These Kids

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These Kids is a song by Australian beatboxer Joel Turner and the hip hop duo the Modern Day Poets. It was released as the lead single from their debut album, Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets, on 27 September 2004. The track, about the hardships of street kids and the hope for a better future, was written in December 2001 (music by Joel Turner, lyrics by his brother Tim Turner, also known as DubLT).

The song reached No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified platinum. It was nominated for Breakthrough Artist at the 2005 ARIA Awards and for Most Performed Urban Work at the 2006 APRA Awards. Tim Turner has said the song was inspired by a friend’s suicide and that it connected with many listeners.

These Kids was recorded when Turner was 15, in Cairns with producer David Lynch, while DubLT recorded his rap part in Brisbane on a cheap microphone. It started with a real beat but Turner later beatboxed the track. After Australian Idol judge Mark Holden heard it, a remixed version with strings and an extra rap from DubLT was released.

The radio edit is about four minutes; the full version is available on the CD single and the album. The video, directed by Amiel Courtin-Wilson, was shot in Melbourne and features a teenage couple sleeping outside a train station and asking for help. Viewers sometimes mistook them for real, leading to donations.

The song debuted at No. 5 on 10 October 2004, climbed to No. 1 in its ninth week, and stayed on the chart for 21 weeks. It was certified platinum for shipments of 70,000 copies. A remix with Pos of De La Soul appears as a bonus track on Turner's second album, Out of the Box.