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.
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.
