Glebe youth share stories through hip-hop

Vincent Buchanan first turned to Glebe Youth Service (GYS) when he was eight-years of age.

For Buchanan and other Glebe youth, GYS has provided a refuge from the harsh street life of the inner-city.

“This is a place to come to chill-out. It’s a place where, if you need, there’s a youth worker for you,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan, now 20, spends his days writing lyrics for his hip-hop crew Str8 Ballaz and meticulously mixing the tracks in a purpose built studio in the back of the Youth Service.

“Most of our lyrics are about kids on the street getting harassed by police, or neighbours that don’t like you – all that kind of stuff,” he said.

This Saturday, his hip-hop crew will be performing at an open-air entertainment night organised by GYS. The event will showcase local film, music and food. There will also be a special screening of ‘The Badge’ – a short film made by and about Glebe youth, with a soundtrack by Str8 Ballaz.

“I don’t know about the boys, but I got a bit of butterflies coming up to the night,” Buchanan said. “This is probably one of the biggest things we’ve ever done.”

Keiren White, Buchanan’s younger cousin, is also a member of the crew. He said he had always dreamt of becoming a famous rapper. “For me, it feels good because us three had it hard when we were younger,” White said.

Wayne Ward, who is also a younger cousin and a member of Str8 Ballaz, said he is proud to be a role model for kids in the area faced with the same challenges he was confronted with. “It’s inspirational for the kids and also us, because we see them playing our music on their phones. They look up to us with the things we’ve been through. That’s why we’ve become rappers to try and show them another way to express themselves rather than commit crime,” Ward said.

The acting co-ordinator of GYS, Keiran Kevans, says one of the main aims of the night is to promote the artistic achievements of Glebe’s young people.

“We’ve seen that these sorts of events can have great benefits in terms of young people’s self-esteem and their connectedness to the community,” Mr Kevans said.

“They want to say to the world, “Hey, this is us, this is what we’re doing”, but in a forum that’s relevant to them, that they see as cool.”

The free event will be held at the Peter Forsyth Auditorium in the Broadway basketball courts from 7pm on Saturday.

by Ehssan Veiszadeh