Bankstown boy Jaecy teams up with South West Sydney's favorite duo Pistol Pete & Enzo in 'REPEAT'

Jaecy is West Sydney's newest MC bringing an organic, melodic and confident sound to the West Syd hip hop explosion. Jaecy's newest track 'REPEAT' is sure to turn heads with some impressive features and even more impressive visuals.

I only recently discovered Jaecy through instagram where he goes by his other alias @johnchaarles, the West Sydney native definitely has the look of a potential star and I was curious to see if he could back it up when i saw he had a feature on the way with my favorite duo Pistol Pete & Enzo. This definitely isn't Jaecy's debut clip, he's been releasing a steady flow of clips throughout 2018 and 2019 but it's definitely his most  important release. "REPEAT" was the first video release from the exciting new platform known as The Area Movement. 

His new track REPEAT did not disappoint. The first thing that stood out to me was the production. Aussie producer Open Till L8 creates a really ominous atmosphere with the piano keys and Jaecy capitalises on this style by giving the track a melodic hook, this contrast between the melodic vocals and the dark production sets a memorable tone to the track which is further backed up by the visuals. Lyrically Jaecy delivers stories of growing in Bankstown and I found it refreshing to see an African-Australian rapping in his natural accent. The Pistol Pete & Enzo feature, which was what got my attention to Jaecy originally, was what we've come  to expect from the Campbelltown based duo. With there back to back flow and their notorious wordplay Pistol Pete & Enzo did what they do best on this one. The duo have not slowed down this year and are ending the year levels ahead of where they started it. I was particularly impressed with Enzo's delivery on this one.

The visuals on this  were up there with some of the better releases we've gotten this year. With videography from Aaron Bull (@__aaronbull) the visuals matched the tone of the whole track perfectly. It almost had a similar but darker vibe to Skepta's Praise The Lord video clip. There was obviously a huge focus on the colours in the visuals and it really pays off.

All in all I think this is Jaecy's true entry into the West Syd hip hop movement and it's a great start. Im keen to hear more from him and could see him doing well on a track with Isaac Puerile to be honest. Check out the video below and follow his IG @johnchaarles.

The Lebos have entered the building

The Brothers, their debut track "Search and Destroy" and Arabs in Aus hip hop

Sydney's West has had a strong middle eastern influence as far back as the 70s and although a lot of our slang, fashion and style comes from the arabs we are yet to see them make a lasting impact on aus hiphop. I've always wondered why there hasn't been more Arab rappers in Sydney,  they are definitely key players in Sydney street culture,  they live in Western Sydney which is now a hiphop stronghold, and they definitely have important stories to tell.  Is it because they simply don't like hiphop?  Or are they just no good at it?  Maybe they viewed aus hip hop as strictly Aussie and in their minds they weren't aussie. There's probably a lot of reasons why Arab-Australians haven't found their voice in the Aus hiphop scene, but I can't help but get the feeling that Australia has missed out on a huge opportunity when you look at the success of Arab rappers in Europe.  The Arab-Australian experience has been a tumultuous one and has basically defined the immigrant experience for all non-white immigrants in Australia. Being one of the first groups of non-European migrants into Australia, the Arab Australian has often felt the brunt of Australian racism, I can see this being one reason for many Arabs hesitating when it comes to Australian hip hop seeing as the genre had historically been dominated by White Australians. That's not to say that they've never had influence on our scene, Gunsta, the founder of the iconic Hustle Hard Tv youtube channel is Lebanese, as well as Aus hip hop pioneer Sleek the Elite who has a dope track discussing the Lebanese-Australian experience called Child of The Cedar.

The 2000s saw a strain in Arab and White Australian relations with the 9/11 attacks and the infamous cronulla riots a few years after. During the riots there is no doubt that classic Aussie hiphop tracks, or what some people call 'BBQ Rap' could be heard out of stereo's creating a morbidly joyous soundtrack to one of Australia's most recent shames. Australian hip hop was in a very awkward position because unlike America, the UK and Europe, our most successful acts during this time represented middle class white people. During this era White Aussie rappers were seeing huge success while Arab-Australians were finding themselves even more excluded from mainstream society than their parents did. At the same time though, Arab-Australians were shifting the "new Australian" culture particularly in Western Sydney with films like the Combination and Cedar Boys and comedies like Fat Pizza, Arab-Australians were spearheading the"New Australian" culture in places like Western Sydney so it would only make sense that the same would be happening in hiphop, right? Sadly not, Aus hiphop had started to paint itself as a white genre where there wasn't really any arab, islander, asian or indigenous voices. It seemed like many immigrant Australian kids would rather listen to American hip hop and when it came to local music many opted for hardstyle and techno music.

  The West Sydney hiphop explosion in the last few years has seen the rise of many new acts and i've been waiting for some Arabs to step onto the scene. Finally, earlier this month i stumbled upon a duo from western Sydney called The Brothers.I got the chance to chat with one half of the group,Sebz (@sebz.b) we reflected on some of the reasons why Arabs haven't found there way in aus hiphop.

"Growing up our parents were so old school that it was hard for us to really pursue a music career we were always taught to live a simple life." 

It was definitely interesting to hear that family pressures were one reason for the boys to only start rapping now but I wondered if societal pressures existed too.

"Living in Australia it's always been (white) Aussie against Arab, but we're happy of where we are from and we always consider ourselves Australian first and Lebanese as our background"

Many of these boys are second,third and even fourth generation Australians and it really feels like this generation could be the ones to really crack the aus hip hop scene with their embrace of both Arab and Western Sydney culture. Maybe in a few years Arab-Australian success could get attention from Arab rappers overseas like Ard Adz in London. I found it interesting the weird position many Arab-Australians felt they were in.

"Its funny, what Aussies don't know is that when we go overseas to Lebanon and we see our families there they call us Australians, they don't call us Arabs, so we are proud to be Australian"

With braggadocious bars and cheeky references to their Arab background they are exactly what I imagined Arabs from this new wave of rappers would be like. The duo is named The Brothers and unsurprisingly the two are related. The duo seem to be on a clear mission to put "The Middle East On The Map" as they say in their debut track Search and Destroy.

"It's still early to say but if it wasn't for us and how we are repping our Arab culture in Aus hip hop I don't think anyone would take that first big step, especially when it's become so big now but i really hope after us that more young and old arab boys come out of their shell and show our talents because we have a lot to share, we have a rich culture."

With only one official music video it is true, it's very early to make any solid predictions on the duo but as far as debut clips go The Brothers are off to a good start and have a potentially giant new fanbase with hundreds and thousands of young Arab-Australians thirsty for some talent of their own.

Go follow their IG's below:

@brothers_officiall

@izzysofficial

@sebz.b

Thanks Sebz for answering my questions