(delicate music)
[Naomi] I've realised this is not a rehearsal.
We're not rehearsing for the main event.
We are the main event.
You've gotta go for it.
(rhythmic clapping)
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat music)
I'm Naomi Wenitong.
I'm a singer/songwriter from Cairns.
Growing up in a musical family,
I fell asleep to mum and dad's
bands rehearsing.
When I went into Shakaya I was 16.
I never had a goal to be famous.
My goal was just to be played at 2:00 AM.
So when we went number five,
I still can't believe it. (laughs)
I was kind of okay with just
being black and being successful
until a lot of things started happening
in our communities with police,
deaths in custody, and
I was on stage singing Cinderella.
We've got all this attention
and we're not even using it
for the real stuff.
And so myself, Joel and JT
dove into the underground hip hop scene
with The Last Kinection.
And the crowd went crazy. (laughs)
(empowering music)
Wrote an album, got on a tour
and we're driving to Newcastle.
And we got into a massive car accident.
(solemn music)
Three months later
and I woke up in a wheelchair.
Post-traumatic amnesia.
My jaw was broken in four places.
Learning to have to walk again,
even coming out of rehab
and into the normal world,
it was traumatising.
I lost three solid years of memory,
but then I found this whole folder
of original songs that I wrote.
I started singing along and I just
remembered why I broke up with that guy;
what racism feels like.
Yet again, music saved the day.
Music saved my life a million times.
Perhaps it's saving
this next generation too.
(footsteps on gravel)
You have arrived in the place to be.
The beats are loud and the hugs are free.
[Man] Hey! (laughing)
[Naomi] I always had this huge dream
where I develop self-sufficient artists.
And I always thought that
would happen later on in life.
But it's happening right now. Ah!
(upbeat music)
Naytive Mentorship is the name.
I'm proud of you's and you's gonna smash it.
I want to pass on what I
wish somebody had of told me.
Set up their own recording equipment,
do mix downs and performance techniques.
Everything.
It's a huge responsibility,
but I'm willing to take the risk
on these mob 'cause they're amazing.
(reflective music plays)
(waves softly crashing)
Going through the car accident
I thought that that was the
one really big thing that I'd
have to overcome in my lifetime.
So I met this guy and it was perfect.
My whole family loved him.
And then he got violent.
I didn't even realise
what he was mentally doing.
He was like breaking me down
from day one.
He grabbed me by my hair,
dragged me down my own driveway,
smashed my head on ...
I can't even remember what it was.
I just was in shock.
Knowing that the choices that I
make right now is going to affect
about five generations after me,
I am not going to take
the responsibility of that
'cause I'm in love.
Decided that's it.
He's got to get out.
If I didn't leave him,
who knows where I'd be now.
Behind this make-up and
all these beats and these songs,
there's a purpose.
I couldn't think of anything worse
than getting on stage and baring it all.
But that's what having a voice
and using it is all about.
(hip hop beat)
For a while I felt like it
was punishment or something.
One morning I woke up and
realised it wasn't punishment,
it was preparation.
Getting Naytive Mentorship off the ground,
doing a solo project,
and I'm not getting up there
or standing in front of these cameras
just for me.
It's so much bigger than that.
(hip hop beat)
Your voice, it needs to be heard.
You're not just doing it for yourself,
you're doing it for everyone.
(empowering music)