Nooky is making his mark on the Australian hip-hop scene and helps disaffected youth along the way

AS a lyricist, rapper, producer and composer who impressed the Black Eyed Peas’ MC, Nooky is making his mark on the Aussie hip-hop scene.

Corey Webster, known as Nooky, who is also a lyricist, composer and producer has won an Australia Council for the Arts 2016 National Indigenous Arts Awards. Picture: Craig Wilson

WHAT first manifest as an outlet for anger has turned into a promising career for rising hip-hop artist Nooky.

A proud Yuin man from the NSW town of Nowra, from an early age Nooky developed a sense of outrage over the injustices Aboriginal people face.

Affronted by an incident at school one day when he was 17, the budding rapper and today’s CommBank Australian of the Day stormed out and fatefully wandered past a community centre equipped with a recording studio.

Corey Webster, known as Nooky, from an early age developed a sense of outrage over the injustices Aboriginal people face. Picture: Craig Wilson

“They said I could record a song,” Nooky recalls. “So I put down my first song then and there, and suddenly all that anger and frustration I had about school was lifted off my shoulders. That’s how I found out music was my release and my escape.”

Not to mention his obsession and his gift. An intense, all-consuming passion for hip-hop saw the youngster “writing lyrics 24/7 and working out how to use and bend words to express myself.”

At just 20, Nooky impressed the Black Eyed Peas MC Taboo at an impromptu jam at Redfern Community Centre in Sydney. “Next thing I know they invited me to fly to L.A. to record, and so I did a song with Taboo there a few months later,” says Nooky.

Now a lyricist, rapper, producer and composer in his own right, the 25-year-old has continued to make his mark on the hip-hop scene and help disaffected youth along the way. Recently he was recognised with the Australia Council’s National indigenous Arts Dreaming Award.

Based in Sydney nowadays, Nooky remains a respected Yuin Nation leader and says the success and accolades he receives are shared with his community in Nowra. “Everything I do and everywhere I go, my community is there with me,” he says. “I point it all straight back to the place and people I came from.”

Indeed his end goal is to establish a scholarship and a creative space in his hometown to help young people reach their potential. “I want to be able to use the connections that I’ve made to assist others coming through,” he says. “Show them anything is possible if you put your head down and work, work, work.”

CommBank has partnered with News Corp Australia to champion the Australian of the Day initiative which celebrates people in our neighbourhoods and communities who really make a difference to how we live and who we are.

You can read all their stories at australianoftheday.com.au, where you can also nominate someone you know.