Sydney and Melbourne have always been the cultural centres of Australia and when it comes to the story of hiphop in Australia the two cities have been jostling for leadership of the genre since its arrival. Ever since I started listening to Aus hip hop in the late 2000s i've noticed that the two cities have always had different priorities, styles and sounds. When talking about the influence an artist has on a city it's important not to get carried away, often in reality the artist is as much a reflection of their city as the city can be a reflection of the artist. Both Sydney Serchaz and Smash Bros marked the end in a lul in Australian hip hop , this was during the rise of youtube and social medias. It's fair to say that both groups had a huge influence on their cities not only in terms of the music but how the city would be viewed by the other city for the foreseeable future.
Smash Bros, a four man collective with two British members consisting of Fraksha, Diem, Scotty Hinds and Murky(rip).The group helped popularise grime music in Australia bringing sounds that hadn't ever really been heard in Australian hip hop. Melbourners like to think that their city is the most "European" in the country and the arrival of grime music through the Smash Bros seemed like a perfect fit. The authenticity of Smash Bros couldn't be denied, especially boasting two MC's who had come from the world of UK Grime. This is one thing I think Smash Brothers helped influence into the Melbourne hip hop scene, an awareness of trends overseas and an emphasis on seeming credible. While Sydney has always had a solid quantity of music Melbourne, at least that side of Melbourne, had maintained that quality and credibility is the top priority. Smash Bros were the first to be doing live radio sets and introduced Alex Jones into the scene, regarded as one of the best spitters in the country. For me the Smash Bros are what I think off when someone brings up Melbourne hip hop. 900km's north of Melbourne a different movement was gaining traction in Sydney.
Sydney Serchaz were a three member group consisting of Sky'High, Nter and Skeamo. Although the members had much more successful solo careers the group changed Sydney hiphop forever. Sporting the popped collar polos, short shorts and TNs with the high socks, it was almost offensive how Sydney the Sydney Searchas were trying to be. Sydney Serchaz marked a total embrace of lad culture in terms of slang, dress code and attitude. What the Serchaz may have lacked in quality to their Melbourne neighbours they made up for in Authenticity and unapologetic bars. The group opted to rap on famous dirty southern beats a trend soon to be wide spread all over Sydney. Songs like Fukn Oath, Heard Of Me and Eshay were some of the first tracks I ever heard where it sounded like it could be made by someone down the road at the local housing commision. Many of their famous tracks sounded like they were recorded in bedrooms, but that just added to the whole vibe of what the group was going for. Sydney Serchaz really put lads to the forefront of Sydney hip hop for the first time with acts like Kerser, Gravy Baby and Fortay emerging not soon after. One of the biggest differences between Smash Bros and Sydney Serchaz is how long they lasted, Sydney Serchaz had disbanded by 2013 although as individual artists Sky, Skeaz and Nter went on to do some pretty big things for the city they are nowhere to be seen today while Smash Bros have take much more of a mentoring role to the younger acts in the scene. Sydney Serchaz showed many around the city that the DIY method was now possible with the internet and bluetooth media sharing, while Smash Brothers introduced a whole new genre and style into Melbourne.
Sydney Serchaz opted for a more quantity over quality method similar to many artists in America's deep south and that mind state has carried over to alot of Sydney Artist who seem to care more about views then quality, I think it might have something to do with the rat race mentality more prevalent in Syd. When we look at the scene today at younger acts, many are like a combination of both Sydney Serchaz and Smash Bros which is a great thing. The cool, grimey, fashion focused Melbourne and the Staunch, DIY attitude of Sydney have each played massive parts in Aus rap as a whole in the last ten years, rivalry between the two cities is only a good thing if it encourages competition. I'll be looking into examples of their influence in todays scene in part 2 of this article.
Slim Set are a producer-MC duo from Parramatta with one of the most unique sounds coming out of the country. For sure, they might not be for the average Ausrap fan but Slim Set are experimenting with sounds that haven't really been heard on this island. I first heard about Slim Set a few years ago from a friend of a friend and got a chance to see them open up for AJ Tracy at Oxford Art Factory. I've been watching their progress, their slow slow progress. The group hosts a show on FBI radio but sadly very rarely drops new music which is a shame because I think Slim Set is a group that still needs some polishing if it wants to reach the next level. With DJ Atro's quirky, chaotic, dub heavy beats and Kal's goofy vocals Slim Set is like a 2003 Grime crew if you turned it upside down, stretched it out and sprinkled on some Danny Brown. Because they are a duo-MC group its easier for Slim Set to really carve out its own sound, every song seems different while still maintaining their unique sound.
