In an interview on Triple J, American DJ/producer Diplo fondly discussed a parting gift he received on the last leg of his trip to Australia - an Aboriginal Flag quilt. Made in a sewing class by the boys at Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre in Wagga Wagga, the middle of the flag boasts a giant Tupac in place of the usual yellow sun. Understandably, it was the favourite thing he took away from his last Australian trip: “It just sums up the whole experience there in Riverina."

Diplo had spent a month here after the 2007 Big Day Out, to run hip hop workshops in indigenous communities, teaching basic music production and recording skills. Starting off with a week in Northern Territory’s Maningrida – an autonomous, self-governing community - he was then taken to the Riverina Centre by Sydney’s Nina Agzarian and Andrew Levins, who wanted to show him the flip side. It wasn’t the happiest place to be in the whole time, but Levins says it was worth it. Completely. “You could tell that we were really making progress and doing something good for the boys’ lives, you know? They’re going to remember that experience. Even though they had no idea who Diplo was.”

It was during these three days that the now famous ‘Smash A Kangaroo’ was laid out. It’s a great track, but there’s no doubt that part of its success lies with the names that were involved. That and its rarity – I challenge you to name more than five songs by Indigenous Australians which have received international recognition and airplay. Or even national recognition. Hip hop and R&B have traditionally offered a platform for disadvantaged, marginalised and minority groups to be heard - examples abound in New Zealand, America and even France and the UK.  But in Australia those genres are dominated by suburban white Australia. 

According to Levins, “When black American musicians come out to Australia, they always expect to see a few indigenous performers, or DJs, or anything really....” So it’s kind of embarrassing for us when they don’t. It’s similarly telling that it wasn't until someone from overseas noticed what was going on that indigenous artists of this type were given a voice. I asked Levins why he thought the music of young indigenous Australians seems so undervalued here. “I’m not sure. I guess it’s part acceptance, part money, and part them not thinking that they can make the music they want to make…The indigenous music scene in Australia is pretty small. We’d love to help make it a whole lot bigger.

After finishing ‘Smash A Kangaroo’, Diplo left Levins and Nina with some basic equipment and funds to continue his vision. And HEAPS DECENT was born. International press had created enough buzz for the duo to be able to throw a huge fundraiser which got them enough money to start a proper studio space in Alexandria. The workshops they held there were hosted by international guests like Radioclit, Spank Rock and Pase Rock - and two days before M.I.A’s Australian tour began, her manager contacted Heaps Decent saying she wanted to get involved. Pant-wetting excitement ensued? “Totally. Nina immediately got to work, getting us into the all-girls juvenile justice center just outside of Lidcombe called Juniperina. We spent two days there, with MIA, [French rapper] Yelle, and two French producers – TEPR and Grand Marnier.”

The Heaps Decent blog blogs elatedly about the trip that the duo and their cohort made to Juniperina, to make beats and rhymes with M.I.A: ‘Other things we made while we were there included friends, sandwiches and the HOTTEST CLUB TRACK YOU EVER HEARD!!’ The end result was mixed by Switch and apparently ended up massive – but unfortunately, it’ll never be released. The girls referenced themselves and the justice center, and rapped about drinking and smoking. “MIA had encouraged them to say whatever they wanted but the detention center itself, well… it wouldn’t have looked good for them.” At the end of the day, it hardly matters that the song won’t end up on the radio – it was more about showing the kids what they were capable of. Every girl at the center rapped on the track, and had a say on how the beats, lyrics and production came together. “At the end of the two days, we played it back to them. The looks on their faces were out of control.”

Heaps Decent have spread themselves further than the indigenous community. These days, Levins and Nina are doing work at Key College, a school for homeless and disadvantaged teenagers opened through the “Youth Off The Streets” initiative. The idea behind the college is to break the cycle of poverty and abuse by giving students access to a higher education. “One of the girls we’d been making music with in the past started going there, and called us from class one time saying, ‘You know what? You guys should totally come and see if you can get involved in the school here.’” So they made it happen, and now spend a few hours each week running an extracurricular sort-of-music-and-other-stuff-too program at Key.

“They didn’t really trust us at first. It was kind of like, ‘Who are these dudes trying to tell us to do things?’ But we’ve bonded with every one of them now… I guess it was just about getting to know them and finding out what they were actually interested in, and trying to appeal to that.” Which is why the course has branched out to include recording, producing and even art and graffiti. “One of the girls is really into painting, so we hooked her up with a pretty well-known tagger she admired, and he took her out to a legal wall and helped her out with her piece. It was pretty great.”  The lives Levins and Nina lead have given them a bunch of talented contacts in all sorts of different worlds who are eager to help out; Levins lives off DJing and promoting parties, while Nina  produces at Triple J and makes extra cash as a DJ. If nothing else then, the students at Key College get the chance to meet and be inspired by young people who’ve landed themselves some awesome jobs, and work hard at them. “I guess it’s kind of important to just – not really to be a role model as such, but just to show that you don’t have to be an academic. To show them you can actually make money from doing fun stuff.”

The dream is to set up a new studio in a more central area, and pull in enough money to employ some of the passionate, driven kids they’ve been working with to look after the space and act as talent scouts. They still hang out with some of the kids from the justice centers, and are close friends with Diplo, who helps them out whenever they need. He helped hook up a sponsorship deal with the Fuzzy Parklife tour, who this year are making industry-types pay a small amount for usually free tickets to the festival, with all the money going to Heaps Decent. Thanks to that, a studio of their own will be in reach by the end of the year – and from there, Heaps Decent could go anywhere.

“Obviously we still try to work with as many indigenous kids and communities that we can, but through Key College we’ve widened our reach to all disadvantaged youth through Key College. We just want to find those people who want to make the music, and provide them with the money and the equipment and the opportunities to do it... And if we could help out a whole bunch of mixed kids, and encourage them to work together and kickstart some kind of amazing new club music scene - that would be the best thing ever.”



Interview and words by Steph Harmon