a good influence by being good role models and putting positive messages into their sound.

“[We're] trying to teach kids that music can be an outlet for your voice; you don't have to do what everyone else is doing because it's cool and you can feel free to speak about whatever you want in your music."

And to do that, MC DCP has been running hip hop workshops in the lead-up to the event, teaching kids how to create their own music.

"Out of them the children get a CD at the end with all their tracks on it. Basically they get the skills to write their own music, learn how to structure songs, pick topics. Hopefully it's a push in the right direction.”

Away from the main stages there'll be traditional dance performances, dance comps, good eats and market stalls. MC DCP has big dreams for the event's next ten years, wanting it to move out of Inala and go national.

"It'll hopefully just grow and grow from here. I reckon it'd be good to put it on the level of Big Day Out where it travels around, rather than keeping it in the Brisbane community. It'd be good to get it going on around the whole of Australia."

Stylin’ Up will be held at the CJ Greenfield Sports Complex Inala this Saturday May 29. It’s a free, all-ages, strictly no drug and alcohol event.