DOWN UNDER HIP-HOP

by Bevan Jee

     Firstly I'll set this off by letting everyone know a little
bit about myself. I'm a hip-hop fan and for the past two years
I've been representing the Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine out of San
Francisco, in Australia. Over the years I have grown to really
appreciate and respect all the aspects of the Hip-Hop culture
especially the b-boys/girls and dj's. To put it plainly Hip-Hop
takes up the biggest chunk of my life and if I didn't like it I
wouldn't be doing any of this and you wouldn't be reading this
now... Comprehend?! I am also lucky enough to have some of the
dopest underground hip-hop make it's way to my post box!
everything from the Northen Lights Crew/Brigade from Sweden to
Mystik Journeymen outta Oakland to Company Flow from New York
to...

     Like most other counties Australia has a flourishing market
for US artists as well as a thriving local scene of b-boys/girls,
mc's, dj's, writers and of course wanna-be half steppers with
fake American accents! Instead of listing every crew and
detailing a history of them all, I am just going to break the
surface and drop science on the crews who have left their
impression on the hip-hop scene down under. For a detailed
history of hip-hop in Australia check out Blaze's article in The
Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine issue #42. For a geographical run down of
Australia check out an Atlas!

     Out of all the groups in Australia I am confident enough to
say that the most established and well-known is Def Wish Cast a
trio of rappers (Ser Reck, Die-C, Defwish) and a DJ (Vame) who
emerged from the West Side of Sydney. The crew hit us with their
high powered flavour of hip-hop in the form of a 12" vinyl single
titled 'Mad As a Hatter - Crushers of the Wild Style - Part One'
and they followed that release up with the CD/Cassette album
'Knights of the Underground Table'. The rapping and beats had the
same hardcore English sound reimniscent of the group's Hijack and
Gunshot from England. A few of the songs even contained samples
from movies such as Beat Street and Star Wars, which was
something original at the time. Def Wish Cast had good
distribution/coverage in Australia and in Europe and were
seriously one of the greatest accomplishments for Australian
hip-hop. It is a pity to report that the group decided to go
their separate ways in the early part of 1996. The last track the
guys completed together was 'Hear my Raw' which can be found on
the `Bomb Worldwide' compilation.. The latest news from the crew
is that Ser Wreck has gone solo, look out for some material ready
to wreck shop later this year..

     Another exciting and promising rap group to emerge from
Sydney were Easybase. This crew of mc's were seriously ready to
wake peeps up worldwide with some of the best production and
lyrics that Australia has ever seen to this day. Easybase
consisted of four mc's - Sleeping Monk, Illpickle, Simple and JU 
and they released two cassettes in their lifetime as a group. 
The first was titled 'Straight Up' which managed to capture a
slice of what heads were to expect from the posse in the future. 
Before breaking up in late 1995, they managed to release the
cassette 'Space Program 1996' which was produced on the 4-track 
and packed eleven songs. I was damn impressed. If you can find 
this tape somewhere I seriously recommend it, believe me it is 
some crazy next level shit.

     The last group I am going to mention are Warcry a trio of
rappers (Sabotage, Syke and Wishbone) and a DJ (J-Ray) from The
Gold Cost. They are the first hip-hop group around my area to
have released a full CD 'The Art of War'. This folks, is some
hella hard hitting hip-hop. The guys live performances are so
energetic and hype that they have been known to make the needles
jump off the decks!. All the power of their shows are fully
digested into the 8 tracks on the CD. Straight up Australian
hip-hop. For more information write to Warcry, c/- Unit 6/38
Chelsea Ave., Broadbeach QLD 4218, Australia.

     Enough of this rapper stuff what about all the other aspects
of hip-hop? I hear you screaming! Well, there are graffiti
artists bombing the system everywhere in Australia. Check out any
graffiti magazine and you could pretty much rest assured there
will be some Australian flix in there. We even have an
organisation in Brisbane called 'Smart Arts' which is dedicated
to organising the graffiti art movement into something more
positive. I myself don't follow the aerosol art scene very
closely but I can definatly say that we have some dope style.
Breaking and B-Boys are harder to source but crews like Rapid
Fire Breakers, The Original B-Boy Allstars, Wicked Force and
Robotech are still busting out flares, 2000's and crazy combo's.
You can also be assured that we also have every type of DJ here
from the trick DJ, to the club DJ, to the crossover
Techno/Hip-Hop DJ!! they are all here but there are just too many
of them to name!

     Local and International Hip-Hop Jams are held on the
regular. As a matter of fact I just came back from doing the
Q-Bert Australian tour, yes that is right I was lucky enough to
organise and travel to all four show's around Australia with the
man, which gives me a good reason to end this article right here.
I am worn the hell out! and the deadline for this article is
about now, check the next issue for some more exciting stuff. In
the mean time - Peace and send hip-hop vinyl, cassettes and
anything else for mention/review to: Bomb Australia, Attn.- Bevan
Jee, Suite 123, 131 Old Cleveland Road, Capalaba QLD 4157, Australia.