My favorite track of theirs is a song called "Cooked" which I think was made specifically for 19-25 year olds from Sydney. Riding an O-Bike, rapping about chopping buds and yugioh, the song has a fun Murlo sound and has unique urban-Australiana references. The visuals are fun and it's definitely something new. It's not a perfect track, Kals delivery is so chaotic that sometimes i find him rapping off beat, which i'm sure is on purpose, but is also one of the hardest things in rap to pull off correctly.
The MC of the duo, Kal, captures one of the main themes of early UK Grime-MC'S which has been totally forgotten by most Australian fans, uniqueness. Legends like D Double E, President T or Tempz all have unmistakable personalities in their raps, Kal gets this and is trying to build his own character which is why groups like Slim Set should be appreciated.
A few hours ago the duo released their new track and clip titled "Warrang" (Indigenous Australian name for Sydney). It's classic Slim Set with the beat style, trippy editing and Kals ridiculous all over the place delivery. The lyrics and visuals are very Sydneycentric and there's a mysterious intro to the song before the beat hits:
"The sun shines on Warrang (Sydney)"
"The steel smiles in summer"
"Bulldozers humming, bitchumen drumming"
"The sun cries for Warrang"
I'm assuming Kal is talking about the never ending gentrification of Syd. throughout the song themes of over development, gentrification and Indigenous rights are referenced too:
"City shut down for a bit of violence, can't recognise the horizon"
I'm a big fan of the content in this new track, I think many around my age from Sydney feel this way about the changes in our city, that it's being over developed and losing its soul, we were too young to remember the more gritty pre-olympics Sydney but old enough to witness the introduction of lock out laws and the fact that the city has changed a lot in the last 15 years. This is what makes Slim Set unique, talking about specific shared issues in the city help Sydney and the rest of Aus to develop its own sound; its own story. Of Course we should be looking overseas for new and interesting trends, but if that's all we rely on then we don't have a chance to ever find our own sound like the Brits were able to do last decade. Slim Set understand this and use Australiana themes throughout a lot of their music, as a New-Australian I'm a also a big fan of the chorus performed by a featuring artist called Shady Nasty, who i've never heard of. Shady Nasty has a booming voice, like the final boss in some anime game or something:
"Every nationality under the sun,
copping a piece of the Red One (Australia)"
I've found usually with Slim Set , for me at least, that their chorus's don't usually stick and they made a good call getting this dude on the track it definitely gives the song the catchyness that it needs.
All in all I think this new track is the best thing i've seen Slim Set deliver from the visuals to the actual music. All I can say is they need to be releasing more music, I can easily see them finding an audience as their target audience are probably not too different from Triple One, consistency is the key.
Go follow Slim Set and tell them to make more music
By now most of us have heard Chillinit's new song Freedom. With an awesome video clip and its catchy feel-good chorus, the song is one of Australias biggest new singles. The clip has 400,000 views and is one of two tracks already released from Chillinits upcoming sophomore album 'The Octagon'. On Wednesday morning Perth rapper Shadow shared a clip of American rapper T-Rock's song 'Freedom' which, surprise surprise, had the same beat. Shadow's post had laughing emojis over it which lets us know that he thought the Chillinit bit the track and the allegations are already spreading like wildfire with shares from Rops and Spanian. It's obvious that there are rappers that want to see these claims become fact, but how legit are they?
The main claim is that he stole the beat. T-Rock's video came about in 2017 so these are obviously valid allegations, but there's a difference between an allegation and a fact. Chillinit claims that the beat was leased, meaning that legally speaking, whoever leases the beat is allowed to use it, the beat was produced by JeeJuhBeats. Although it does seem questionable that Chillinit, one Australia's biggest rappers, would need to lease a beat for his album he didn't do anything unethical by doing what he did. Another claim is that Chillinit stole the title and concept of the T-Rock's song but that's a bit of a stretch when you remember that the "freedom" sample is layered throughout the track and is a part of JeeJuhBeats beat. It would be kinda hard to rap over this track and not title the song freedom when that's the main part of the beat. Honestly, it would be surprising if Chillinit even knew that T-Rocks track with 8000 views existed.
