Barkaa (born 1995 as Chloe Quayle), styled BARKAA, is a Blak First Nations/Aboriginal Australian rapper and musician, and is a Malyangapa and Barkindji woman.

In September 2020, GQ Magazine dubbed her "the new matriarch of Australian rap".^[1][2] and in 2020, Triple J listed her as one of the top 5 female rappers in Australia.^[3]

Barkaa was born as Chloe Quayle in 1995.^[4] Her mother was one of the Stolen Generations, and she had an uncle who died in police custody.^[5] She lived in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands as a child. She was known for performing rap at high school, and entered rap competitions in Blacktown.^[4] She is a Malyangapa and Barkindji woman.^[6]

Barkaa takes her name from the Barkindji word for the Darling River,^[5] and says that she feels very honoured to have been given permission to use this name to represent her people.^[7] Her music reflects her experiences with incarceration, child removal and addiction, with much of it overtly political; she has drawn from the words of Shareena Clanton and Rosalie Kunoth-Monks in her songs.^[5]

She first performed in front of an audience in 2019, at a Klub Koori event.^[5]

She released her debut single, "For My Tittas", in March 2020.^[8][9] Her song "Our Lives Matter", released in June 2020,^[10] became the unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia.^[5] She has collaborated with DOBBY ("I Can't Breathe"^[1]) and Electric Fields, and has performed at the Sydney Opera House,^[7] Enmore Theatre in Sydney and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.^[1]

As of November 2021, Barkaa is signed to Bad Apples Music, founded by Briggs.^[5]

Her debut album was Blak Matriarchy, so named "in honour of powerful First Nations women who've paved the way for future generations", including her mother.^[8] The song "King Brown", which she says is about a "shitty ex" is on the album.^[5] The album was produced by jayteehazard.^[11] The Blak Matriarchy EP begins with a sample of actress Shareena Clanton.^[11]

Barkaa performed at the Paartjima festival on the 2022 Easter weekend in Alice Springs.^[7]

Barkaa grew up with a single mother.^[11] She was addicted to methamphetamine as a teenager, and spent three periods in juvenile detention or prison, where she gave birth to her third child, a son, in around 2016. She has been free of drugs since then, and has her children back. Her daughter Alinta often performs with her.^[5]