Will Australia's middle class ever truly accept Aus hiphop?

 This is a topic i've wanted to write about for a while now but I couldn't really articulate my frustration. I still can't, but i'm just going to share my thoughts on this because it's bothered me for a while now. 

I'll be talking alot in generalisations here. I understand that plenty of middle class kids have the same positive feelings towards the current scene as I do, and I know that there is plenty of working class kids that detest our scene right now. 

As someone that's been a fan of Aus hiphop for the last 10 years, and grown up in fairly middle class world, I've always felt that there was a lot of classism thrown into the conversation whenever the topic of Aus hiphop was brought up. These same people that dislike our hiphop had no issue having a playlist full of American and British hiphop, but when it came to their own scene something seemed to bother them, this always confused me. We've all heard the usual criticisms, "I just think the Aussie accent sounds shit in rap"

"They're just bogans"

or even "Australia isn't even that dangerous" 

I think to understand this we need to look at the history of hiphop in this country. 

Australia is unique in terms of how hiphop developed here. Unlike in America and Europe, hiphop didn't come from the working class to the middle class. That's not to say that there wasn't pioneers from working class backgrounds, not at all. But the first acts to really grab mainstream attention like the Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso or Horrorshow, were all middle class - and middle class kids didn't really have an issue with them, in fact, they embraced these artists. When it comes to why this is, why the early years of Aus hiphop were so dominated by the middle class, no one will ever truly know, but I think it has to do with access. We should remember that there was a time when hiphop was a foreign type of music to us Aussies, and who has the most access to foreign things? Middle class people. The record shops , the live music, and even just a place where you could meet an American or Euro was in the richer parts of Sydney and Melbourne.  I think this is one reason why middle class Aussies had such a head start in Aus hiphop. I can remember when lads couldn't care less about hiphop, they cared about hardstyle and gabba music. Another influence would have also been that almost all of the established music industry leaders in Australia were middle class and simply preferred the more digestible styles of Aus hiphop, and preferred interacting with them also. 

So we know that middle class Aussies can like Aus hiphop, like when they supported what alot were starting to call "BBQ Rap", but around the early 2010's something started to change. With the growth of independent hiphop coming from West Syd, mainly through Hustlehard tv , Aus hiphop started to change. The working class kids were starting to gravitate towards hiphop, and middle class kids were fleeing. I remember at my high school it was pretty mixed class, meaning we had poor kids, but we also had rich kids. I remember there being two completely different realities going on. A housing commission kid could put on Kerser and would listen to him as if he was a modern day Biggie, but a middle class kid could put on Kerser almost mockingly, as a joke. I don't blame either, Hustlehard tv and the early days of Kerser was something totally unique, it was also very DIY and unpolished. But this was the time I started to see a huge split. I started to see that middle class kids just could not deal with art coming from the working class, unless it was the "right" art. Take this Friendlyjordies video for example, I think this video perfectly illustrates the feeling alot of middle class kids had towards Aus hiphop. 

Fast forward 10 years, Hustle hard tv had popularised an entire sub culture to the rest of Australia. Sold out tours, radio play, international features and actual money to be made in this scene, a lot had changed. I could cop people not taking Aus hiphop seriously back then, fair enough, but now? This is what bothers me. You could be playing song after song of British or American hiphop, but for some reason you put the exact same style and quality song, but with an Australian accent, and some people just can't get around it. I've seen things change of coarse, plenty of my friends who didn't like Aus hiphop then have now come around with the rise of Onefour or Hefs. I guess my main gripe is that alot of these middle class kids, who claim to be the warriors for the working class and diversity, will openly mock hiphop coming from a brown kid in their backyard but wouldn't do the same for an American or British artist. I like to think that the British and Americans scenes went through the same things  in their infancy but did they? I think in America is was a more racial thing, hiphop was a black art so alot of Conservative America just couldn't support it. I think the UK's early years with Grime were different because of it's origins, early grime had a massive electronic music influence which was loved by both the working and middle class. So is this an Australian problem?  honestly i don't know. I will end with something positive though. The younger generation seems to completely accept Aus hiphop, my younger brother went to Goodlife festival (an underage festival) and him and his friends were most excited to see Hooligan Hefs. This is such a change from when I was that age, so to be fair , i don't think this will be a problem in as Aus hiphop continues to grow. 

