J-Milla, often styled J-MILLA, is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

hip hop musician . He was born as Jacob Nichaloff in Darwin in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Early life and education

J-Milla was born in Darwin as Jacob Nichaloff, and is of the

Marranunggu The Marranunggu are an Aboriginal Australian people and language group, of the Northern Territory. Language Marranunggu is classified as one of the dialects of the Marranji group of the Western Daly languages, together with Menhthe and Emmi. C ...

people of the Litchfield Park area in the Northern Territory (NT). He spent his childhood in Darwin (where he started

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

at the age of 11), but came to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, to attend Scotch College, at the age of 12.

Career

J-Milla started releasing rap videos on social media when he was around 18, which built a large following. His first single, "My People", was released in 2018. In 2020, J-Milla pledged to donate the earnings from his single "Unlock the System" to the family of Kumanjayi Walker, an Aboriginal man who was killed during an arrest attempt. The song was strongly supported by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

. In November 2020, he performed at the TREATY festival as part of

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee. NAIDOC Week has its roots in the 1938 Day o ...

at Tandanya in Adelaide, along with

Dem Mob Dem Mob, stylised as DEM MOB, is an Aboriginal hip hop group from the APY lands in northern South Australia, the first to rap in the Pitjantjatjara language. Background Starting out as a musical trio comprising Jontae Lawrie and Elisha Umuhu ...

MLRN x RKM Marlon Motlop (born 17 April 1990), also professionally known as Marlon (stylised in all caps), is an Indigenous Australian former Australian rules footballer and musician. Motlop played with the Port Adelaide Football Club from 2008 to 2011 i ...

, and shared the MC duties with actor

Natasha Wanganeen Natasha Wanganeen (born 20 June 1984) is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film '' Rabbit-Proof Fence'' and numerous television roles. She made her debut as co-writer and co-producer in a 2 ...

. J-Milla was selected for

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

's online music festival that year. He performed on the closing day of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

in March 2021, at an event called "Hip Hop Finale", along with

Ziggy Ramo Ziggy Ramo Burrmuruk Fatnowna, known professionally as Ziggy Ramo, is an Australian singer. Early life Ziggy Ramo Burrmuruk Fatnowna was born to an Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Solomon Islander father and a mother of Scottish heritag ...

JK-47 Jacob Paulson (born 15 January 1997), known professionally as JK-47, is an Indigenous Australian rapper, musician, and activist from Tweed Heads South, New South Wales. His debut album, ''Made for This'', was released independently on 4 Septe ...

and

Jimblah Jimblah (born James Alberts) is an indigenous Australian Hip hop music, hip hop artist from the Larrakia people, Larrakia nation who lives in South Australia and tours nationally. He has released two solo albums and an album with his duo Homeward ...

. On Saturday 16 November 2024 J-Milla will be performing at the After Race Concert of the

Adelaide 500 The Adelaide 500, officially the BP Adelaide Grand Final, is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 and 2020 and again from 2022. The event uses a shortened form ...

motor racing event in Adelaide. It will be the biggest show so far for him, and he intends to showcase unreleased work. Others performing that night are

Crowded House Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...

and

Meg Mac Megan McInerney, known by her stage name Meg Mac, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. She signed to littleBIGMAN Records in 2014, locally, and 300 Entertainment in the United States. Early life and education Megan McInerney was b ...

. Some of his music deals with problems affecting

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

, such as

intergenerational trauma Intergenerationality is interaction between members of different generations.Klimczuk, Andrzej, ''Intergenerationality, Intergenerational Justice, Intergenerational Policies'', n:S. Thompson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice'', ...

and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

Other activities

J-Milla works with Aboriginal children in remote communities, teaching songwriting at schools and helping the children to express their emotions in music. He also does workshops on

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

and mental health.

Personal life

J-Milla is married with two children and lives in Adelaide.

Awards and nominations

The

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises the achievements of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

in music. The award ceremony commenced in 2004. ! , - , rowspan="1",

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, "Ball and Chain" (with

Xavier Rudd Xavier Rudd (born 29 May 1978) is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist. Several of Rudd's songs incorporate socially conscious themes, such as spirituality, humanity, environmentalism and the rights of Indigen ...

) , Song of the Year , , , -

Discography

Singles

References

{{reflist Indigenous Australian musicians Australian male rappers Hip-hop activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)