Rap duo Lil Youngins say their community of Maningrida, in the remote Northern Territory region of Arnhem Land, has come to better embrace the power of music since the release of their debut single 'The Problem' in March.
On the track, Tremmel "Tillo" Taylor, 14, and Donovan "DK" Kernan, 16, confront racism faced by Aboriginal teens in Australia and a lack of services in remote communities with the refrain: "I'm a young Aboriginal, not a criminal".
With big dreams of rap fame, a performance with their favourite rapper at an AFL game in Darwin has helped launch their message to thousands of people.
Yet just a year ago, they had no way to record, but they did have something to say.
"We felt bad for our community," said DK.
"There's not enough activities happening for our kids, like the youths.
"You see kids walking around the streets at night, it's not good for them," he said.
When the Maningrida teens reached out to their favourite rapper J-Milla, to interview him for a podcast project, they hit it off.
So they asked him to mentor them to create a track.
"The boys know how to rap, they know how to flow," J-Milla said.
"Having my mentor, my guide on exactly what to say and the right passion and delivery – I kind of made… it more of an 'oomph' for them."
"I kind of want to be a role model and I want these kids to kind of look up to me, and if I can change one of their lives to motivate them to strive for a passion… if they're into their art, I just want them to look at me and be like 'that's what I want to do'," he said.
Collaboration brings song to life
J-Milla, or Jacob Nichalof, has seen his own career take off in the past few years.
But the Darwin-born Mak Mak Marranunggu rapper has made sure to share his roots with his growing fanbase, last week livestreaming a concert in the remote community of Wadeye to social media app TikTok.
Through a series of online calls over several months, J-Milla and the Lil Youngins decided on the themes, lyrics and flow for The Problem, bringing in local producer 808 Melo to help.
With a camera operator, J-Milla flew into Maningrida to record the song's music video and to help Lil Youngins perform the track live on stage for their community.
And according to DK, it's led to change.
"Music is calm, every time if you put on headphone sets, it runs through your body, you can hear it. Goes through your soul," he said.
"We helped, with more activities happening in that community now — there's a lot of people loving for each other, caring for each other. Not much people walking on the streets" DK said.
Song helps future artists in community
Maddy Mackey, a local youth worker for Malal'a Health, found the funding to create the track through the National Indigenous Australians Agency's Stronger Communities for Children grant program.
She said since the track's release, Malal'a purchased equipment to help teenagers like Lil Youngins continue recording.
"We found additional funding after that to purchase producer equipment and [microphones] and everything we need — laptops, speakers — so they can continue to produce and record music in their home in Maningrida," she said.
The collaboration with J-Milla went one step further last week, when he invited them to perform at the AFL half-time show in the Gold Coast Suns' first Darwin game last week, along with performers from Maningrida Dance.
While it's the first time Lil Youngins have performed outside Maningrida and for a crowd this large, they're hoping it won't be their last.
"[I want to] be a famous rapper, performing on big stages," Tillo said.
"It's my thing."