From what's developed so far, it looks like these claims hold no weight. At this level of scrutiny than the first accuser, Shadow stole his beat for 'It dont end' from XXXTentacions track 'Look at me' and XXXTentacion stole his beat from The Game and his track 'Holy Water'. This isn't how hip-hop works and this looks like the start of witch hunt from certain rappers who have issues with Chillinit. Centrepoint contacted Chillinit for a comment but he didn't want to comment not wanting to give the allegations any oxygen.
Ahhhhh reaction channels, they are the worst and best videos on youtube. To those that aren't aware a reaction video is when a person records themselves reacting to someone else's videos.To someone hearing this for the first time it sounds like something straight out of South Park but the video style has become an important part of the online hip-hop world. I have very mixed opinions when it comes to reaction videos when I first found out about them the first thing I thought was that they are just another get rich quick scheme on youtube, and I probably wasn't too wrong. The first reaction I ever saw was Mom reacts to Skepta, an American mother and son react to the British artist and to be honest, I found the video interesting because it showed the first impression of an older American woman being introduced to UK street culture. It was obvious why that video had the views it had, it was more than just a person reacting to someone else's videos and had an actual novelty because it was an older mum who would normally never listen to the stuff in her own time it also had the son in the video to talk the mum through what was happening and to explain certain slang, it was its own content. Fast forward a year or so to when I first started seeing people react to Australian content and man was 99% of it complete dog shit trash content. I think most people reading this would be familiar with the stock standard hip-hop video reactor, someone on their own in their bedroom, usually with terrible audio reacting to your favorite videos and only having good things to say about it, sometimes they won't even speak at all. I'm not here to just talk shit on reactors but I don't think anyone can deny that a lot of these reactors were going for quantity over quality, they weren't trying to make their own content but instead cash in on as many views as possible with as little effort as possible. A claim that I hear a lot of reactors say is "oh I'm bringing free attention to these video clips, I'm letting people outside of Australia find these clips." but I call bullshit on this claim, there isn't a person in the world who goes to reaction channels to discover new music. People watch reaction channels to see how someone from outside where they are from would react to their favorite local rapper. Take the biggest reaction channel Zias for example, they started getting real traction after reacting to British rappers and this was because brits wanted to see how American hip-hop fans would react to British rappers. What I'm trying to say is that reaction channels do almost nothing for an artists publicity, there are only really a handful of reaction channels that actually have a following of fans that care about what they have to say.
After the massive success of OneFour earlier this year I started seeing ALOT more reactions online. Bigger channels like Rock Reacts, Dan & Kaz and Leo to the VI started making genuinely entertaining reactions. I think this was because of the undeniability of OneFours videos and it was interesting seeing Drill fans try to wrap their heads around pacific islanders from western Sydney. In terms of OneFour I do think reactors added to the virality of OneFour globally. So we've established that 99% of aus hiphop video reactors are trash and that the only time it's really entertaining is when the original videos themselves are entertaining. This is largely true but I do have a couple reactors I like. As a die-hard Brooklyn drill fan, I like the channel Prisoners Ent, two brothers from Brooklyn, I like hearing their opinions on Australian and UK music and they actually seem curious about Australian culture. When it comes to a good reaction channel I think that is the keyword, curiosity, if there is no curiosity there is no substance. One reactor that took curiosity to new heights is Chazza, to be honest, you can't really talk about reaction channels in Australian rap without bringing up the kid. Chazza's first reaction was may last year and from then on Chazza has created a youtube channel centered around not just reaction but a commentary on the Australian hip-hop scene, this coming from a brit is definitely unique. Chazza's youtube channel has allowed viewers to watch the process of someone getting accustomed to Australian hip-hop and after a year Chazza knows the scene better than many Aussies. It's because of Chazza's curiosity in his first reaction that has led to the channel he has now. Although 13,000 subscribers might not seem like a lot Chazza has the ear of many of Australia's top rappers and his opinion is taken with more weight than any other reactors online. I would argue that Chazza has the most important opinion on Australian hip-hop outside of Australia.