                            Hooligan Hefs at Good Life Festival

Three music videos that don't have enough views

 I thought i'd do a little write up to shine some light on some artists that don't get enough love. As much as I hate the term 'under rated', I can't help but call these artists very under rated. I guess the first thing to discuss before I give you this list is to define what 'not enough views is'. Of coarse this is just a matter of perspective, and to a new artist getting 10k views is an achievement.But for the sake of this article i'm going to be looking for videos with under 25k views. As Aus hiphop fans, we live in a time where there seems to be an unlimited supply of new artists and new clips coming out, and as hard as it is for some of us to admit, numbers are everything. I know there are a lot of people, especially artist, who hate this mindset but its just the reality, numbers are how we rate the impact an artist has had on the scene. 

Isaac Puerile - 2012 

Starting off this list we have Isaac Puerile with this absolute movie. So many things I can say about this one. 2012 is a nostalgic concoction of pig latin, high school throwbacks and reminiscent bars. The beat is as straight forward as the concept of the video, with a melancholy and almost haunting flute running throughout. Running a muck, jigging school, racking from the corner store - so much of this video is a throwback to growing up in Sydney in that in-between stage between the innocence of childhood and the seriousness of adult life. Joseph Plumb's production on the video is top level, the way he's able to tell a story about nothing is awesome - isn't that what being that age is all about? doing nothing but it still feeling like a movie - I love this clip and the fact that it only has 4k views is fucked up. This video makes me feel a way and thats what any good video should do. I look forward to hearing Isaac's feature on Nter's up coming album.

Pronto - One Day

This clip is my favourite Melbourne song in years. If this song doesn't put you in a good mood nothing will. The addictive chorus leaves you wanting more and the wavy beat reminds me of a Flat Bush Zombies track. Although Im usually against American accents in Australia, i can look past it on this one, because it's so goddamn catchy. Pronto seems to be one of the most exciting artists on 66 Records and it's criminal that he doesn't have more music out. I honestly don't know if he still makes music. This one will definitely be getting pumped a lot this summer.  

Jose Halftime - Lesko

To finish of this list we're going to the West Coast. Perth rapper Jose Halftime has been doing his thing for a while now. I actually wrote about him a year or two ago and its sick to see he's still doing his thing. Jose sticks to his guns on this one going with a boom bap beat. While this choice might not be wise in terms of getting numbers, it shows a level of integrity and self confidence that can sometimes be hard to find these days. Jose delivers ice cold, introspective bars with a calm but rhythmic flow. The video is simple but still pays attention to detail, utilising really cool colours. I hope to see more of Jose Halftime to be honest. 

Sydney Yungins turn up the heat with their new track 'Pull Up'

Sydney Yungins (formally known as Inner West Yungins) have been on the scene a while now and their ability to evolve and try out new sounds sets them aside from a lot of groups coming out of Sydney at the moment. The trio hail from Sydney's Inner West (and they don't let you forget it). I love hiphop groups in general, from Wu Tang to Section Boyz so the explosion of new groups in Sydney is one of the best developments that's come from the Polynesian hiphop movement from last year. Once again, Sydney Yungins set new levels on their new track 'Pull up'.

A few months ago, Sydney Yungins member Hefty announced his departure from the trio, which was unfortunate news for a lot of fans. The surprise with this new track is that they seem to have already found a new member which is dope, and he's dope! his names Leli Tonga and he's revealed on the last verse of the track. Don't get it twisted, Leli isn't just a reserve substitute, his cocky attitude shines through on this one. Leli definitely rounds out the trio, and in my opinion was a way better alternative then the group just becoming a duo. Leli's premiere wasn't even the biggest surprise on the track. Anyone that listens to this song for the first time won't be able to ignore the catchy af chorus. Rico Tonga sticks to Sydney Yungins tradition by always trying to level up each track and it works. The steel drums with Rico Tonga's vocals take me back to summer and I don't even know how, but he's able to still be staunch with the lyrics while also keeping his groove.  Titoez does what he does best here, clear and impressive bars. His flow and lyrics on the first verse set the tone for the rest of the track. His bar about all his favourite rappers is one of my favourite on the track so far.

Once again Sydney Yungins have proved to be one of, if not the most versatile group in the country. I already know this track is going to do well and this chorus is easily one of my favourites of 2020.

Bravo Sydney Yungins.

Sydney Serchaz, Smash Brothers and a tale of two cities [part 2]

A few months ago I wrote an article titled Sydney Serchaz, Smash Brothers and a tale of two cities. i talked about their contribution to their cities and also their cities contribution to their art. In this article I mainly want to focus on the current situation in both cities. 

A lot has changed since the rise of both Smash Brothers and Sydney Serchaz, a lot. Im sorry to say but I don’t remember a time where Melbourne was so insignificant on the Australian stage, I also can’t remember a time where Sydney was so significant not just on the Australian stage, but on the global stage. 

