Urthboy & Diafrix's Khaled On Using Their Voice To Make Change

If you’re anything like me and spend far more hours online than is probably healthy, you may have stumbled across a community-minded initiative dubbed Voice For Change. The community minded initiative is a collection of vlogs put together by Mushroom Group boasting an all-star line-up of urban artists and sports personalities narrating their individual stories.

Over the now-released eight episodes, the artists confidently share their background, careers and personal lives, inspiring positive change in society and encouraging our youth to follow their passions (these episodes include the likes of Azmarino, Urthboy, Ecca Vandal, Archie Thompson, Sampa The Great, B Wise and Majak Daw).

This week I was fortunate enough to speak with Khaled Azmarino (of hip hop group Diafrix) and Tim Levinson AKA Urthboy (artist and co-founder of Elefant Traks) about what being a voice for change was all about. Why is it so important to begin open and honest discussion?

“I guess I acknowledged that there’s an audience out there that listens to me,” Urthboy said.

“While it may be small, if I have anyone listening to me… I think sometimes we don’t give young people a chance. Perhaps the education system has failed them, perhaps they’re just not ready for the system but often these people end up in music and go on to be great… becoming community leaders and constructive rolls in society... I want to counter the views of media creating outrage.

“I’m happy to lend my voice to those people and the campaign.”

Azmarino contributes “…One of the most important things in Australia is the voice of a community, not other people speaking for that community.

“We were lucky as Diafrix, but there are a lot of people from different backgrounds that work hard to contribute to society. In some areas of Australia, people don’t have that community or have people speaking for them... so speaking up about your side of the story is a contribution in itself... we need to allow conversation to happen."

As I personally have already seen the two episodes, I wanted to know more about where it came from, and without putting my own perception on their experiences. Was their adolescence a major influence on what they were writing about as an artist?

Azmarino answered “We used to do a lot of gigs. But from an early time we recognised to survive as a band you had to have styles of music people could adapt to or grow with, then it just became a norm.

“[Hip hop] allowed us to tell our stories. These stories are part of who we are and it actually helped the audience understand a struggle, that people like us were going through. We also had the consideration that if people looked into it, how would they get uplifted? How would they feel like they weren’t the only ones going through it and better days were going to come?

“We were lucky ‘cause artists who came before us… your 1200 Techniques, The Herd, TZU… they were a very welcoming community that was a huge help to us.”

I asked Urthboy about the issues that were prevalent to him when his first album Distant Sense of Random Menace came out in 2000.

“When I was younger, there was a lot of anger,” he recalled.

“A lot of questions get asked but kids aren’t necessarily able to process these things. You don’t talk about them… you express them with rage! Trying to make sense of the world when things didn’t add up was one of the reasons I started to write songs…"

Khaled (Diafrix)

We all agree that one of the most beautiful things about hip hop is its accessibility. You don’t need expensive instruments, hell, you don’t need instruments at all! I wanted to find out however, if that accessibility created an inflated level of competitiveness. I asked Urthboy if he felt supported in the industry as it stands now.

“Competitiveness is now more prevalent than it’s ever been,” he said.

“But that’s not a negative thing. There are so many people doing it that there’s really something to fight for! We as musicians have to make it realistic, there’s no luxury of holiday pay or superannuation. As a professional musician you don’t know where your next lunch is, it’s natural that therefor heightens competitiveness…”

I personally think that with competitiveness comes a creativity, passion and motivation. Urthboy clearly knows first-hand that at times the world is no walk in the park. Addressing the forest for the trees however seems like it may lead to a more focussed path. When I asked Azmarino about issues that he currently has concern for, he responds with such authenticity I can hear it down the phone line:

“There’s a lot of negative talk about the African community.

“People don’t seem to think about the negative affect this has on all parties. There is a huge discussion to be had to address this. For example I’m a grown man, but what about a teenager that has an identity crisis and is trying to figure out who they are? This is why it’s so important to have a platform where we can discuss, create understanding and promote the community Melbourne is known for – diversity and multiculturalism.”

What’s brilliant here is that I’m speaking to very different artists, from very different backgrounds that share a core value in what it is to be human.

Urthboy

“Multiculturalism is just humans!” Urthboy exclaimed.

"There’s no point beating around the bush. 'People throw around the word racist too much'. Well, that’s because we have too much racism! Our country was built on multiculturalism! It’s not necessary to prove it, it’s etched within the tapestry of who we are, the Australian psyche IS our multiculturalism! The idea of rejecting it is so backwards.

