The 93 Mixtape (mixed by Dazed) - A Peak Street x DFTC Project

In Peak Street’ Magazine’s humble, yet godddam correct, opinion - 1993 was a vintage year for hip hop. 36 Chambers, Doggystyle, Midnight Marauders, 93 Til Infinity, Bacdafuccup, Slaughtahouse, Black Sunday, Lethal Injection, Return of the Boom Bap, Enta Da Stage and Buhloone Mind State are just a hint of the classic albums which hit speakers in the nine-trey. Timeless music.

To pay homage to this most awesome of hip hop years, Peak Street put a call out to all Australian MC’s to drop some bars over some classic beats from the year 1993 for a mixtape. All heads had to do was track down an instrumental to one of their favourite joints that was dropped in that year and then lay down some bars worthy of it.

Some of the finest lyricists, both established and underground, answered the call with a huge number of tracks being submitted. After much careful deliberation from a panel of esteemed judges consisting of Chad Mann (Peak Street Designer), Ronan Hamill (Hippopotamus Rex Radio Presenter), Jim Steps (blogger from allaussiehiphop.com) and Shane Scott (Hip Hop journalist), the Peak Street Editor disregarded all their advice, gave the dopest tracks to Dazed to go and mix and then fled to Cambodia to meet Pegz and start a south-east Asian drug syndicate.

This new career move didn’t quite pan out though so months later he has returned and teamed up with Down For the Count Records to drop the best mixtape of this year. 

DOWNLOAD LINK

http://dftc.bandcamp.com/album/93-mixtape

TRACKLIST

1 April 4 Permalink

Peak Street 93 Mixtape Live Today!

That is right motherfuckers! After we spent the last few months unsuccessfully trying to get former Death Row Records artist Tray Deee out of prison and resurrect his rap career, we gave up and are now ready to drop The 93 Mixtape.

Thanks to some hard work and hustle from Dazed and Down For The Count Records, and us at Peak Street now attending our AA meetings on a regular basis, the mixtape is done and we’re gonna play the whole thing on Goonbag Radio today at 6pm regular Australian time. Tune in to hear me talk a gang of shit and to listen to some of the best rappers in Australia smash some of the best instrumentals from the year 1993. Can’t get much better than clasic beats and Australian hip hop together right?

Tracklist and download link will go live here after the show. Spread the word.

1 April 1 Permalink

Mind Spray #5 with Xpose - ‘Aussie Hip Hop Tour Promoters Pull Ya Head In’

We’ve all been lured in at some time by a lineup for a show that has our jaw drop and a rush for tickets occur, only to be left hanging like that chick from Ugly Betty at speed dating when the so called “tour” falls through. Now we at Peak Street get it - promoting is not an easy gig. But increasingly fuck sticks are soiling our name internationally with poorly run gigs or tours that never happen.

For instance if you think you have Slaughterhouse booked you might want to send them a deposit and a contract before you create a flyer and drop it all over the internet. Fact is the world is a small place easily connected online and it didn’t take long for Slaughterhouse management to squash the tour. Now do you think any of these four acts is going to take any offer from Australia seriously in the future? Fuck they will probably double their price and demand it all up front.

Sure it’s always been a problem when promoters with little clue chase a buck, I vividly recall a J-Zone show in Adelaide with maybe 14 people in a venue that holds 600 (it was so depressing, DJ Sheep was sharing the rider with the crowd), but in recent times it’s getting out of control.

When seasoned promoters have dropped well over 100k in the past 12 months on hip hop shows it’s not a good time to enter the scene. And it’s definitely not a good time to enter and step on toes. If you are basing an entire tour on how many likes a page gets on Facebook - you’re a fuckwit! Step away from the PC, head to the nearest bridge and jump. It’ll save everyone some pain. There is nothing worse than some arrogant tool boldly declaring a show in the middle of a packed month, without consulting other promoters thus making all shows poorly attended as people pick and choose what they want. There are some new promoters working with the originals, doing shit the right way, but fuck me they are few and far between. I mean when you take a leg of Chino XL’s tour, don’t have a soundcheck, don’t have a soundman, get threatened by the act and then have no beats during his set, a set cut short at roughly 25 minutes, the last thing you should do is proclaim how much money you made to an online community.

The touring of international acts in this country is at a precarious point, I could name 15 quality acts that have been cancelled or put on hold for this year due to lack of support. The last thing we as a scene need is amateur hour and a live setup of two bongos and a megaphone. If you’re reading this and think it is about you, it probably is. Step back, re-evaluate and learn from those who have been doing it for ten years. Or risk fucking the scene for decades to come.

by Shane Scott. Follow the man on Twitter.

30 May 4 Permalink

Flood Money Auction Wrap Up!

So shortly after the devastating floods hit QLD the idea was thrown around that the hip hop community should hold some sort of auction fundraiser like the successful Heat 4 Huntz one that Bias put together. Well next thing you know, we get dobbed in by Suffa and are were running the damn thing, pulling together an impressive collection of dope Australian hip hop donations to throw up for auction.

Well apart from a couple of loose ends the Flood Money Auction is just about done and dusted and with thanks to those who donated items and to those who put up cash to buy them the community has managed to raise;

$7,338.93

It’s a pretty awesome achievement and something the whole scene should be proud of. Peak Street would like to thank every artist and collector who dipped into their personal collection and donated some amazing items to the cause and to everybody who bid on the items too, whether you won or lost.

Below I’ll start dropping links to all the related documentation regarding the auction as I scan and save them. Check the Flood Money Books for a detailed breakdown of everything. I’m no accountant so I’m hoping I balanced the books right. There is $415.00 I’m still chasing, but I’m sure we will get those funds through soon too.

Cheers, you’re all dope!

Peak Street Familia

Donation Transaction Receipt

Flood Money Auction Books

Postage Receipts

eBay Fees

Paypal Fees

26 May 1 Permalink

Fuck ‘Supporting Australian Hip Hop’

I now hate this logo and everything it has come to represent. 

No that isn’t a straight up diss to every single MC, producer and DJ out there in Australia, nor is it a general proclamation that nobody should be supporting our local scene or even a goddam criticism of the graphic design. What it is a go at, is the abuse that the catchphrase and logo has suffered in the hands of fuckwits.

When the ‘Support Australian Hip Hop’ logo first appeared out of the Obese Records camp over a decade ago it was within the context of a local hip hop scene that was beginning to find it’s feet. There was no Hoods on NOVA. No Bliss & Eso rocking a mainstage. No Drapht scoring #1 records. Back then this logo was a mark of solidarity amongst a small community of artists. In a time when the music was still seen as a novelty by many outsiders it was defiant collective statement of identity. That this shit was real and warranted respect. It let people know that this scene existed and deserved recognition.

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8 May 9 Permalink

The Half Time Spray with Ozi Batla #0

Somehow this piece that Ozi Batla wrote and that Gimiks illustrated for us in our inaugral Issue Zero got brought up by AllAussieHipHop.com on twitter recently. Next thing you know Ozi is keen to write a regular column and our man Gimiks is keen to illustrate them. Dope! I thought we could kick it off by reminding you all where it started. These words still ring true today.

“It’s hard in this rap game, to respect

The weak minds that make up half the fanbase,

Speak some worthy truth people didn’t feel the rhymes

We used to speak our hearts, now it’s all punchlines.”

- Taskforce

Now I gotta say this is writ on half a bottle of someone else’s booze, so doesn’t that say something? Yep, turn your head for a second and these rappers will steal your rider. Which rapper wouldn’t? I know I (just) did. Cos when it comes down to it, sometimes a rider is all you got. And if that rider is 2 kilolitres of Alize and a suitcase full of Kangols, better make sure you take a bottle on stage, dog! Blue coloured liquieurs are the shit, yall.

But really, it’s easy to take potshots at the cats trying to make money on the “urban” tip - whether they are rapping in a US/kiwi/generic accent, shooting shit on film at your local carwash or signing with a major. Easy, because when you present yourself as something you are not, that is not being real. And, as we all know, that’s wack!

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6 May 3 Permalink

Peak Street 1993 Mixtape - Update #2

Alright so this Peak Street 1993 Mixtape has taken off. Plenty of hip hop heads putting their hand up for it, with a good mix of legends, established MC’s, young guns and rookies so far. So lets run through an update;

 Anyone can submit. Well Aussie hip hop artists can submit anyway. But if you butcher a classic 93 beat I will ridicule you publically. Capeche?

Our judging panel for the mixtape currently consists of these venerable folks;

• Shane Scott - Rap writer and generally opinionated ADL asshole.
• Chad Mann - The other half of Peak Street and design samurai.
• Steve Bigspin - Online gambling addict and professional shit stirrer.
• Trem - LC General who raps better than you and knows 1993 proper. 
• Me - Lovable and cuddly editor of reputable academic hip hop journal.

Tracks need to be submitted as mp3’s in best audio quality possible. It looks like we have the skilled DJ talents of Doc Felix putting the mix together, so if he throws me some more detailed specs I will let you know.

Email them shits with your details you heard? Address is;  peakstreetmagazine(at)gmail(dot)com

All beats need to have been released in 1993! Got it! Not December 92, not January 94 - 1993 motherfucker! Now we don’t want to double up on tracks, so hit the link below to check the list of songs that have already been snapped up. If you want to throw down, send me an email and let me know what beat you’re going to spit over. I’ll add to this list as requests come in.

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4 May 2 Permalink