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

Guest Column - Mind Spray #4 with Xpose

You know what is a sign of the apocalypse? It sure as hell ain’t a big wave to surf in Japan or 6 million crickets infesting Adelaide, shit it isn’t even the short fat chick from Jersey Shore having a NY Times best seller - It is rap battles without beats.

When I was growing up people tried to avoid poetry, I’ve never once checked a tome of history’s greatest poets out, nor have I ever asked my mates to dub me a copy of the latest poetry release, yet in 2011 hip hop battles have become a motherfucking poetry jam. Gone are the beats and the ability required to freestyle, now groups gather together for three months preparation, coming up with new and interesting ways to refer to their opponent’s penis. Saul Williams has probably never entered a fucking emcee battle, but the chumps littering this scene act like he is their idol. To make matters worse you can’t skip across three internet pages without having a shit battle thrust into your face and declared as brilliant.

Straight up, most of these “artists” have zero talent, stumbling across words you have written months in advance in an attempt to call the other emcee gay/fat/skinny is an embarrassment, not just to yourself but to fucking hip hop culture. The shitness of this scene in Australia never ceases to astound me, fake headbutts, forgotten lyrics, reading lyrics off of phones and paper (although that 360 letter was gold) holding it down in general, hosts imitating overseas hosts AND impersonating rappers, rooms with nine attendees, shit needs to fuck off from where it came.

Whilst some great emcees have been in this concept (think Purpose & Prime in WRC several years ago) nobody currently “making a name” battling will ever release anything good. Ever. Seriously, fucking EVER. The only saving grace currently is that most of them cant upload the footage they have taken within a four month window, it is but one respite for our ears. In 2011 it’s time some fucking cards got pulled and that hip hop was brought back to what it is all about, beats, rhymes and life.
 
by Xpose

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21 March 1 Permalink

Guest Column - Mind Spray # 3 by Xpose

So this column was going to be my usual torrent of abuse and pointing out of how good things used to be.  With the recent turn of events and Karma we at Peak Street have garnered, this edition of Mind Spray however, has taken a more positive turn. It’s no secret that there are too many artists in this country not only releasing rubbish, but receiving acclaim for it making a circle jerk scene only rivaled at most private school end of season football trips. In fact local shows with quality lineups from start to end are about as frequent as Got Beef releasing youtube videos, most shows quality bordering on the laughable level of talent those videos generally promote. One local show has reminded me exactly why I love hip hop, why the music being made in this country is in fact world class and why 2011 is a year to look forward to. Adelaide’s version of hip hop flood relief to aid the QLD flood victims was a showcase of whose got talent and why nobody cares to attend pointless shows put on by half assed promoters. These are names you have heard of artists who span a series of years who rock the stage to the point of restoring a jaded journalists faith in Australian music. Mase & Mattic, Pagen Elypsis, K21, Trumps, Motion, artists with new music released or not far away who are the future of hip hop in Australia coupled with Stalwarts in Simplex, Social Change, Vents, The Funkoars all of whom have new music on the way. These are acts you check for, or miss out on to your own detriment. Headlining the whole show were the Hilltop Hoods an act who are like rockstars these days, they hit the stage and the crowd loses their shit and sings line for line, there was even the hint of some new shit from Suffa, the best lyrics I have heard from him in years. Now in a perfect world half assed emcees would see what’s out there and shut the fuck up, for good, or perhaps better yet older heads could start pulling fucking cards, the scene is now strong enough that a shit emcee can be told it so the move on to self harm or grunge or entering a battle without beats. Quality hip hop – welcome home.

Xpose

Photos courtesy of  Jonathan Van Der Knaap 

8 February 1 Permalink

Guest Column - Mind Spray #2 Presented by Xpose

If you only listen to Australian hip hop please smack the shit out of yourself, shake it off and repeat. In fact if you only listen to hip hop from any one country produced in the last 10 years then treat your face like Whitney whilst calling your hand Bobby.             

We live in an incredible age, digital advances have made it easier than killing a Kennedy to research and purchase brilliant music, yet, people still create a pants mess over Steve-o from their neighbourhood releasing a mixtape. This shit just ain’t on. Whilst reminiscing on the brilliant track ‘Check Tha Flava’ produced by Lord Finesse and torn to shreds by long lost emcee Ak Skills it occurred to me the amount of people within Australia who consider themselves “hip hop heads” who would have never heard of this man. The list doesn’t stop there. Heard of Group Home, Skills, Show & AG, Pudgee, Rawkotics, Mic Geronimo? You can even flip it to modern artists like Apathy, Slaine, Celph Titled, Torae or Roc Marciano.

In the age of auto tune and media mass marketing of mediocrity that would make Australian Idol judges cringe we are surrounded by brilliant music. Real hip hop that represents the culture, not bullshit that fills clubs with flat brimmed caps with stickers attached. This is by no means an anti-Australian hip hop rant. In fact many of my favourite releases and artists are Australian. This is a build up of frustration of where the Australian scene is heading, which is up its own arse at an alarming rate. It’s time so called “rappers” got a reality check, got their cards pulled and did some research as though the form for collecting the dole has been altered without warning.

I honestly think part of the reason so many shit acts are releasing “albums” (and if you think this is about you it probably is) is due to a lack of education. The explosion of hip hop in this country has left everyone a rapper, everyone a label owner and everyone a promoter. Nobody looks for quality overseas music, music that when played next to theirs makes them appear as listenable as dinner conversation with Tony Abbot.

Take a look at the Percee P shows held in the last week or so. People with any knowledge at all were front row centre, yet all those with online rap careers were nowhere to be seen. Maybe we need an academy where you must study the classics before poisoning our ears or claiming anything with your delusions of grandeur. I’d love to see Briggs administering beat downs at an alarming rate to those who cannot name the original members of the DITC. All I ask is for the love of all four elements, stop releasing shit music, claiming you are dope and being so fucking ignorant.

Xpose

29 November Permalink

Guest Column - Mind Spray #1

We managed to pull the busy hip hop journalist and overall good egg Xpose away from his busy schedule of dropping street press knowledge bombs in order to pen a new guest column for us. When the man talks you best to listen…

Remember when Hip Hop used to be about dope beats and rhymes? If you don’t chances are you started listening in the last three years and are listening to what the mainstream is telling you, instead of digging deep for the gems. To put it bluntly - I’m disgusted by the music being fed to the masses as quality hip hop. Anyone who enjoys Waka Flocka Flame, even when you are pissed up in the club looking for lady love nectar, needs to smack the shit out of themself and revaluate your life’s path.

On a recent trip to the US I caught the BET Hip Hop awards and I was actually quite excited to see new acts that may have slipped under the radar, or perhaps some stars being recognized. Instead I got force fed generic shit. Waka (incidentally a wholly appropriate name) Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane - not one of these acts could string together a rhyme let alone remain on beat. Shit if it was Hip Hop Karaoke these clowns should still be getting booed off stage. The only act with any talent was J.Cole and he got less love than Nick Cannon at a Mathers family reunion.

Even in the award nominees there was no talent. In a 12 month period that saw releases from mainstream favourites in Jay-Z and Eminem as well as scorching releases from the likes of Skyzoo and Roc Marciano the brains trust acted like the Big Day Out organizers and stuck with the same old shit.

I’m sure the BET executives will proclaim it’s what the kids want, but fuck that! They want it because you force feed it down their throats through your own programming. This shit spreads to magazines like XXL, The Source and mainstream radio til it’s all over the place like coked up Lohan Pussy. If you don’t use the resources at your disposal to find the good shit that still exists - fuck you, you got what you deserve.

by Xpose

2 November 2 Permalink