Urban Visionaries on the Uprise

by: Lady Muse

Will 1998 be the year for uprising and merging within Sydney's Hip 
Hop community?

Seeing as the year is not quite over it wouldn't be fair us such to 
state, but from the few rumbles noted midyear on the scene, it does 
seem more ideas are mating with action to birth realities for 
everyone to become involved with.  Quite a few events reared their 
heads in the early months....

'MOTIVATED MINDS' held at the Waterloo Oval was a day devoted to the 
practioning of the elements (big up to the writer's for transforming 
the Oval's grandstand into a totem of pure visual energy).  There 
were DJ sessions at Newtown's Globe venue such as 'BATTLESTAAR 
TECHNICA', Electro night 'B-BOY NOIZE' at the Palladium and of 
course, the MC's representin' at the 'Iron Duke' for 'SUBURBAN 
LINES', which by the way was reviewed by local rock press 'Drum 
Media' as the 'Hip Hop Massive Rave' (?)

And then there was 'Urban Expressions' - a full 10-day festival 
devoted to the celebration of Australian Hip Hop culture.  Though 
conceptualised by Trent Roden of Slingshot Artist Management, the 
idea itself was brought to fruition by a solid unit of heads intent 
on seeing it manifest, among those being local emcees Baba from 
Metabass 'n' Breath and Trey, to name a few.  When asked on the 
intention behind the festival, Trent explained to Crouton that is 
was "to bring a focus of Hip Hop to Sydney over a 10-day period  -  
to have places where people could come hang out, communicate and 
experience Hip Hop together  -  not necessarily people that get 
along, but just have people that have a common love and interest in 
Hip Hop as a culture".  Australia, no doubt is a country shrouded in 
mystery to the eyes of the world  especially to the to the 
International Hip Hop community curious about us, and though the 
festival's focus is on Australia's culture, 'Urban Expressions' is 
also aware of the potential the festival could hold for some global 
interaction with fellow family overseas.  As Trent also stated, 
"when people overseas want to go to New York they say okay, let's go 
in July 'cause there's heaps of shit happening in the middle of 
Summer, Rocksteady and all that, so that was another idea.  Not to 
be like Rocksteady but just maybe having a focus for heads overseas 
wanting to some to Australia, and even for people interstate.  
There's people (all over Australia) into Hip Hop, who often think of 
coming to Sydney, so now they can say, 'Well, let's go to Sydney in 
March for the festival'.

Running from March 20-29, the ten days held something for everyone 
to enjoy.  Workshops, ciphers, breaking ciphers in Hyde Park and 
many a jam (the closing ceremony featured international guests, the 
Mystik Journeymen) but also events were held which many heads did 
not previously feel could have a relationship with Hip Hop.  One of 
those nights happened to be REFLEX POETICS.  Held at the Goodbar, it 
was a night showcasing PERFORMANCE POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD in a Hip 
Hop environment amongst other things, and was definitely 
revolutionary for Sydney, in my eyes.   Not to forget the DISCUSSION 
PANELS held at UTS, where topics such as RACE AND GENDER WITHIN HIP 
HOP and AUSTRALIA'S PLACE WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL HIP HOP circuit 
were discussed and debated amongst us, the practitioners, instead of 
us being discussed by the suits.

Radio shows both community and national, Art exhibitions, a fashion 
show - there was so much to do and see but the highlight for many 
(myself included) was definitely the club night 'STORY OF HIP HOP' 
held at the Globe on Elizabeth Street.  DJ Sheep started off '94 til 
present which personally got me in a lip-syncing frenzy (LM: 'Acey! 
'Fortitude!'' Sheep: 'shut up! Go away!')...Analysis sound mighty 
phat in a club by the way...by the time Nic Toth came on to spin HIP 
HOP'S GOLDEN YEARS ('88-'93) the crowd was hyped and ready.  And we 
got all the favourites; Milk, Rakim, Stetsasonic, Native Tongues and 
of course, Souls Of Mischief.  When Pharcyde's 'Ya Mama' was dropped 
the whole club was screaming lyrics word for word. Aw shit! 
'Represent! Represent!' Crazy kids...Mark Walton took over Nic's set 
to spin OLD SCHOOL and ELECTRO which got the B-Boys from Rapid Fire 
and Cyber Force flippin', whilst downstairs the 'Children of Hip Hop' 
(Drum 'n' bass, Jungle etc) flowed on with the swirls of sound...

No doubt an A-grade Organic chuppachup week.  Big up to everyone for 
sharing the good vibes and let's get together to make 'Urban 
Xpresions '99' also a week to remember.