Wordsmith Tjimba Possum Burns chats from the road – a place Yung Warriors find themselves most often. “[The tour’s been] really good,” Burns explains. “We’re running with some good people and we had an excellent first night at Warrnambool. We had fun, they had fun. It was a good start.”
Life on the road can be both romantic and lonely, something Burns feels both sides of. “I do miss my family when I’m touring but I enjoy the road. Seeing places I’ve never been and just doing my thing on stage is something I love. We’re touring with Yung Philly, Jimmy Mac and Chrissy J – these guys are some great young acts we love.”
Originally from the Yorta Yorta tribe, Barmah forest and also Unuga, Lavitja and Majuta Man from the Northern Territory, Burns lives amongst his musical family in Melbourne, beginning life on stage accompanying his father, Selwyn Burns. Joelistics of TZU was an early inspiration and later, mentor, and the mentoring role is something of a torch that Yung Warriors now carry themselves.
Their latest album, Standing Strong, saw the Yung Warriors bring in some outside production help. It’s surprising that in over five years together, this is only album number two. “It took a lot of patience,” he says of the recording process. “Working with Momo from Diafrix, we were on the same level during the whole process. We really felt we needed to take our time and so we could make a great album. We really connected with Momo on this. We’ve done some stuff with Momo before with Cultural Arts Victoria and a bunch of other things so we worked together already. We asked Momo, he was keen, and it really brought something different. Me and D-Boy (Danny Ramzan) really worked hard with Momo on this album and on a lot of the tracks. We want to be involved in as much as we can to push ourselves and really experiment with our sound and I think we did that.”
The blistering speed at which Burns raps is beyond impressive – he would give Lyrics Born a run for his money – and a skill like that doesn’t just come naturally. Like any musician, Burns has to practice his craft. Young up-and-comers might think that you have a drink and the flow just comes but it ain’t that easy. “I practice a lot,” he says. “Sometimes there are words that slip or change so I’m always changing flows and experimenting with my style. It’s all about practicing, experimenting and more practice. Practice makes perfect.”
With five years between their debut album and their latest, Burns explains that was somewhat of a conscious plan. “[We were] just being patient with the album and getting the little things right to make it what we wanted it to be,” he says. “D and I have been doing a bit of producing for some other artists, working with young guys coming through and really experimenting with different beats. You need that time to experiment with your own sound and grow.”
Working with young artists is something the Yung Warriors lads do a lot of and they are more than keen to support those who want to follow their example. “If you love something, grab it. Don’t give up, keep your head up and never let it go,” he says.
The future for Yung Warriors seems to be to keep doing what they do best and bring along as many folks as they can, for the ride. Continuing the role of artistic development, Yung Warriors are keen to keep the fire of hip hop, particularly Indigenous hip hop, burning bright. “We want to keep touring, and bring out new albums,” he says. “There are some new tracks waiting so we’ve got plenty of things coming up. We want to continue to work with young people in the game too. We’ve done things with Beyond Blue and on our own before so maybe we’ll run our own Yung Warriors workshops and teach guys about the game when we’re not on tour.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