Apart from HP Boyz, there isn’t really any major artists coming out of Melbourne right now. In Sydney there are literally dozens of artists getting millions of views in all styles of hiphop. The work rate in Melbourne seems very slow compared to its sibling up north and I think I might know why. It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with the audience, Sydney artist have been putting on pretty big shows down in Melbourne for a few years now - Melbourne has just as many hiphop fans so there definitely isn’t a lack of demand. If you look back at Part 1 of this article you’ll know that I think Melbourne definitely has a higher respect for quality over quantity, so it could be that, but that doesn’t answer everything. In my opinion there are 3 main reasons why Sydney has moved so far ahead of Melbourne (As a Sydney Sider I’m trying not to be so bias) , they’re all kind of tied in together: Our mindset, the rise of Kerser and the ‘Poly rap’ movement.  

HP BOYZ

Ill start with the Kers effect. He started as a staple on Hustle Hard TV and quickly rose to be Australia’s biggest artist, with zero radio play. To list the accomplishments of Kerser would take up way too much time, but at this point he’s a cultural icon of West Sydney. This article isn’t really about Sydney vs Melbourne, Its about West Sydney vs Melbourne, that’s where 90% of our artists come from. Kerser's embrace of adlay culture marked the start of a shift in Sydney hiphop and brought In a whole new group of people into the fold of hiphop in Sydney. This is definitely something I think Melbourne missed out on by not really having that ‘adlay’ styled rapper at the forefront of their scene (maybe apart from Flowz) at the end of the day hiphop is music for the working class and adlays are definitely a big part of the youth working class. If Sydney Serchaz showed lads that its ok to be themselves on a track, Kerser showed them they can make a living off it. Kerser really reinforced the Sydney mindset I talked about earlier about quantity over quality, that’s not to say that Kerser doesn’t respect quality, what Im trying to say is that Kersers format of releasing an album a year meant that his name never really dies (to this day) and his yearly releases are basically a part of life here in Sydney. Its obvious that artists like Kearve, Chillinit and Rops were definitely influenced by Kerser and his independent, stay consistent mindset.  This mindset has spread all over Sydney and I really can’t say the same thing for Melbourne right now. 

Another huge development in Australian hiphop has been the poly rap movement, sometimes ignorantly known as the Australian drill movement (idk why). 

BBG Smokey

Since around 2017 Islander rappers in Australia have simply been on the up and up and I don’t really know if we have hit our peak just yet. They're currently the pride of the scene and their embrace of the Australian accent has probably been the biggest reason why. Before that, most Islanders like Hoolligan Hefs and Pistol Pete & Enzo  were still rapping in American accents similar to Scribe in NZ. All that’s changed and they have become a lot more relatable and local sounding, which is important in hiphop. -This one is simple, Sydney’s poly rap movement has been more successful than Melbourne’s because we have more Polynesian people. About 40% of Australian Polynesians live in NSW with another 35% living in Queensland. Theres obviously Polynesians in Melbourne, just not as many compared to Sydney or Brisbane. This leads me to an interesting point that I’ve talked about a lot on this blog. Although Melbourne isn’t, and probably never will be the epicentre of the Poly rap movement, there is a huge opportunity for it to be the centre of the African rap movement if/when they blow up. Just like the Polynesians of yesteryear the Africans are still rapping in American accents, in my opinion. Like the Polynesians I think Africans in Melbourne will find success in our hiphop scene when they start rapping in their natural accent and this may take a few years. The sad reality is that no one wants to listen to American hiphop from someone from outside of America, when they could just listen to one of the thousands of American rappers right now. Even now though, the most exciting hiphop coming from Melbourne apart from maybe HP Boyz  are African Australian artists like Eco System, BBG smokey and Gz Phantom. I think an explosion in African Australian hiphop is basically inevitable and when it happens Melbourne will be on the forefront of that movement. Until then though, Melbourne is still at the lowest I think its ever been, Brisbane is running laps around them, Melbourne is more comparable to Perth’s scene rather than Sydneys, which is crazy to me, it’s crazy to me that Sydney’s main competitor, geographically speaking, is Brisbane.

At the end of the day though, when Sydney wins Australia wins. Geographical competition is a part of the culture and the sign of any healthy hiphop scene. That being said though, Australian hiphop is in the best place it has ever been and we can only hope Melbourne can return to its former glory. 

