In the wake of their recent collaboration ‘They Say’, Adelaide MC Tkay Maidza joined electronic producer Kilter in Sydney last Thursday to spend an afternoon working with the Heaps Decent crew at Juniperina Juvenile Justice Centre.

Established in 2007 by Nina Las Vegas, Andrew Levins, and US DJ/Producer/twerk master Diplo (Wesley Pentz), Heaps Decent is an initiative committed to finding and nurturing the creativity of underprivileged and indigenous young people around Australia. Their music workshops – which include beat writing, writing and recording – aim to improve the lives of young people by providing positive opportunities and resources that engage and develop their creativity.

Heading to Juniperina with Charlie Chux and Adam Bozzetto from Heaps Decent, Tkay and Kilter where made aware that the centre was the only maximum security detention centre for female minors in Australia. After their induction from Juniperina employees, the nerves settled in. “Initially I was pretty nervous, because the workers were preparing us for the worst,” said Tkay.

After heading through multiple locked doors, the crew set up the mini studios comprising of a laptop, speakers and mics which then filled with 10 or so excited girls armed with note pads, scraps of paper and enthusiastic attitudes to create music. Kilter explains, “We got set up in a meeting room and introduced ourselves. Everybody seemed genuinely interested in what we were working on with a few girls having already prepared some lyrics for the session.”

Tkay was coaxed into an on-the-spot rap from the all-female group which won the girls over instantly. On the experience, kilter explained, “I played a couple of different sounds to them before settling on a twerky 808 driven rap beat which they seemed to like.”

After the 90 minute intense session with the Juniperina detainees Tkay reflected, “When actually talking to the girls, you just realise that everyone shared the same goal of coming up with a cool song and getting their message through music. It was pretty inspiring in a way but was mostly all fun. Heaps Decent is awesome!”

Kilter and Tkay will both be performing at the national Listen Out parties kicking off this Saturday, September 27th in Sydney’s Centennial Park, with a live performance of ‘They Say’ featuring both artists on stage scheduled for the tour. You can check out the collaboration online and keep an ear out for their next production with the girls of Juniperina Juvenile Justice Centre.