"There are so many inspiring stories, people that have had to deal with monoculture expectations from some sectors of Australia. Those stories are worth focusing on."

In Azmarino’s episode, he briefly addresses living in commission housing upon arriving here in Australia. In only moments a previous judgement (I wasn’t aware I had made) was challenged when Azmarino describes the living quarters and his neighbours at the time. The buildings were so heavily occupied by residents in such a small area they would “hang out together outside, play basketball, just hang, whatever…you’d make friends with 15 or 20 people – but that doesn’t mean we’re a gang”.

I think it’s incredibly important to recognise how powerful language is. How labels can exploit, disenfranchise and alienate in a matter of syllables. A collective noun like ‘gang’ is loaded with negative stigma and we condemn a group of people before they open their mouth, because they hang out on a basketball court? I felt sorry for Azmarino. Sorry that I myself have unjustly placed judgements on commission flats and their residents. In those short moments I realised he had found a family free from judgement, with acceptance in abundance.

It’s here my point of power dawned on me. This column, my platform, my privilege - Do Urthboy and Azmarino think it’s important we’re educating the next generation on privilege?

“Absolutely!” Urthboy jumped in.

"The idea of privilege is so foreign to people who have never experienced what it’s like on the other side of that privilege. Whatever way you explain it, it lays the truth bare that says we are not on a level playing field. We exist on different points of the spectrum.

"If you’re a golfer and you have a handicap, you don’t all of a sudden treat yourself the same way you treat someone with a different handicap, you look at it as a way to even out the playing field - but we don’t have something like that in real life!"

Understanding privilege is going to be difficult, and for some more than others. But I admit, I side with these two in the necessity to communicate. “Look, it’s always going to be a bit awkward,” Urthboy comments.

“And I’m not trying to talk to people about being racist, but people like me are the people that contribute so much to the problem so why not talk to them about it! It’s a way of explaining to people that you have so many advantages that you may never thought you had, but you do.

“In comparison to someone over there, that’s experienced all kinds of disadvantages... It’s simply an acknowledgment so that we can proactively and genuinely try to resolve and even things out.

In total agreement with Urthboy’s succinct message, I think as far as addressing ‘controversial’ issues go (racism, misogyny, drug abuse), privilege can actually be the beginning in prevention vs cure. It’s about trying to recognise you have an advantage not everyone has, enabling us to actually support topics before they become an issue.

“We were very fortunate,” says Azmarino.

“We had a lot of positive things happen to us and anything extra we got after playing at Footscray Arts Centre was a blessing. When you come from struggle you focus so much on the positive things, we were very grateful for even the smallest things that happened to us. “Hip hop didn’t have as stronger identity as it does now. We faced discrimination but that pushed us to continue creating music and focusing on positivity.”

I’ll point out here if you’ve followed Aussie hip hop for a minute, you’ll know the ‘identity’ he speaks of was impacted by Diafrix’s creativity. I couldn’t help but feel like the work Azmarino is doing now is the support he must have received in his life (or perhaps wanted).

“We’re trying to create a supporting platform,” he said.

“I spend the better part of my days trying to assist with this issue; having a pathway to finish high school, having an understanding of your goal. Whether that’s in music, sport or university, I’m very much passionate about creating those pathways – that’s my contribution to society; making sure youth understand their focused goal, how to get there and feel supported along the way."

I ask Urthboy, is creating an open supportive forum the way to change opinion?

“Young kids look up to artists and imagine themselves in that spotlight,” he replies.

“Artists like B Wise, Sampa The Great and Remi… they’re forging their own careers and just by virtue, they ARE modern Australia. So the next generation is trying to be even better. It’s amazing we can create those paths.

“Realise that voice is important. You are not insignificant. Just ‘cause you’re young or not killing it in school, you are important. You have a ‘voice’ and you should use it.”

Again what I love about these stories is that musicians are just people; everyday people that have feelings, stories, emotions and experiences and when they share them we’re granted an opportunity to relate and empathise. The story that these artists are narrating is their own, they are unique and completely incomparable. Their message however is unified. It is peaceful, inviting and encouraging in the movement. We want to know how you feel, what you want to say, and how we can make this world a better place.

After speaking to these artists, I too, am a voice for change.

Head over to their website to watch all eight episodes of Voice For Change.