You’d be forgiven for thinking that The Laundry is actually a clandestine hostel, boarding the riffraff of Melbourne’s hip hop scene. Every time I go there, the same people are loitering around the two palm trees that take pride of place in front of the stage. It turns out, this is not a bad thing, as I discovered on September 4th.
Hosting New York hip hop legend C-Rayz Walz, The Laundry (along with promoter Baddums) show they’re working hard to reclaim the venue’s status as the home of Melbourne hip hop. It’s a big title, and one which hasn’t been around since the b-boy Monday nights back in the late 90s, where J-Red would kill it on the decks in front of crazy breakdance battles.
It’s fitting that the Laundry’s return to form was inaugurated by one of the scene’s toughest and roughest voices. Just like Percee P when he came to town, C-Rayz graced the room with modesty, so much so he almost blended into the trendy Fitzroy crowd. Almost. Those unmistakable gold teeth shone out as he hawked his goods (t-shirts/CDs) on the side of the stage. I believe he’s self-managed, which is probably a refreshing boost of encouragement to all the die-hard up-and-comers who came in droves to hear him perform.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. First on the stage was Laundry staple DJ Affix, with that oh-so-right blend of unreleased dubs, Jamaican boom-bashing basslines and electro dubstep with a hip hop twist. Then came the prettiest boys with the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen; Julez and Sizzle. Normally at this point in a review I’d make some witty remark about Julez being the closest thing Australia will ever get to “Eminem off Broadway” – but all metaphors and similes aside… Julez is a pure entertainer. Plus he’s tall… really tall… which means of course, that his voice is big! Sizzle’s help providing backing vocals, while simultaneously scratching on the decks was a welcome addition to the set.
Before C-Rayz hit the stage duo 360 and Pez performed a half-hour set, highlighting their latest releases. I swear I saw C-Rayz almost peed his pants with laughter during 360 and Pez’s hilarious ‘Dry Sex’ song. This track was such a wonderful hit with the crowd, I almost forgave them their sacrilegious act of performing without a DJ. Almost. I mean, honestly, how can you purport to love hip hop if you’re an MC who rips of other people’s instrumentals and doesn’t even reference them in your lyrics? To top it all off, you get up on stage with a CD… this ain’t karaoke, boys!
Finally, host of the night, Urban – aka Mr. GoGo – pushed the show along, introducing C-Rayz with some melodic seguing from DJ Affix. It was nice to hear C-Rayz Walz playing his older tunes as well as the ones coming from the more well-known Def Jux albums. For me the highlight came around the middle of the set, when he rapped over a sampled Nina Simone ‘Feeling Good’. This instrumental has often been done to death, but C-Rayz’ version was as fresh as his hairdo (now that was fresh!) A final mention must go out to promoter Baddums for orchestrating the whole show. He’s on to a sure thing if he can help re-ignite the Laundry’s original dirty reputation.
