Hip-hop and theatre may seem like two very different forms of performance but some hip-hop artists are experimenting with merging them.

Hip-hop artists with an interest in theatre and acting have been taking to the stage and creating dynamic and powerful performances.  The performances integrate MCing, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti art.

One Australian MC and entertainer from Campbelltown, Candy Bowers, recently had her own show called Who’s that Chik?(A hip-hop tale of a brown girl with big dreams).

In the show, Candy provides insight into her life as a woman of colour and her journey in Australia’s show biz industry. She incorporates stories from her family history. She also addresses cultural identity, stereotyping and racism in her mother’s homeland of South Africa and in Australia. The show is funny as well as poignant.

Candy has long been part of Australia’s hip-hop scene as one half of Sister She. Sister She was a comic hip-hop act and this humorous style was also present in Who’s that chik? Sister She performed at big events such as the Big Day Out and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Candy says her dream is for ‘the Australian stage, page and screen to be a place where everyone feels comfortable, can see themselves reflected and is welcome’.

Candy has now devoted herself to challenging what she sees as a white-wash in the Australian entertainment and arts industry. Candy says that a lot of those who cast for mainstream plays don’t put people of colour as characters who are presumed to be white, particularly in lead roles.

Casting people in any role because of the strength of their performance, no matter their skin colour, is called cross-racial casting and it has become the norm in many countries. But Australia is still stuck in outdated theatrical traditions, according to Candy.

Candy said she is often type-cast. She was even cast as the maid in her graduation performance at NIDA (a leading dramatic arts college), even though the performance was a musical and Candy has an amazing voice.

Candy does a fantastic job of challenging this culture, however, and in Who’s that chik she tries to empower and inspire other people of colour to stand against racism. She also opens the eyes of white members of the audience to the struggles that come with being a person of colour in a white-dominated industry.

Listen to this blog post: