Or.. Hreefers exclusive and semi-condescending advice on how to fix the Australian rap scene.
“the call is coming from inside the house…
let it go to voicemail.”
FOREWORD
I’m writing this article, not because I have any venom or hatred for the spitters here in the great Down Under. On the contrary, I’m writing this article because I’ve had enough of seeing so many talented writers and vocalists not breaking past this arbitrary ceiling that we’ve set for ourselves. It might not seem like a fun thing to hear, but I genuinely believe that abandoning these false sets of obligations (see below) will help us. Someone has to call it out, and I hereby offer myself as the sacrificial lamb. So here it is.
Schrödinger’s Rapper Problem;
A famous scientific and epistemological hypothesis posed by world renowned physicist, the late Erwin “Big Dawg” Schrodinger, postulates that;
“Australian rap can’t make it to the mainstream because the mainstream won’t accept Australian rap, because it’s not “successful”, however Australian rap can’t “succeed” if it doesn’t make it to the mainstream, which in turn means that Australian rap…”
This theory has been the subject of much a heated debate in prime academic circles, top institutions such as 4chan and Whirlpool.net, just to name a couple, pupils of which had taken it upon themselves to investigate this absolute unit of a theory. However, to this day, the validity of the claim remains untested. Until now. Until this very moment. Right here man.
As a shameless enjoyer of Australian hip-hop (trust me, there are some solid ones– keep an eye out on this blog, we got the goods), I’ve been toiling endlessly, scouting this country to find the absolute best we’ve got (in the underground of course), and I’m honoured to say that I’ve certainly struck gold.
Standards for creativity.
Please– music creation is just too accessible. This isn’t native to my great nation— it seems every Jayden, Brayden and Ayden with a focusrite and access to cracked FL software now reckons themselves a ‘producer’, and, look, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the overlap between people who are just messing around vs the people who are devoted hobbyists vs people who actually seek to make this their life becomes muddied and obfuscated. At some point we have to sit down and reflect; how many of us are actually taking this rap shit™ seriously?
This is an important fact to take note of, because upon denial of it, we can’t complain when bigger institutions and/or organisations proceed to not take local/indie artists seriously.
It’s already enough of a grind, being the ‘rogue, starvin’ artist’ character; your contemporaries see you as competition, your parents thinly veil their disappointment at that suspiciously guitar shaped parcel from that online retailer (f u, pay me, B***ezos), the various soul-sucking social media algorithms see you as not even the cog in the machine, just the grease, if even, and the boomers just see you as Panhandler Rango with a bright future in street corner busking… for the next twenty years of your career.
And even if you’ve convinced yourself that you’re ‘just doing this for fun’, you haven't convinced me. I mean, really, you’ve poured countless hours into consuming tutorials, worked the most godforsaken gruelling shifts for a salary that the phrase 'minimum wage’ can’t even do justice to, in order to acquire a spaceship-tier setup, and once upon a time, or perhaps still at present, you dared to identify yourself with this dream that seemed to have chosen you as it’s conduit. Really? “Just” a hobby?
Nice cope, mate.
The best way to actually set yourself apart from everyone else is to adhere to a certain standard of creativity. Learn all the music theory; learn what sounds and lyric schemes work and what sounds and lyric schemes don’t. Develop business acumen and understand how to market yourself and sell yourself as a creative. Book your own shows by calling up venues dawg, collaborate with other people in your scene to create the scene. What sets devoted hobbyists apart from career musicians is initiative. Unfortunately, DIY is going to be the way of the independent– it has to be. If you’re still green and haven’t sold your soul to a record label/management firm of sorts, then this is going to be part of the expected song and dance that you’ll have to participate in; suck dick as it may.
Let’s be honest, we have a somewhat toxic habit of copying American trends. There’s a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism, I’d argue that line is really just self-awareness. I remember chatting to a mate about this– about how we’re sorely lacking inventive spirits in the mainstream. And I’m saying that we need to take accountability for this and we need to push our artists to the mainstream.
Authors Note; Resuscitating our standards For Creativity - Are people willing to compromise and forgo certain creative standards just to make shit for the sake of (and can they exert blame when things fail for them)?