Reactors like Chazza do prove that there is a place for reaction channels but there is definitely a problem with low-quality reaction channels that ruin the name for that small percent of reactors that make interesting content. Chazza's channel has transcended the reaction genre because at this point it's more like an Australian hip-hop commentary page.
Sydney is a city of many cities. It's a big place and a 2-hour drive from one end of the city to the other can see you going from totally different looking, sounding and smelling regions. Many people from the South West have never been to the Northern Beaches and vice-versa. Whether it be hipsters in the Inner West, rich kids on the North Shore or Bogans in the West, every region of Sydney has its own unique stereotypes. Today I want to go through which regions have historically produced the best rappers. This list won't be a list of which region is crushing it today, it will be a look back at artists that are no longer doing their thing as well as current artists. Because there's like over 10 regions of Sydney the list will be a top 5 (also because 99% of Sydney rappers come from these 5 regions). The regions that will feature on the list include:
Inner West
West
South West
South
South East
5. Inner West
Triple One
Home to Suburbs like Newtown, Marrickville, Glebe and Burwood, the Inner West is Easily the biggest underachiever of Sydney and my home town. For all the venues and resources we have, the Inner West hasn't produced a lot in the last decade. Once one of the grimier regions of Sydney, the Inner West is home to cafe's, live music and hipsters. The geography of the city means it is a crossroads for anyone traveling through Sydney and this has meant that you can find almost anyone here, rich, poor, crooks, junkies, lawyers and doctors. The Inner West is diverse in every way, and it's always surprised me that we don't really have any rappers. 90's Inner West was important for Sydney hip-hop as it was home to some of the first graffiti and hip-hop stores in the country. Pioneers like Sleek The Elite and MC Trey (both dope artists you should check out) called the Inner West home and its a shame the Hip-hop tradition isn't big here anymore. Every older Inner Westerner will tell you the place has changed A LOT in the last few decades. Current acts from the Inner West include Horrorshow and personal favorite Triple One. Triple One, in particular, are as Inner West as you can get, they're goofy pissheads that don't take themselves to seriously. Inner West belongs at the bottom of the List simply due to the lack of Artists coming out of the region today. The Inner West is still important as its home to some of the most popular venues that have live hiphop such as the Landsdowne Hotel, Waywards, Gladstone Hotel and the Factory Theatre.
4. South East
Home to suburbs like Maroubra, Randwick, Redfern, Matraville and Mascot, South East Sydney is the poor cousin to its richer Eastern Suburbs relative to the North. South East Sydney always flies under the radar but a venture through the housos of Lexington or Mascot will remind you that just because you're near the beach doesn't mean you're far from poverty. South East Sydney is known for it's beautiful beaches, an Airport and the Bra Boys (who actually gave rapping a go). South East Sydney is also home to probably my two favorite rappers in the city.
Sky'High, a founding member of Sydney Serchaz and easily the best female rapper the country is from Maroubra and for a long time was the only South East Sydney rapper doing her thing. With her ability to spray down bars on a grime beat or tell a story on a hip-hop beat Sky'High is one of Sydney's most versatile and respected. Sadly though she doesn't make music anymore but I recommend anyone that doesn't already know her to check out her music. Another iconic South East rapper is USTA, a beast on the mic and a beast in life. Usta at his prime was like the Gucci Mane of Sydney, staunching haters through the computer screen. His lyrical skills and his aggressive attitudes made Usta hard to ignore, he was a Hustle Hard star during the HHTV days and still releases music independently, Usta is known by almost anyone who knows what's going on in the South East.
3. South
Home to suburbs like Hustrville, Rockdale and Brighton Le Sands, Southern Sydney is one of the less talked about regions of Sydney. Often times the area is just absorbed amongst South East, Inner West and South West Sydney, but in my eyes, it's definitely a region of Sydney. In the last decade, South Sydney has been smashing it, producing big artists such as Chillinit, The Kid Laroi, Nter and Son of Sam (LGeez). There isn't a lot to say about the south other than the fact that artists that come from here usually go on to be pretty big. Home of the god Skeamo, the Rabbitohs and lebo's South Sydney is an important part of the city. Although not alot of the artists that blew up here still live here, it still deserves 3rd place just because of the number of artists that come from here.
