Pretty For An Aboriginal

Rapper, writer, actor and record label boss Adam Briggs knows how to get work, be heard, and get paid. In other words, he knows how to hustle. In the first episode of Pretty For An Aboriginal, Briggs, Nakkiah and Miranda give our listeners tips for cutting through the bullshit and getting ahead.

When Briggs joined with fellow rapper Trials to record under the moniker A.B. Original, he thought it would be a career-ending project. Their music was political, urgent and unapologetically about black Australia. But they ended up winning, as Briggs says, “a plethora of awards”. Australia is built on the presumption of meritocracy and fairness, and that if you’re talented and work hard you’ll see your name in lights. Is Briggs the exception or the new rule?

Music credits
A. B. Original, "January 26",  Courtesy Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia and Golden Era Records, 2016
A. B. Original, "I C U (feat. Thelma Plum)", Courtesy Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia and Golden Era Records, 2016
Briggs, "Here (feat. Caiti Baker)", Courtesy of Fox Sports Australia and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Bad Apples Music, 2017

Nakkiah Lui and Miranda Tapsell are set to rock traditional perceptions of Indigenous Australia and challenge rigid mindsets of what women of colour can and cannot do.
In our eight episode first season, we'll talk honestly about relationships, weight, dick pics and being a boss in male-dominated industries, and unpack the pervasive influence of African American popular culture and politics on young black people in Australia. We’ll discuss building a First Nations support system on social media, and examine why representation really, truly, definitely matters.

Our guests will include author Roxane Gay, Orange Is The New Black’s Yael Stone, rapper and TV writer Adam Briggs, Canadian Vice presenter and activist Sarain Carson Fox, and rising Australian actors Akar Das (Lion) and Blessing Mokgohloa (Spartacus), among others.

About the hosts: Nakkiah Lui is an award-winning playwright, TV writer and actor (Black Comedy, Black is the New White), columnist, and rising cultural star who is at the forefront of the new wave of young, Indigenous Australian women changing the world one Instagram post at a time. Her latest play Black is the New White was a sell-out success at the Sydney Theatre Company. Follow her at @nakkiahlui.
At her side is Miranda Tapsell, an actress who does not hide in the wings when the spotlight dips. Tapsell is one of Australia’s most in-demand stage and screen actresses. Her TV credits include The Sapphires, Love Child, Redfern Now, Black Comedy and Wolf Creek; she also starred in the Sydney Theatre Company’s remarkable production of The Secret River. Follow her at @missmirandatap.