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."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."
Go follow their IG's below:
@brothers_officiall
@izzysofficial
@sebz.b
Thanks Sebz for answering my questions
