Rapper L-Fresh the Lion calls for a focus on arts and culture as Campbelltown’s population booms

A reclamation of pride of southwest Sydney, particularly in the music industry, is taking off with “artists flying against the stereotypes”. Find out why one rapper wants to see this ethos more broadly shared.

L-Fresh the Lion. Picture: Christian Anstey

What has been perceived as an unattractive outpost of Sydney is in reality a burgeoning city full of life and pride, a transformation one rapper says needs to be encouraged.

The Future of Campbelltown is being explored in a report to be released by Committee for Sydney and SGS Economics and Planning this week.

Housing, health, transport and jobs are all topics set to be discussed in a forum on Friday but L-Fresh the Lion has called for more attention to be paid to cultivating the culture and arts of Campbelltown to ensure it retains its identity as the population booms.

Born and raised in Sydney’s southwest, L-Fresh has been a leader in Australia’s hip-hop scene for more than a decade and has produced three studio albums.

He is also the founder of the program Conscious at Campbelltown Arts Centre which provides workshops on songwriting as well as mentorship for pursuing a career in music for young artists based in western Sydney.

Pictured: L-Fresh the Lion. Picture: Christian Anstey

L-Fresh said there was a stigma that young people in Campbelltown and southwest Sydney did not have ambition, and there needed to be a shift in encouraging pride of where you are from.

“It’s a very real stigma and its something I know Campbelltown Council has been working really hard to address the stereotypes attached to certain suburbs,” he said.

“But it’s a stigma that has been around for as long as I can remember, I know it from growing up in southwest Sydney.

“What we are starting to see is this reclamation of pride of where you are from, and we are really seeing that in music with artists flying against the stereotypes and being proud of where they are from and we need that across the board.”

L-Fresh said he has no intention of moving out of southwest Sydney, and he was proud to be a resident.

The acronym F.R.E.S.H. stands for Forever Rising Exceeding Sudden Hardships, and it’s an ethos L-Fresh lives by after battling his way to make it in the music industry.

Handmade and Handgrown Markets. Picture: NAT Photography/Campbelltown City Council

He wants to make sure young people in Campbelltown do not have to face the same challenges.

“There is a lack of access to resources and opportunities for artists locally to develop their skillet without having to move out the area,” L-Fresh said.

“From the get go, I have always had a problem solving mindset of if something is not there how do we make it happen. How do we do it ourselves?

“That’s been front of mind every step of the way, there’s little to no spaces for this and the music industry is not doing much to fix it.”

L-Fresh said when talking about the future of areas like Campbelltown the focus was often on health, transport and education but attention needed to be paid to the arts to ensure the experiences and cultures of southwest Sydney were highlighted.

“That is super important and a number one priority because there is and has been a lack of that in Campbelltown and southwest Sydney,” he said.

“We need to address those barriers in people’s everyday lives and once you fix that you realise there is a community with a wide range of skills that can contribute to the art space in all forms in ways that have not been done before because people from these areas have not been included before.”

L-Fresh said young people, and referenced Macarthur-born band The Rubens, had found a way to thrive but when the populations of an area boomed a focus needed to be on cultivating talent and pride in the region.

Campbelltown Mayor George Greiss.

Mayor George Greiss said a focus of Campbelltown Council’s was ensuring sustainable growth which included ensuring there were facilities and events that celebrated the city’s culture.

“What makes Campbelltown unique is a variety of things. It’s not just where we are located, we do have a very strong cultural and heritage background with a strong Aboriginal population,” he said.

“We’ve been around for about 200 years now, and we have evolved a very unique local culture and we are still maintaining that connection and heritage is how fast and how stable our growth.

“We need to be able to first not decrease the quality of life that people are experiencing here.”

General manager Lindy Deitz said council was focused on community consultation to ensure that residents had their say on how their home changed.

“People are fearful of growth, they don’t want to lose what is special about Campbelltown,” she said.

“The community have told us they want to maintain the environmental feeling, the fact that they have a beautiful green surrounds, you know, we’re flanked by two rivers, we’ve got a national park, we’ve got botanic gardens.

“It’s really important that we our job as local government is to be the advocate of the community, not just push our own ideas.”