Onefour return with a culture shifting collaboration with Asap Ferg

5 years ago, if someone told me that Asap Ferg would come to Sydney, drive an hour west, and make a music video with some lads from Mt Druitt I would've laughed - now this new reality Aus hiphop finds itself in doesn't seem so crazy. Onefour has finally returned from a 3 month break with their second single of the year, 'Say It Again' ft Asap Ferg. When I found out about this feature it sort of blew me away, I think alot of Aus hiphop fans have become desensitised to Australian progress in the world of hiphop, but this is a big deal. More impressively though, Onefour is able to make headway against alot of odds.With subliminal and explicit disses thrown at them in tracks every other week and the incarceration of half of their group, alot of fans, myself included, feared that the this was the unfolding of Onefour's decline. Clearly I was wrong.

In this new track the Onefour go for a totally new approach, opting for a more melodic, American style, while still holding true to their drill origins. Jemz in particular really proves his versatility on this chorus, it kindve reminded me of Sheff G with his more melodic take on drill. This new style has come with mixed reactions, the comment section is already filled with discussion on if this is the right move or not. Personally I enjoyed this new approach, and like the highlighted comment below suggests, we need innovation to keep this current wave of Sydney hiphop alive. Lots of my friends are already saying the current scene is starting to feel abit stale, so I applaud Onefour's experimentation. 

Asap Ferg doesn't really give us anything he hasn't done before, and his verse isn't amazing but there were some encouraging take aways. The fact that a multi platinum award winning artist actually recorded and filmed a track in West Syd is unprecedented - the few significant international collaborations we've had in the past have been send in verses. Asap Fergs references to Sydney and Australia reveal this verse wasn't some 3 year old 16 bar he had lying around. What's even more encouraging is that according to Onefours management they didn't even pay Ferg for the feature, this was just an organic link up. It was totally surreal seeing Asap Ferg in a music video with Onefour, the group did not disappoint and this is sure to be another classic here in Australia, the real question is if the song has the legs to get some radio play in America. American radio play for Onefour would be the first time an authentically Australian hiphop act was given exposure in America and would just add to the list of accomplishments Onefour already have under their belt.

Searching For Usta

Searching For Sugar Man was a 2012 award winning documentary directed by Malik Bendjelloul. I remember watching this documentary when i was 16 and being totally fascinated by such a freak story. The story goes like this: 

In the early 1970s, Sixto Rodriguez was a Detroit folksinger who had a short-lived recording career with only two well received but non-selling albums. Unknown to Rodriguez, his musical story continued in South Africa where he became a pop music icon and inspiration for generations.

Something about an artist being famous without him even realising it captivated me. I found the story very melancholy, beautiful because an obviously talented artist was being recognised somewhere in the world - but also tragic, because Sixto Rodriguez was old, near homeless and way past his prime by the time he discovered that he was a rockstar on the other-side of the globe. For most of Sixto's life he regarded his music as under appreciated and failure in terms of public recognition. Searching For Sugar Man represents the story of the starving artist and the beauty in which that represents. 

Usta, an underground rapper from Sydney's South East matched Searching For Sugar Man's story pretty closely, at least among my mates. Usta has always been one of those artists that didn't need a video clip, he didn't even need good sound quality. All of my friends had their own favourite Usta songs, whether they be his emotional tracks or his staunch ones. The length of Usta's catalogue is also pretty impressive for Aussie standards, only last week my friend showed me an Usta track none of us had heard with only 20 views - and it goes.  Usta is a top 10 in Aus rapper for most of my friends, but when you bring up Usta to many Aus hiphop fans, especially younger ones, you're either greeted with a confused look or "oh yeah that guy that did the 32 bars freestyle in city". I do meet people that recognise Usta, but it's rare. More often than not it's usually other rappers I see that show love to Usta, not the consumer. Usta's look, sound and style was as Sydney as it comes and during this time of Polynesian domination in Australian hiphop it's hard to imagine that Usta was one of the few, if not the only, Polynesian street rapper during the early part of last decade.

Usta perfectly encapsulated the later stage of the gutter rap movement  during 2010-2013, he seemed like the natural progression after Sydney Serchaz. Usta was even given an extremely rare co-sign from Kerser on the Fortnightly Report show in 2013 when he was asked who his favourite up and coming rapper was. In 2013 the future looked good for Usta, with his slow climb of the HustleHard TV leaderboard and recognition from some giants in the scene there was no doubt that Usta was going somewhere. That didn't happen though, with a string of legal issues, a drug problem and the threat of deportation back to New Zealand, Usta's music was put on the side, with the occasional period of music releases.   

Usta never reached the level that alot of us had predicted and his newer songs never really hit the same. Usta never really had a social media presence, which added to his charm but also didn't really help in the age of Instagram. For me, I will always consider. Usta one of the most realist rappers to have graced the Sydney hiphop scene. The guy has banger after banger with under 50,000 views while his attitude and style has become the new norm within the scene.

Was Queensland the biggest winner last decade?