2. West
Now we can move onto the real titans of the city. West Sydney is really big, it includes suburbs like Parramatta, Blacktown, and Penrith, and I know westies are going to complain and say you can divide the west further into Greater West and West, but I'm just going to put you guys together because you all seem to rep West Syd. Arguably home to the first rappers on the continent Def Wish Cast, West Syd has been one of the main engines for talent in Australia. With an almost endless list of rappers both past and present, some of my favorite rappers from West Sydney include Fortay, Hed Ubd, 2.L.O.C.O, One Four, Hooligan Hefs and That Kid Kearve. West Sydney really is the Bronx of Sydney, its the home of Sydney rap and to this day they remain dominant in the scene. West Sydney has a mixed reputation, in the East of the city many people have never even been and associate it with the crime, dole bludgers, and hot weather others know the West for it's great food, multiculturalism, and dominance in sports. For me West Sydney IS Sydney, alot in the East would like to think it's a separate entity but the fact is that just in size alone West Sydney makes up about half of the city. With the rise of acts like One Four, Hooligan Hefs and Kearve, it looks like the future of West Sydney rap is very bright, this could never have been achieved without the work of others like Fortay.
1. South West
This shouldn't surprise anyone really. South West Sydney in my opinion completely revived Australian hip-hop when it was almost dead. Home to suburbs like Bankstown, Liverpool, and Campbelltown, South West Sydney has dominated Sydney since the late 2010s. Although currently, the South West scene is quieter than usual, the impact of its popularity in the early 2010s was felt nationwide. When I say quiet I mean quiet for the South West, that region is still producing names such as Rops, Pistol Pete, and Enzo. It was the creation of Hustle Hard Tv by Bankstown native Gunsta that really brought Sydney and Australia into the modern age of Hip-hop. HHTV was the first youtube based platform for Sydney rappers, it was similar to the British SBTV or America's World Star. Through Hustlehard TV Aussie listeners were able to discover legendary acts such as Gravy Baby(South West local), Usta, Nter, Fers (South West local), TKO and of course, Kerser (South West local). It was Hustle Hard TV that birthed Kerser, who then showed the rest of the country how to properly build up a fan base using the Internet. This current wave of Aussie Hiphop can trace its roots all the way back to South West Sydney.
This is gonna be a quick one just wanted to put a spotlight on a dope artist I only just discovered.
Last Friday I went to a free show at the Lord Gladstone Hotel put on by Ill Eqwip (mainly to see Kearve and also make use of free beers). Usually, at these shows the openers are average, have low energy and don't know how to control a crowd, which is expected, you wouldn't see me up there. On came on this dude with speed dealer sunnies on and the second he came on something changed in the crowd, he had energy! finally, there was someone with some energy. The song that really killed was one of his newest tracks called Lightwork. After the show I went up to him to get his @'s, my phone was dead and I was drunk enough to think I could remember his name in my head, obviously, the next morning when I tried to find him I was blanking, all I remembered was that his name was Isaac. The following Sunday night, by some weird coincidence, he popped up on my explore page, Isaac Puerile, that was his name. I typed his name into youtube to see what his clip looked like and man does it slap, visually and sonically.
Usually I'm not a huge fan of Aussies trying to mimic that hard-hitting Florida sound, but literally, for the first time, I was truly impressed. For starters the first thing that stood out to me was his voice, it's one of the most unique voices I've heard in a while, it's raspy but clear and combined with his Aussie accent it makes for a fresh sound. Lyrically speaking the track isn't too deep, but that's not what you come for when it comes to songs like this and there are still some memorable moments.
"Stay away or Elsa Elsa Elsa imma let it go"
The beat slaps and was a great choice, the simple synth melody isn't too in your face and it keeps the attention on the vocals. What I loved most about this artist is the production quality of the visuals, it has that Cole Bennet style of editing which is typical for this sort of music and is definitely the look at the moment. Puerile is based in Blacktown (same as Solochulo who I recently covered a week ago), so I assume most of the clip was shot around there. I think there is something in the water in Blacktown at the moment, they're definitely carving out a sound for themselves and it's only a matter of time before that area gets the recognition it deserves. Lightwork has only a 1000 views on it which is crazy to me so if you didn't already know the dude go give him a follow @isaacpuerile. I give Light Work an 8/10, dope track. I hope to hear more from this guy.
