Live Review: Heaps Decent Home Base Showcase

There are plenty of artist showcases happening around town this week but none quite like the one that hit GoodGod last night. A Heaps Decent showcase is that fresh, that diverse and anything but average. The brainchild of Australian DJs Andrew Levins and Nina Las Vegas and American producer Diplo, Heaps Decent brings together young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds with those who know their way around the music biz and a good beat. Home Base is their weekly workshop at the Redfern Community Centre, where the creative magic happens.
The sweet results of these collaborations were on display tonight, with snapbacks and basketball singlets aplenty as a variety of enthusiastic young singers, rappers and producers took the stage. Kicking it off was a crew all the way from Wagga Wagga, Roofless Youth, four boys full of confidence and a chemistry that saw them bounce cleverly off each other's rhymes without missing a beat. Like everyone on the bill, they were visibly proud of where they've come from and what they've achieved, and full of gratitude – “Give it up for Heaps Decent!” they yelled to whoops from the 50-strong crowd who all seemed genuinely excited to be there (with their hands in the air).
Sixteen-year-old Mai – one of the “babies of the Home Base crew”, according to tonight's MC, hip hop DJ Shantan Wantan Ichiban – has a solid rapping partnership with the more seasoned Ra'$$el Cool (formerly Fowl Murk). Some of their best moments were part battle, part duet, rapidly spitting the same lines together with great precision. Together with Young Hush they delivered one of the night's catchiest tracks, Cookie Jacker'94, getting the audience down with generous amounts of heys, hos and hell yeahs.
It was the second ever live performance for 17-year-old Young Freedom. “I'm a bit nervous,” he admitted with a laugh. But with Charlie Chux in charge of beats behind him, he was in good hands and he showed a lot of potential with earnest tracks like Money Money.
It's not all about hip hop at Heaps Decent, though. “Sorry guys, I'm gonna kill the buzz,” Tasha Lee Marshall said as she took the stage with her guitar. “I'm going to sing a sad song. But that's okay.” She proceeded to show off an impressive voice and some beautiful lyrics, followed by a grooving, bass-heavy R'n'B track that picked up the mood again. There were also some impressive young producers who took over the decks after the show, including The Fusionist, who dropped a very cool, swampy remix of Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas.
Tonight's special guest, Dutch, hails from Bondi and has been picking up steam with collaborations with producers, including Ta-Ku. “Some of these kids rap better than I can,” he told the crowd, before delivering two songs – including the anthemic Ta-Ku production, This Is It – with an explosive energy the Heaps Decent artists will no doubt want to emulate.
Judging by a lot of the Heaps Decent crew's stage names, they're never growing up – and why grow up when you've got the world at your feet? It might sound corny but tonight it felt real, as Ra'$$el Cool sang: “One day I'mma make it/See an opportunity coming I'm gonna take it/I'm a future star, the galaxy is close I can feel it”.