Briggs not kidding with new project

Adam Briggs, 33, is a hip-hop artist, comedy writer, record label owner, actor and newly published children’s book author

Author, hip-hop artist and actor Adam Briggs, who is publishing a children's book, 'Our Home, Our Heartbeat, adapted from Briggs’s celebrated song 'The Children Came Back’ Picture: Jane Dempster

Six years after your first performance of The Children Came Back, for Triple J’s Like a Version series, it has become a children’s book, Our Home, Our Heartbeat. Why did you want to make the unusual leap from song to book?

Every comedian except probably Wil Anderson has a kids’ book, and I was like, “If they can do it …” [laughs]. I was looking at kids’ books and I thought my song lends itself to that format. I’ve never seen a kids’ book that’s a little mini history lesson; it doesn’t insist, and try to teach you super bluntly. That’s always my initiative of doing things: first, is anybody else doing it? If “yes”, how do we do it different or better? More often than not, when I’m doing things, it’s “no”, so there was a lane for this that nobody else is in – let’s explore it.

You’re a renowned collaborator in the world of music, but what was it like to work with a pair of illustrators on this project in Kate Moon, who drew the characters, and Rachael Sarra, who drew the backgrounds?

I just loved Kate’s drawings and style; she brought so much character to the faces of these kids, and all the people I’ve mentioned in the book. I wanted it to be really light, because everything I do is pretty heavy and dark. Even if it’s comedy, it’s dark [laughs]. I really wanted to expand my spectrum of who I am as an artist. And Rachael is a great graphic artist, a Murri girl from up in Brissy. She has these vibrant patterns that were everything I wanted, and it was really important that I had an indigenous illustrator working with Kate. It just felt right. There’s plenty of books out there that can teach a kid about Dreamtime stories and inclusivity; this is just another way to teach kids about indigenous representation, without being super-duper heavy-handed about it.

Your book is inspired by lyrics you wrote for The Children Came Back, a 2014 response to Archie Roach’s landmark song, Took the Children Away. In the dedication, you write that “this book is for all our future leaders. Our job is to be good so you can be great. Dream big and without limits”. Who taught you to dream big when you were little?

My parents; my old man, especially, and my uncle. My family really taught me having a go was 90 per cent of it, and I took that and amplified it myself and turned it into: “Why can’t I have X? Why can’t I do Z? And why isn’t there Y?” It was almost a subconscious thought for me: while I have this platform, and people are paying attention, I should show kids and other artists that you can be more than one thing. I always felt like there was nothing wrong with dreaming big. It’s not greedy to want more. So when I say dream big and without limits, I mean it: shoot for the stars and I’ll pay for the ceiling [laughs].

You recently published a lockdown collaboration song with Tim Minchin named HouseFyre, which took aim at the Prime Minister for his leadership in recent months. After its release and media attention, Tim wrote on Twitter that you’re “SO much better at dealing with the stompy conservatives than I am”. Do you think that’s true?

Definitely [laughs].

What’s the difference between you two?

I grew up in a pretty racist town [Shepparton, Victoria], so I was used to defending myself from a young age. There’s nothing that you can say to me that I haven’t already heard – and you add rap battles on top of that. My good friend and sweetheart of a human, one of the most genuine, generous, nice people I’ve ever met, Tim Minchin? I come from blood sports; he was more into theatresports.

Our Home, Our Heartbeat is out now via Little Hare/Hardie Grant Egmont.

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