This is actually a twofold question, because it goes the other way, are people willing to let go of the status quo in order to produce new and fresh sounds, instead of chasing the algorithm?
Also, check out this ever expanding list of artists that are working to break the cycle.What will your choice be today, sir? Drill, Trap, Grime?
Australia is a very beautiful and strange country with niche cultural aspects. While this is great for us, it doesn’t translate well to a world stage— it’s simply not accessible. “Hood Oos”, is a piece of slang easily understood and adopted by those that live in Western Sydney, but it’s not gonna make sense to someone in Southside Chicago, or Paris or, shit, even a Canberran. Because it’s incredibly local and niche, and how can you even translate that?
As a result we’ve fallen back onto the failsafe net that is the constant genre rotation of drill, grime and trap - emulating bigger more popular styles and just stroking to that tried and true formula, which eventually gets stale, but refusing to step outside of the confines of these sounds.
Classifying AusRap as its own sub genre means you’re creating a specific sound, laying a template in which others will undoubtedly follow, creating that cookie cutter sound and thereby destroying each individual creative essence. Almost puts a false obligation, if you make AusRap, you HAVE to rap about x and y Australian. Not everyone sounds like Kerser or Hooligan Hefs or OneFour, or any other rapper that is unanimously associated with the “ausrap” movement. And not everyone has to, and not everyone does. Let go of antiquated trends. These guys blowing up leads to everyone trying to copy them, and this is precisely how the crabs in a bucket mentality manifests in the “We’ve always done it this way” philosophy. We refuse to reward those who deviate from the norm, despite us repeatedly professing our undying love for “dissidents”and those who “step out of the mould' '. Although, ironically, and hypocritically, we refuse to let go of the familiar and it alienates us even further.
Classification systems that Lead to false obligations - Boxing ourselves in and never taking ourselves out. Crab in a bucket mentality that seems to stick and intimidate new artists.
A chronic problem is how we keep “othering” ourselves. It’s a weird type of self-segregation. We need to accept ourselves as the default. Australian rap isn’t a subgenre. It’s part of an identity that real, living human beings identify with.
I mean, think about it. If a rapper, from, say, Canada, was up and coming, trying to make their way in the world, they’re not gonna be running around saying “Oh I do Canuck Rap.” Right? It makes no sense. So why are we insistent on doing it? Even rappers/artists from non-English speaking countries don’t necessarily feel the need to put their nationality as a prefix to their profession. Sure, they’re proud of where they come from and their roots, but their music is more than just another racial/ethnic heritage.
I understand that we all have a need to belong to a certain tribe and we all want to represent something, and have that something represent us, but in the context of a ‘global stage’, where now everyone is fighting gladiator style’
The world wide web has eradicated geography. [Socio-linguistic] borders are now just an archaic, artificial obstacle. And what that means for us is that there is no longer an excuse; we can no longer afford to self-segregate. Because we no longer have to. Abandon the need to preface your voice laced thoughts with your identification barcode. No one cares what your postcode is or whether you’re from Blacktown or Logan or Charnwood, just give us the music. You are not a subtitle or a footnote; you are the default.
I’ve had enough of my proselytising– I’m sure you have too. Fatigue notwithstanding, the truth still remains; you kids have so much potential and the world is yours and ours. What you seek is seeking you. Remember that we all want to hear authenticity and intimacy sung and spoken to us in our own accents, Unbridled creativity. Completely loose and unrestrained. We need to fall in love with our chaotic and deeply creative natures all over again.
Don’t be afraid to give us the bold and profane and unconventional. Release all the shit on your drafts, all those .WAVes collecting dust on your Seagate harddrives. We need them. And who knows? Maybe you’re exactly what we’ve been looking for all long. After it’s all said and done, you’ll be tired, maybe a little jaded, probably a little bit happy, content, even. You’ll probably be on your fourth beer or kombucha for the night, wistfully sighing at the long forgotten concept of a “day-off” but you’ll be all the more happier for it, and my goodness, you’ll be free.
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