What a weekend of Hip Hop Sydney! Public Enemy, Atmosphere, Evidence, Horrorshow, Daily Meds, Ozi Batla (The Herd), Joe New (Gully Platoon), Chance Waters (formerly Phatchance), L-Fresh, NJE, Mr Theory and more... Wow. What a treat it was, but I have to pick one of the gigs I went to out of it, and say... an even bigger Wow! Daily Meds, Ozi Batla and Joe New put on one of the most epic performances of local Australian Hip Hop the Sydney scene has seen for a long time. Here’s how it went down.
The opening act of Daily Meds “Hazy Daze” Album launch, Deadbeat and Hazy did just what they needed to do – warm the small sober crowd up and get the show underway. Without many heads in the place, they started the night off with incredible intensity and enthusiasm and a very interesting personalised performance. The MC worked the crowd well, despite his American accent being off-putting at times, getting down on the floor constantly and involving the shy semi circle around the front of the stage. With interesting lyrics, beats and general musical expression, you could tell why the Big Village crew and Daily Meds like these guys – best of luck to em!
Up next was by far the best 9 30 slot at a local Hip Hop show Sydney has seen or will see for a long time. Joe New demonstrated masterfully how Hip Hop is meant to be made and performed and why he is a seasoned veteran who deserves the utmost respect. Perfection of flow, delivery, presence and presentation of an art he himself has shaped in this country, blessed the ears of the now over-half-full Oxford Arts Factory. With calm comfort, he rolled out doses of hard-hitting lyrics and complex rhyme schemes as smooth as warm butter is sliced by a sharp knife – the warm butter the words, the sharp knife his tongue... the effect mouth-watering, and as any good glutton would know this makes the perfect dish. His set peaked with his popular and skilful Rapper Tag that sent the impressed crowd into a flurry trying to get the lyrics out as fast and well as him. The way he holds a mic should be something that all young MCs watch and aspire to replicate.
If the crowd was impressed by the experience of Joe New, then Ozi B came on stage to deliver the icing on the cake... if the cake is merely the support acts of this show (pardon the food metaphors, I’m delaying dinner to write this). The calibre of supports for this show was a pure representation of the respect and appreciation that the scene has (pointing out both Obese artists and Elephant Track artists involved) for Daily Meds and the immergence of the Big Village Crew – you didn’t have to look any further than the Daily Meds merch being showed off by these pioneering artists on stage. Ozi Batla, if you don’t know, is another well seasoned vet of the scene – an original member of The Herd, a long time solo artist on Elephant Tracks, and an all in all an amazing musician. He approached the stage not just with vigour, clarity, presence and stunning delivery, but a fresh air of creativity and sincerity. Through skill, integrity and musicality, he commanded the respect of the ever-engrossed crowd who were more than happy to throw their hands in the air, cram the front and jump up and down on his command. These two big name support acts brought what you would only expect from the very best of Australian Hip Hop and delivered it to the crowds delight. His set concluded with a tribute to recently fallen Hip Hop ledged MCA (RIP) from the Beastie Boys, which invited more veterans of the scene on stage, namely The Tongue and Ellesquire, to freestyle over a Beastie Boys beat. The effect was enormous with the crowd going ballistic as every eye and ear in the now packed house absorbed the intensity and skill with interest, making the place buzzzzzz like crazy!
