Beating small-town syndrome

I met Mr Matty B after seeing him compete in a live Hip Hop battle at Bedhaus Party hosted by Knox Street Bar, Chippendale in 2023. Ten years earlier, the Wiradjuri rapper would have more likely been found helping his mother deliver newspapers in her Nissan Pulsar. When most kids his age were enjoying their school holidays, a young Mathew ‘Matty’ Bourke was tolerating Australia’s scorching hot summer with no air conditioning, supporting his mum to put food on the table.

As the second eldest of six siblings, and the only boy, Matty says he has ‘always had to hustle to get a head start in life’. Matty lived most of his formative years in adversity, even experiencing homelessness at one point. However, he maintained ambitious goals, saying that living in Mount Druitt and attending school on a scholarship not only helped fuel his drive and talent for music, but also pushed him to break free from ‘small-town syndrome’.

Matty is no stranger to feeling like an outcast. Reflecting on his years as a gay kid attending a Christian high school, he says, ‘I thought of myself as abstract and weird compared to the other students’. Expressing himself through poetry was one way to help heal trauma and feelings of alienation. Later, his love of listening to female artists — including Remy Ma, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and later his close friend, a Western Sydney local, G Rebel — shifted into a passion for writing his own lyrics.

Writing allowed Matty to show off his playful use of language and discover his own fearless and outspoken voice that had been suppressed. ‘I get a lot of anger out in rap,’ he says. ‘It helps me get over a lot of things.’

Success meant doing the exact opposite of the usual high school career advice. After leaving home at 18 and moving to Telopea, Matty found a new sense of confidence. ‘As an artist, it does help you grow to move out of your hometown,’ he says. Soon, Matty realised that Western Sydney — known for providing plenty of opportunities for creative-minded individuals to work together and inspire each other — was the perfect place for him as an emerging artist.

It wasn’t until his late teens that the rapper discovered he was part of the Aboriginal community, expanding his outlook on life, values and beliefs. Matty says this experience ultimately strengthened his sense of identity: ‘It restored a part of me I always felt was missing while growing up in Mount Druitt.’ It also connected him to a sense of collective injustice. ‘After going back to where my ancestors came from and listening to their stories, and the mistreatment of my family members which was hidden from us, that’s when I became angry.’

Matty found a way to channel this anger into his lyrics, using his music to advocate for the LGBTQIA+ and Aboriginal communities, as well as other groups experiencing discrimination, racism and injustice today.

As one of the members of youth theatre PYT Fairfield, Matty has organised and hosted events in the Western Sydney area, including as part of Blak Out Sydney Festival, where he brought together members of the Aboriginal community to paint and make jewellery. ‘This event was a healing experience. Not for just me personally, but it also felt like for the community at large,’ he says.

Matty also helped to organise a Gaza Relief Gig featuring local Palestinian performers. He highlights the importance of surrounding himself with strong, like-minded individuals who understand what it is like to have struggled and ‘fight twice as hard as other artists in the music industry to earn respect.’

Since finding his community in Western Sydney, Matty says he feels more comfortable to take risks, preferring a style of rap that showcases his provocative, ‘out there’ side. Rapping, like many other art forms, is a vulnerable act of expression. Though Matty sees there’s still a superficial aspect of the music industry. He thinks people in the industry should ‘judge others based on their talent and not what they look like’.

Matty wants to pave his own path within what he describes as the ‘chauvinistic, selfish and two-faced’ culture of the Australian rap scene. Having grown up in a low socio-economic area, he’s adamant about chasing his dreams in the rap industry before he gets old. ‘I refuse to be in my 60s and regret not having done everything I absolutely could to try and succeed.’

Reflecting on his music, Matty shares that his writing process is based on how he is feeling that day. ‘There are some raps I don’t share with the public that are quite depressing,’ he says. In contrast, when he performs at the Bedhaus, which he considers a safe space, he performs lyrics that are as less appropriate for family events. During this time, he is free to express his true self and truly connect with the crowd. Matty acknowledges and takes inspiration from his music idols, like Remy Ma, who he says, ‘has always kept it real … and really thinks about what she writes.’ For Matty, a song should ‘reflect the truth of what you live’, and creating music should be ‘about the words and the craft, not necessarily if it will be the next number one hit’. The art of writing music is therapeutic for him, a process that is ‘equally as beautiful as it is ugly’.

Life feels like it has come full circle. Matty occasionally performs in Mount Druitt and is a role model to his younger sisters, who come to his family-orientated gigs and get up on stage with him. On special occasions when Matty returns home to see his family, his younger sisters ask him to teach them his rap songs. He might be exhausted, but when he sees their eyes light up, he finds it difficult to say no. So, it is common after dinner for them to be all huddled together in one room and singing along to his lyrics, which for Matty is just as special and memorable as performing live in front of his fans.

Mr Matty B has a unique, influential energy as a performer that is hard to ignore. As his star rises, Matty wants to maintain his bond with his community in Western Sydney, always making sure to remember where he came from. ‘No matter what sort of bad bitch music I make, I’m always going to hold a space for radical Aboriginal music.’

Jacinta Zinghini is an emerging writer completing a Master of Literature and Creative Writing at Western Sydney University. While completing a Bachelor of Creative Writing and Global Screen Media, Zinghini discovered her passion for film, TV and the fantasy genre. In her spare time, she volunteers with Western Sydney clubs to help other writers publish their work. One day soon she hopes to publish her own novels.

Parramatta Profiles is a writing and photographic series that profiles individuals across Parramatta communities. Drawing on art, music, religion, activism and sport, each snapshot captures life in this dynamic city. A collaboration between Powerhouse and the Writing and Society Research Centre, Western Sydney University, this project supports the development of student writers by providing an opportunity to work with professional editors and be published by Powerhouse online.