My posts are best read on a computer, the formatting gets messed up on mobile. just a heads up. Before I start this post I just want to preface this by letting the readers know that I don't know any of these rappers in real life, I don't know what they've got going on in their life and I don't know what they're working on behind the scenes music wise. The point of this post is just to list off my favorite rappers that don't release enough music, that's it, enjoy the read.
One of Australia's many stereotypes is that we are a lazy people, we watch the world go by and enjoy the simple pleasures in life like a beug and a beer on a weekday arvo. The funny thing is, most Australians wouldn't deny that this stereotype is at least partly true, we aren't known as the hardest workers. Un-surprisingly our country's best and most talented artists also fit this stereotype. For me it absolutely sucks, all of my favorite artists rarely drop music but when they do it usually bangs. This list is in no particular order.
Rops1
Rops1 was one of the breakout stars of 2018, hailing from the South Western Sydney suburb of Macquarie Fields Rops1 has created a unique sound fusing west Sydney culture with colder UK style flows. Rops1 has been rapping for a long long time, I actually remember stumbling across a video of him as a kid rapping and thought to myself that I would definitely hear him again in a few years. In 2018 One Love productions started dropping live 1 take freestyles and the buzz around Rops started to really build but fans craving for an actual music video was. Finally, after several live spits that seemed to only get bigger than the next Rops finally dropped 'Still Out Here'. With over a quarter million views and comments from some of the biggest in the scene Rops1 probably had one of the most successful debut clips in Australian history and it's obvious why. Rops was able to build up a lot of hype with his live spits and his debut clip did not disappoint. The clip was filmed at Macquarie Fields station and it's unapologetically West Syd while still honoring the Uk Grime sound, it was easily one of my favorite tracks of 2018. Since then (which was 7 months ago) the fans have only gotten one more song from Rops titled 'Trust me'. This follow up track was bigger and better than the last, with a comment from the one and only Kerser, another South West Sydney native. Switching to a drill song in his follow up track Rops was able to demonstrate his versatility with this cold banger, sadly though, he hasn't released another clip since. He did actually release a track with Nter earlier this year but the fans (and me) want to hear alot more from this guy. Rops1 easily has the potential to challenge some of the biggest names in the scene and it was great to see Kerser put him on as an opener for his show in Sydney.
Alex Jones
This MC needs zero introduction, in my opinion, he is leagues ahead of the rest of the scene lyrically, he was schooled by pioneers of the Australian grime scene and is a member of the LGEEZ duo. He was the first Australian to appear on a UK grime youtube channel and he could easily go against any of the UK's finest in a clash, I'm talking about Alex Jones. As one of Melbourne's most established rappers, Alex Jones has no shortage of tracks but his work rate has been notoriously on and off. The last thing we heard from Alex Jones was a collab with Mitchos da Menace which was 4 months ago, worse yet, the last time we saw a solo Alex Jones clip was 3. fucking. years. ago and considering the skill this man has it's a crime that he doesn't put more up. On a good note, he has stated that there is an album on the way which I couldn't be keener for. Hopefully, he can tell his Lgeez counterpart Son of Sam to started dropping some shit too.
Diem
When it comes to Diem all I can say is 5 words, If you know you know. Diem is one of my favorite grime acts in the country, the man has bars, originality, and an unmistakable flow. On record as being Alex Jones' favorite MC in the country, and being a member of the first grime crew in the country, it really is hilarious how influential this guy is considering how little music he has out. Diem is your favorite rappers favorite rapper, he has this super unique steez that is unmistakable, which I think is essential to being a successful grime act, aside from the skills Diem has a style which can't be matched on a track. This Kiss Fm radio cypher from 2013 perfectly demonstrates Diem's ability. Catch the drop at 5:56.
Diem is notorious for not have much content online, he is more of a mic man than a musician which is kinda what I love about him, what annoys me is that so many younger fans aren't clocking on to him because of this fact. As far as I know, Diem has only like 4 music videos, 3 of which are collabs. Diem likes to fly under the radar which definitely adds to his style but is also annoying because not enough people know about him. If you don't know about Diem go give him a follow (this guy is so mysterious he only set up his instagram a few months ago). You can find his Instagram @akadiem.
Wombat
One of the main reasons why I even wrote this post and there's not much I need to say..
Wombat, get yourself out of Tassie and start dropping shit regularly.
side note: Im looking for some writers so if you like writing dm me on insta @centrepoint.blog