Now... for your feature act of the night! Daily Meds!! ! If you were suspicious... no let’s make it curious, as to how they were going to impress a crowd that had just witnessed some of the best local acts in the country, they quickly set any worries aside as they brought the place to sweat and only would let the crowd stop to drink more booze. Honestly, I could take what they were giving daily... and after the show, I decided I had to. I had to get that Daily Haze! (Ps, this is not a plug for them or their album, just a representation of how stunning their set was). The crowd was ready (well, well over capacity... I’ve never seen the Oxford Arts Factory so full), they were drunk, the stage had been set by the best, the lights were dimmed, time was ticking.... and then a low hum. “We, are the Daily, Meds” came the chant of their first song as the encroached on the stage like zombies. What?? Like Zombies?? Well, I had been enjoying the show like every other punter and had had a few drinks by this point, but I swear they came on like dead zombies, stomping around to the beat. Regardless, the crowd went ridiculous. Up and up the show went – it never, ever lost intensity for a second, never once went down from 5th gear and each artist never once let their foot off the petal. Banging beats, lyrics delivered with fire, many in double time, jumping around on stage, lights shooting around like a dropped machine guns still firing and the constant continuation of head banging music would be the obvious things that made this performance so great... but as a performer myself, I looked a bit deeper and saw some more.
The Daily Meds music is not phenomenal, but it is really good. It keeps great energy, it is complex musically, it is entertaining to listen to on your iPod and always fun – it is great Hip Hop. It isn’t incredibly avant-garde creative or breaking new musical boundaries, however, and although bringing a new sound to the genre, as far as musicality and the representation of concepts, it is merely on par with other great bands. What makes the Daily Meds so good, however, is the way they work together on stage to be the best live local Hip Hop act in Australia. It’s hard to compete with the fire (literally) at a Bliss N Eso gig, or the huge crowd knowing every single word to Nosebleed Section at a Hilltop gig, or even having girls crying in the front row of a Horroshow gig cause solo is so sexy and they were so sad and lost in life until they found his music (I use to be... take that back, still am, one)... etc. But Daily Meds bounce the energy off each other and the crowd at all times engrossing everyone in the place and never letting there be a dull moment. Someone is always at the front of the stage moving the crowd, and the other two are either at the front revving people up or in the back, dancing, bobbing and looking like it is the best place in the world to be (which I’m sure it’s not far off). Their sound is so dynamic, with each musician adding a different flavour, especially Billy Rose. For me, Billy Rose it one of the best performers I’ve seen. She is talented, interesting, sexy, always moving and dancing and a real inspiration for everyone in the venue. She is both an inspiration in her image as a woman rapping free from stereotype and an inspiration to every partygoer through her ability get people dancing and screaming when she is both on and off the mic. She knows when to step in and sing a bit or double someone’s vocals, when to dance like crazy, when to get out of the way and let someone else shine and when to give the crowd an extra rev. She is a phenomenal talent on stage and this is hardly replicated by anyone else in the scene. Her onstage charisma is the X Factor the Daily Meds have live.
Although I heard lots of great things about all the other gigs, my limited budget forced me to miss Atmospheres trip down under with Evidence and supported by Horrorshow. Nevertheless, I was able to luck out on a small-scale local gig at The Sando in Newtown run by and headlining long time independent artist NJE. You’ve gotta admire the guy’s work ethic, he’s been putting in for over a dozen years independently to expand his project and the scene. Big Ups Mate! The night was filled with up and comers, and the one for me that stood out was Mr Theory. Check him out online if you are into up and comers, and make sure you keep your eyes out for the name!
This next weekend is set not to disappoint either with FBi Social coming up with an all Aus Hip Hop night. Chance Waters is the headline, and he needs no introduction. After a warm up gig last week in Chatswood, he is bringing his flawless live set to heads at the Kings Cross Hotel on Saturday night and bringing along the new kid on the block Forbes with him. Both are set to impress everyone! Chance has been reinventing himself, working with One Above (Hilltop Hoods producer) and putting some truly world class tracks out. He steps Hip Hop up and takes it on a side step to the left... new territory for the scene that is exciting and enthralling live as well as on records (speaking of which he just dropped his second single from the album last night)! Forbes is working on his debut album after multiple EPs and mixtapes that have been very warmly received online and live by the hip hop community, even enticing Pez to feature on his work on multiple occasions and granting him support slots with 360, Pez and more in just the last year! He is going to be a big name, so you are lucky you can see these guys for only pennies this weekend (technically it might be 1000 pennies, as the tix are a cool as a cucumber 10 bucks presale)! Catch ya there!
