“I’ve seen people go from living on the street and being homeless to becoming youth workers because of hip-hop,” the Sydney rapper L-Fresh The Lion says. “It’s allowed them to see a future for themselves when they haven’t seen a future for themselves previously.”
Born in Liverpool in the city’s south-west, L-Fresh has been a stalwart of Australia’s hip-hop scene for more than a decade, producing three studio albums and performing throughout the country.
He also founded and facilitates the annual, year-long hip-hop artist development program Conscious at Campbelltown Arts Centre. The program, which provides workshops on songwriting as well as mentorship for pursuing a career in music, gives young people a sense of direction in life, he says.
“It’s keeping them in school because they’re getting a space to be able to explore themselves – and then that has positive outcomes for their education, [when] it looked like they were going to drop out.”
L-Fresh is speaking to Guardian Australia after an announcement on Tuesday that “rap music” would be banned at the Royal Easter Show following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old at the 2022 event.
Organisers walked back the parameters of the ban on Wednesday, saying they wanted to prohibit music that contains offensive language or “aggressive tones”. The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales chief executive, Brock Gilmour, told the Sydney Morning Herald it was about language, not genre.
“We have not banned rap music as such,” he said. “I think what happened is the link was made that rap music has a lot of swear words, has offensive language and has this tone about it. Any music that has that kind of flavour to it will not be played.”
But to L-Fresh, this is a “dangerous narrative”.
“It’s dangerous to blame hip-hop – especially western Sydney hip-hop – for violence, when instead what they should be talking about are the systemic issues that lead to these incidents,” he says.
“You can’t blame a popular form of music for individual acts of violence in the same way that you can’t blame popular cinema for individual acts of violence.
“It’s hard not to laugh at how ridiculous it is. But then, the seriousness of it hits when you realise that people are being robbed of opportunities to literally make a living for themselves.”
L-Fresh says the Conscious program has proven a success for both mentors and participants, with artists graduating and performing at large events, such as basketball and NRL matches.
“From the outside looking in, many people may not understand it, but … it continues to have positive, life-changing implications [for] individuals and communities across the board.”
He says young hip-hop artists often find it difficult navigating an environment that “doesn’t understand” rap and what it means to them.
“Often artists are battling the same issues that the broader community, the media, the police are complaining about, which is poverty, marginalisation, oppression, crime – and they’re trying to find ways out of that.”
Conscious is one of several programs running in western Sydney that fosters hip-hop artists. Others include We Are Warriors, Outloud, Bankstown Poetry Slam and Garage Barbershop.
The 4Elements Hip Hop project, run by Vyvienne Abla, is another.
“If I had a dollar for every time I heard a young person say that hip-hop saved their life, I’d be a billionaire,” Abla says.
“Many teachers, youth workers, community workers, health workers etc are also hip-hop artists or part of the culture in some way. There is a direct correlation and proven track record that shows the positive impact hip-hop has had on young people – particularly those from western Sydney.”
Abla says the music is “embedded” in western Sydney culture and is a key part of Australia’s music scene.
“Not only is it important to western Sydney but it has played a leading role in showcasing the region globally and is arguably one of the most important contributions to our nation’s music scene, and method of storytelling, and documenting diverse narratives that reflect our community.”
She says the “singling out” of hip-hop in the Easter Show ban reinforces negative stereotypes of the music and its impacts.
“As the music and artists that are being referenced are western Sydney-based, and the fact that they’ve generalised an entire genre, it’s a direct attack and one that will unfortunately now fall back on to the culture and community leaders to repair.”
The Western Sydney Arts Alliance, which represents more than 30 arts and cultural organisations across the region, has called for the ban to be retracted, saying in a statement it is “cultural policing”.
“WSAA calls for this ban of rap music at the Easter Show to be retracted. This is an alarming precedent of cultural policing that actively discriminates against artists and story-tellers, many of whom call western Sydney their home.”
