Music
South Granville multi-talent A.Girl has a vision for Australian hip-hop. In our interview, she explains why she wants the scene to "think bigger".
A lot of rappers use their bars to flex about who they are, what they’ve got or where they’re from. But for her entry to Red Bull’s 64 Bars series, A.Girl stormed in with a message about something bigger than herself.
Her track ‘Vision’ is a missive to the hip-hop community and the streets of Western Sydney. It’s a call to unite, put postcode differences aside and build a better future for the next generation of Polynesian boys and girls. As she tells it: “The vision is to see Polys come together, scrap the beef and focus on the music. And basically just take over.”
She wants her words to make a difference. “This whole song is dedicated to the boys with a crew. I want when it’s Saturday night and you’re with your boys to sit down and say ‘hey, listen to this track,’” A.Girl told Macario De Souza on Red Bull’s Behind the Bars podcast. “And it’s also dedicated to the girl who had to grow up and see her brother go through this lifestyle.”
A.Girl believes that without divisions and area beefs, the Australian hip-hop community could take over globally. And music is something she cares about deeply. A.Girl -- AKA Hinenui-Terangi Tairua, or just Angel -- has known that it was “music or nothing” for her since she was 10-years-old.
She has the talent to back that determination up. While A.Girl started out as a singer, recently she’s begun to tap more and more into her skill as a rapper -- on ‘Vision’, she shows how good she is at both. She’s a true multi-talent with passion, steeze and something to stay.
To hear more about the statement A.Girl is making with her 64 Bars, read on for a snippet of her conversation with Macario De Souza. Check back next week to hear the full Behind the Bars interview and head here to read A.Girl's essay about why the Western Sydney hip-hop community needs to unite.
With your creative process, do you like to have a track ready that you’re writing to, or do you write lyrics and then try to find the beat for it?
I like making everything from scratch when I go into studios. I think sometimes it’s just better that way. Creatively, you’re able to set the vibe, set the tone. You go into the studio with different moods, different things you’re going through that week. So I feel like sometimes if you walk in and the producer already has the beat ready or a specific vibe he’s going for, it’s hard for me to match that vibe if I’m not feeling it.
I usually write with my little sister, so she comes into the studio all the time. My [whole] family pull up with me. Everybody knows that if I come to the studio, my mum, my brother, my sister, everybody is coming with me! So I usually write with her -- she really, really loves music but doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. She’s like, just keep me in the background.
So when you got approached by Red Bull for 64 Bars, what was your approach for that -- lyrically, what were you going to talk about?
When I got approached I was just geeking, honestly. Then after all the geeking and freaking out and stuff, I was like, you know, I really need to come into this with my own sound and my own way. I know 64 Bars has been strictly bars before but first, before anything, I’m a singer who can rap. So I was like, I need to come in doing what I do normally but also spitting some bars with a real message.
And lately, just with everything that’s going on in the music industry, I need to speak on it. It weighs heavy on me, it weighs heavy on the area, it weighs heavy on everybody who’s involved in that moment and culture. So I was like, I need to speak on that in my way and in my own flow.
First, before anything, I’m a singer who can rap
Tell me about where in Western Sydney you grew up, what the vibe was like and what the culture still is like there.
I grew up in South Granville my whole life and I love it, obviously I do. But the culture around there is really based on postcodes and on who runs what turf. It can get very tiring living in it and seeing it 24/7, the shit that happens in the area that never makes the news. The shit that happens in the area that nobody ever hears about.
I feel like as an artist coming from that spot in particular, it’s my job to voice that stuff -- the stuff that misses the news, the stuff that misses social media. Because if you’re not [speaking about it], how are we supposed to fix it or how is it supposed to change? How are you meant to come into culture and help us change our ways? Because we’re so stuck it’s like a loop, it really is.
So with this track I just tried to paint the picture of what it's like to not only live in South Granville, but other specific areas as well. The things that we’re dealing with on a daily basis that other people may not know about.
It seems to me you’re trying to lead by example.
Yeah, that’s it. And I think it’s still a real touchy subject between everybody. Like I do claim where I'm from, I do pay love to where I'm from and everything. But I really also try to push the fact that it’s not “my area or no one”. It’s my area, it’s where I’m from, but I also love Mounty, I love Blacktown, I love Liverpool, I like Cabramatta. It’s all areas, it’s all inclusive. I’m trying to push that as much as I throw up for my postcode.
And what do you think that young pack mentality comes from?
It’s just our young boys, hey. I can only speak on Poly boys because I see that, that’s my blood, that’s my crew, that’s my fam. Basically, at the end of the day, it can stem from home, it can stem from just growing up in troubled environments. Because let’s face it, basically most of us do come from troubled environments or troubled backgrounds.
So you find home in your boys, in your area, in whatever they’re repping. It becomes a culture and you can’t help but be immersed in it and live or die for it -- that type of mentality. I can understand it because you gotta do what you gotta do. If that’s what’s helping you get through it, if your boys are helping you push through whatever’s happening at home, I understand that completely.
But it’s got to stop at some point. You have to realise this isn’t a lifestyle, it’s not a game, it’s not a joke, it's not something you should be pushing onto other youngins, it’s not something you should be flexing or trying to make out to be a cool lifestyle. It’s just got to stop.
I love that in this track, you’re like an older sister giving your perspective.
Yeah, and I think I do that in real life with my homies whenever they come around or whenever I step into a studio and meet somebody new and they’re talking about their gang life or what they did. I [pull] them aside and I’m like, are you about it? Is it real? Is it worth it? Do you want it? Would you want your kids to have it? Is this something you’re going to continue to do? It’s a conversation I have in real life. So all I did was take that conversation and put it into song.
I’m just talking about how sick of it I am. And I really feel like when a dude’s coming in spitting their shit, no one’s really talking about wanting to do better, wanting to merge us, wanting to come together and create a loving, safe, happy, flowing environment.
I feel like when it comes from a girl who is not associated or affiliated and on any side, you can’t help but listen. You can’t help but hear the pain and the realness in the way that I’m saying it. I’m like fuck it! I’ll build a bridge, I’ll merge it together. I don’t give a fuck how long it takes or how hard it is. I’ll merge us together because that’s what I want to see at the end of the day: my Polys win.
I’ll merge us together because that’s what I want to see at the end of the day: my Polys win
Most of the industry right now is filled with really fricken’ talented Polys. And it’s so sad that we know as an audience listening that we won’t get a track from this person and that person because of what they got going on in the streets. My question is why? You can have what you have, I understand that. What you have is real between you and whoever, but we just gotta think bigger. That’s it. That’s what I’m trying to say -- we just gotta think bigger. I’m trying to see all of us win. I want better for us. We could really take over this whole market, so why don’t we?
Our faces are everywhere on YouTube right now. It’s possible to do it. It’s no longer just a dream. It can be our reality. So whenever I bump into those lost souls, I just try and show them that path and show them you can do this. It’s not impossible anymore. All you’ve got to do is screw your head on and go for it.
.png)
