Overcoming The

Ten years of growing success has seen Stylin’ UP emerge as Australia’s largest Indigenous hip hop, R&B and dance festival.

First established in 2001 by local Inala elders, Stylin’ UP is driven by strong cultural, community and pride-in-self ethos. The event is produced with, and for, young people in Brisbane and across Queensland, consistently showcasing Australia’s finest Indigenous artists.

Fred Leone from Impossible Odds is set to take to the stage at this year’s ten-year celebration as one of the headlining musical acts. Having performed at all but one Stylin’ UP events over the years, he has watched the festival grow from that small, conceptualised idea, into the award-winning platform it is today.

“The first festival saw a few hundred people attend and we all walked away at the end of that day thinking it was a really good idea,” says Fred. “The community got together, got stronger and stronger, and the youth stood by it.

“I’ve sort of watched it from the outside. I did live in Inala for a few years, but that was way before the festival started. So I’ve been watching from my little place here on the northside and starting to realise just how much it’s all blowing up. It really has steadily turned into this monster of a thing. Last year I think there were 15,000 people. This year they’re aiming to get somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000.”

Stylin' UP aims to encourage young people to step up and grab opportunities to engage themselves in. So why is hip hop and R&B seen as a such an important platform for Indigenous youth to celebrate their culture through?

“The elders thought, well, we’ve already got a big NAIDOC festival that attracts heaps of people to Musgrave Park each year, but we don’t have anything for our youth. The elders went around and spoke with the kids around the community. And the kids said ‘we love hip hop and R&B, we want a hip hop and R&B festival!’”

Stylin’ Up organisers have already announced a number of celebrated acts for 2010, including The Indigenous Intrudaz, The Last Kinection and Little G. Previous years have seen headline slots filled by Jessica Mauboy, Christine Anu and MC Savage.

However, many more acts will be announced over the coming weeks, with a massive second stage and ‘emerging artist’ line-up already starting to unfold. The exposure of new local and national Indigenous acts hopes to provide Indigenous youth the power and support to express themselves artistically on a national level.

“There’s always a lot of American hip hop influences going around. If young people are listening to negative stuff they’ll get it into their mindset that they’ll have to rap like a ‘gangster’. I do a lot of workshops and you can hear it reflect in their MC or rapping style.

“So this sort of event brings together all the guys that have been doing it for years so the younger ones can get to see that they don’t have to rap with an American accent. They can talk about their own situations and where they actually live. Pride in being an Indigenous person.”

Stylin’ Up is of course not exclusively a music festival. A mixture of cultural and community activities take place alongside the music stage, offering diverse performances and activities to showcase the talent of the local community. Contemporary and traditional dance, dance competitions, workshops, arts and craft stalls, free rides and basketball games are just some of the things to expect at the ten-year Stylin’ UP event.

Stylin’ UP has also been developed to include a large workshop program facilitated by leading local artists. The workshops run in local schools in the south west Brisbane corridor as well as through a regional program facilitated by Human Ventures.

Another key outcome for Stylin’ UP has been the fostering of a mutual respect between Indigenous communities and the Brisbane City Council. The collaboration has been declared a rare success by project officer, Kelvin Lui, because of its long-term commitment to the community and reconciliation.

Fred Leone however believes the success is in the strengthening of the Australian Indigenous hip hop scene.

“The Indigenous hip hop scene before Stylin’ UP, nationally, was just people putting together mixed tapes and sending them across the country. That’s how we got to hear each other’s music. There wasn’t a big record label or anything like that. It was all hardcore, underground stuff … you’d never see anyone but you’d know their music.”

Stylin’ UP hosts its ten-year celebration festival on Saturday May 29 at CJ Greenfields Sports Complex, Inala. Headline acts include Archie Roach, The Indigenous Intrudaz, Impossible Odds, The Last Kinection, Zennith Boyz, Yung Warriors, Little G, Banawurun and Sean Choolburra.