Post with 6 notes
I’d like to open this post with the statement that I’ve had a few drinks tonight.
With that in mind, bear with me.
I just got home from Urthboy’s Melbourne gig. He’s on tour, raising a bit of hype for his upcoming album, Smokey’s Haunt.
Please, excuse the dramatism, but this was the best hip hop gig I’ve ever been to. I saw Hilltop last weekend, I’ve seen 360, Phrase, Horrorshow, Drapht, Pez and a shit ton of others worth mentioning, but this was the best. No other artist speaks to me the way this man does. I almost don’t want to talk about it. If you don’t know Urthboy and hip hop is your thing, buy The Signal and Spitshine. I guarantee, you’ll thank me.
Quote with 5 notes
He never thought he’d think of killing himself,
But he had’ve doubted anything to do with his health,
Wasn’t never that kind of gentlemen that needed help,
Just an everyday bloke trying to handle what he’d been dealt.
Post with 14 notes
I’m reposting this, because my current hip hop obsession is continually being questioned, and I’m sick of arguing the point. From now on I just link to this. I was recently ambushed at work by a colleague while listening to some Aussie hip hop. He wandered in to the same room as me and proceeded to abuse my choice of music. To be honest I was a little speechless. Not only because of the rudeness of it, but also because the offending coworker is a DJ—which by definition makes him scum of the earth. His main point was that Australian rap would never be as good as American rap, because it didn’t originate here, much as European classical music would always be better than any other country’s classical music. …? So here is my slightly delayed rebuttal. These days the age-old expression of poetry has largely been taken from us men. When last did you see a man stand up to a mic in front of his mates and read out words that speak from his soul? Your typical bloke? Hardly. But a man can write rhymes and put them to a beat without ridicule (generally-Joaquin Phoenix excepted). American rap has a long history of its own, which often lends it certain ferocity, quite different to more local variants. Some of my favourite tunes of this side of rap are from a hardcore Philadelphian collaboration of rappers called Army of The Pharaohs. I got a lot of young boys and they mad hungry murder, kill, shoot the place up, stab for me This ain’t the type of place you can survive God God don’t live inside me, I live inside God. Indeed. A very different feel, but great if you are in the mood. My favourite rap is always the home grown stuff though. The relaxed, chilled sounds of Horrorshow, Seth Sentry. They are story tellers and romantics. The most romantic song I know is No Other, by Urthboy: Steady as decade-old oaks I find I’m envious of old folk Who stay together until they croak Still flushed with rushes of love to the head Even after the years worth of words said I want to share a deckchair and there I’ll run my worn out hands through your beautiful grey hair Rappers are, as Bliss says, the “modern day poets”. They are today’s Keats, Owen and Shakespeare. They give us a means of expression outside of what society normally allows us. So before you make bogan, commodore-driving judgments about us fans of the genre, have a listen to some quality hip hop, and argue with me then.
Post with 1 note
I was recently ambushed at work by a colleague while listening to some Aussie hip hop. He wandered in to the same room as me and proceeded to abuse my choice of music.
To be honest I was a little speechless. Not only because of the rudeness of it, but also because the offending coworker is a DJ—which by definition makes him scum of the earth. His main point was that Australian rap would never be as good as American rap, because it didn’t originate here, much as European classical music would always be better than any other country’s classical music.
…?
So here is my slightly delayed rebuttal.
These days the age-old expression of poetry has largely been taken from us men. When last did you see a man stand up to a mic in front of his mates and read out words that speak from his soul? Your typical bloke? Hardly. But a man can write rhymes and put them to a beat without ridicule (generally-Joaquin Phoenix excepted).
American rap has a long history of its own, which often lends it certain ferocity, quite different to more local variants. Some of my favourite tunes of this side of rap are from a hardcore Philadelphian Muslim collaboration of rappers called Army of The Pharaohs.
I got a lot of young boys and they mad hungry murder, kill, shoot the place up, stab for me This ain’t the type of place you can survive God God don’t live inside me, I live inside God.
Indeed.
A very different feel, but great if you are in the mood.
My favourite rap is always the home grown stuff though. The relaxed, chilled sounds of Horrorshow, Seth Sentry. They are story tellers and romantics. The most romantic song I know is No Other, by Urthboy:
Steady as decade-old oaks
I find I’m envious of old folk
Who stay together until they croak
Still flushed with rushes of love to the head
Even after the years worth of words said
I want to share a deckchair and there
I’ll run my worn out hands through your beautiful grey hair
Rappers are, as Bliss says, the “modern day poets”. They are today’s Keats, Owen and Shakespeare. They give us a means of expression outside of what society normally allows us. So before you make bogan, commodore-driving judgments about us fans of the genre, have a listen to some quality hip hop, and argue with me then.
