Barkaa - The New Matriarch of Australian Rap.

Barkaa — the stage name of Chloe Quayle, a Malyangapa, Barkindji woman from western New South Wales — has become one of the most commanding and necessary voices in Australian music. In just a few short years, she’s transformed from an emerging rapper with raw, uncompromising bars to a national force: a storyteller, a truth-teller, and a cultural firebrand whose voice carries the weight of generations.

Her rise has been nothing short of remarkable. Barkaa’s music arrived not as entertainment but as arrival — a declaration that the experiences of First Nations women would no longer be sidelined. Her 2020 breakout single “For My Tittas” was both a celebration of Blak sisterhood and a rallying cry of empowerment. She followed it with blistering tracks like “Blak Matriarchy,” where her lyrical precision and fierce delivery positioned her as a leader in Australian hip-hop. GQ Magazine picked up on that power early, calling her “the new matriarch of Australian rap,” while Triple J named her one of the country’s top five female rappers. These weren’t just accolades — they were acknowledgements of a seismic shift.

Born and raised between the streets of western Sydney and the homelands of her people, Barkaa has never hidden the hardships that shaped her. She has spoken openly about experiences with incarceration, addiction, and losing custody of her children — and about the healing journey that returned her to culture, community, and her own voice. It is this honesty, this refusal to sanitise her truth, that makes her music resonate so deeply. Barkaa’s songs aren’t polished narratives; they’re lived realities delivered with the clarity of someone who fought to reclaim her sovereignty.

In 2023 and 2024, her ascent accelerated. Barkaa tore up festival stages across the country, collaborated with heavyweight artists, and expanded her voice into new creative and political spaces. But her most historic moment came at the 2025 ARIA Awards, where she took home Best Hip Hop/Rap Release — the first Aboriginal woman in Australian history to win in this category. It was more than a win for Barkaa; it was a watershed for First Nations women in the music industry, a long-overdue recognition of Blak excellence in a genre built on resistance and resilience.

On stage, she is electric — a performer who blends fury with warmth, pride with vulnerability. Offstage, she is a community advocate, a mother, and a cultural leader whose work extends far beyond music. Barkaa raps for her people, for her sisters, for the kids growing up in the same places she once did. She raps to honour the women who came before her and to clear a path for those who’ll come after.