Queensland, the Sunshine state, the Texas of Australia. For a long time most have equated the northern state with hot weather, XXXX and Pauline Hanson supporters, but over the last few years the states premier city, Brisbane, has seen an explosion in local talent. Growing up I always considered  Brisbane a backwater in terms of Aus Hiphop - Sydney had its gutter rap movement, Adelaide had its giants like Hilltop Hoods and Vents, Perth had Drapht, and Melbourne was, well, Melbourne - But Brisbane had never come up on my radar growing up - Brisbane has easily been the underachiever of Aus HipHop.

The first Brisbane rapper I  came across was Nerve back in 2017 on a grime track called Survival. It was probably the first time id seen a younger rapper doing grime so authentically, and when I learnt that Nerve himself produced the beat, i was sold. Rapper/Producers are a rare breed in Australia and it's definitely one of Nerves main selling points, the relationship Nerve has with his beats shines through on tracks like Walk & Talk, Gone Stupid and Run That. Over the last few years Nerve has proved that he is one of the hardest working in the game right now, (it's pretty hard to believe this guy manages doing University as well) - you get the sense that those around him have an equally good work ethic including fellow Brisbane native Kyle Golly. Kyle Golly is founder of No One Network, easily one of the most exciting companies in Australian hip hop today. He's kind of the Cole Bennett of Australia - Kyle Golly has been able to create a distinct brand identity with his music video production and work ethic. The two have been able to really create a healthy environment for hip hop to thrive in QLD .

Queensland has also been seeing some changes on the other side of the hiphop spectrum . No other part of Australia has benefited more from the Islander Hip Hop explosion of 2019 than Queensland. In the Islander hiphop space, Queensland is number two, an impressive leap from a decade ago. Drawing from high populated Islander areas like Logan and West Brisbane, Queensland has been able to trail Sydney as a stronghold of Islander hip hop. Acts like NME, Lisi and personal favorite KDM, have been racking in millions of views with originality and a new take on what Sydney created. NME, Logans answer to One Four have almost 3 million views on their break out track German and their follow up song Suave cemented them in the scene by showing off their charming, back and forth chemistry. One of their members , RB (@rb_4k) has one of the most memorable voices I think i've ever heard in Australia, it reminds me of  Sheff G from New York. NME are far from a One Four clone, they have a really fun dynamic and they're able to effortlessly go back to back on a track. On the other side of Brisbane in the West, there's Lisi, he caught my attention late last year with his track The Come Up, a fun laid back track with some of the cutest visuals I think i've ever seen. Lisi gets his younger brother to lip sync the first verse of the song as if it was him 5 years ago, a cool idea and a change from the usual Islander hip hop videos that we were seeing in the second half of 2019.

The last of the big three Islander acts in Queensland are KDM On The Track, a young, feel good, family friendly trio with some of the catchiest melodies on the continent. In my opinion groups like KDM are exactly what we need if we want this current wave of hip hop to have any longevity. KDM don't take themselves super serious, which is refreshing,and their family friendly language gives them the opportunity to make a much bigger impact on mainstream Australia than their more violent counterparts. Just like NME, what makes KDM is the chemistry between the trio, of everyone in Queensland I think KDM are the most exciting, especially because they're only like 17 or something.

One thing I think Australia has been lacking, especially in this current wave, is female rappers. With the explosion in female rappers in America and the UK i'm honestly surprised we haven't really seen any girls making big moves in Australian Hip Hop. Only a few weeks ago I came across a rapper called Unamii, she's an African girl from Ipswich - which I think has to be a first in Australian hip hop? - and I was surprised i'd never heard of her considering the views this video had (200k). Although Unamii commits a crime we hate on this blog, an American accent. It's just acceptable because you can hear the natural accent come through. Unamii flows comfortably on a drill beat and if this is her first video, which I think it is, there is a lot of potential. Unamii has the looks, attitude and flow to be the number 1 female rapper in the country. There's definitely a giant gap in the market when it comes to female rappers in Australia, I know personally speaking, a lot of my female friends are begging for a dope female rapper in Australia. If Unamii sticks around I definitely think she could do big things for women in Australia and African-Australians as well.

Over the last few years we've seen Queensland go from an Australian hip hop backwater to arguably the second most important state in the country. With exciting acts on all ends of the spectrum I think the change in Brisbane's cultural diversity over the last couple decades may be one the key reasons why it's seeing success in Hip Hop now. Brisbane's large Islander community has helped the city catch the Islander hiphop wave from the southern cities,it also has to be said that hip hop lovers and creators have been putting in groundwork which has helped establish Brisbane and Queensland as hotbed of Australian hip hop.