Has Melbourne gone hip hop crazy recently or have I been wandering in some kind of musical candy land for the past couple months oblivious to boring reality? Because honestly folks, this is just getting to be a bit too much. So many artists and musicians whom I’ve idolised over the short course of my 25.6 years of life on this planet thus far have been coming out of the woodwork (mostly from that area of the wood that belongs to the U.S. of A). Artists like Rahzel & JS-1, Method Man, Redman, world-class DJs such as DJ Scratch, DJ Ca$h Money, DJ Yoda, not to mention soul & funk musos like Amp Fiddler, Quantic, Mayer Hawthorne, as well as single members of the Wu-Tang Clan (Ghostface Killah, GZA, with RZA and Raekwon also playing gigs in the coming weeks). And MOST of these standout acts have all been housed at The Espy, a virtual mecca (it seems) for international legendary hip hop artists. Well, the hits just keep on comin.

On Australia Day Eve, Melbourne was treated to not one, but two amazing hip hop gigs in one night, under the same roof, again at The Espy. In the Gershwin Room were politically-minded, alternative thinking, somewhat militant & anti-establishment duo, Dead Prez (consisting of M1 & Stic.man). The urge to beat on the closest white individual in the immediate proximity was DEFINITELY overwhelming, except for the fact that the white individuals made up a good 80% of the crowd, but it didn’t matter anyway as Dead Prez don’t exactly support that kinda wanton behaviour. They have motives and reasons for what they say and do, and it wasn’t until I re-listened to their entire catalogue and saw them in person that I finally understood this. Yes, the beating on white people thing is a joke, but for the ignorant and casual fan, that’s not what they’re about. It’s not necessarily a race or gender or national pride thing, but more of a: “you’re enslaved to a system and you don’t even know it, WAKE THE FUCK UP”. That’s more or less their mantra, and one which I fully respect and, more importantly, admire. Amidst that there are songs about loving someone’s mind, not just the body (“Mind Sex”), songs about eating right (“Be Healthy”), to topics as diverse as revolution, veganism, institutional racism, critical pedagogy, police, capitalism, education, prison systems, religion, activism against governmental repression, and corporate control over the media.

Most hip hop acts who came out with the “alternative” label, running the gamut from the ‘kill em with love’ Native Tongues school of revolution (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers) to the more militant Public Enemy, were emceeing truth as they see it, and not worshipping the sacred hip hop cows of greed, fame at any cost, and fortune as the priority. All of them have ended up lingering in the underground. Sure, their legacies are cemented forever in the pages of hip hop history, and the majority of them still work in some form or another, but eventually people grow and change, and the fight for all that is good in the world simply wears out the would-be poetic revolutionary. However, Dead Prez remain true and strong to the words they first spouted on their debut album, 2000’s “Let’s Get Free”. The performance at The Espy was no different, with both emcees ripping through their classic catalogue with verve and spirit, and also stopping every now and then to give their opinion on the current state of the world (for one, they don’t support Obama OR the world policies of the United States). Spilling over from the revolution-inducing energy of Dead Prez, was the legendary Grandmaster Flash who was getting busy on the 1s and 2s and moving the crowd in a different, but still important way.

When the revolution is over, the party begins. Such was the vibe on Aus Day Eve as Flash spun one of his now infamous party sets (personal note: hunt down Flash’s Mixing Bullets And Firing Joints, one of the best party mixes I’ve ever heard consisting of nothing but 80s funk n’ boogie muzak). His set was a mixture of the old and new, veering from Jump On It to Get Ur Freak On without breaking the groove. He did, however, stop a few too many times while in-between songs, a bit of a distraction from the overall party vibe, but shit, when the hell do you get to boogie down to Grandmaster Flash? Never. The answer is never (I know it was rhetorical but y’know, just had to make that clear). The only thing to dampen yet another glorious hip hop filled night at The Espy, was the unbearable crowd swell. Literally just too many people were inside, to the point where you had to snake your way through every inch of the place, and getting sprayed with random people’s beers in the process (as a result of their clumsy attempts to save an already on-its-way-down cup of alcoholic beverage). That kind of a tight environment tends to curb the enjoyment of the shared moment, but all in all is a minor gripe. The cure? Get drunk your damn self and have not a care in the world (why am I speaking like Yoda all of a sudden…?).

Overall the night melted from one form of hip hop into another, bringing out the revolutionary fervor that’s deep within us all, to then releasing the tension and getting down to some classic old and new party jams. When the revolution is over, the party begins. And thus is the multi-faceted beast we call hip hop.