It’s been a hell of a while since Public Enemy shocked the world by mixing their uncompromising political views with their own brand of hellfire hip hop. Although politics and music had obviously been mixed before, even before your parents were off their faces on acid during the sixties, PE were the first to really bring it to a rap crowd. Since then, with the possible exception of punk (not Blink 182, punk), hip hop has established itself as the leading form of protest music.
With this firmly in mind, Amnesty International Australia is set to launch this year’s Freedom festival with Australia’s ever-burgeoning community of hip hop-heads plus drum n bass lovers and all else in between in mind. Starting in Sydney in 1997, the Freedom party then swelled to include Melbourne in Canberra in 2003, before welcoming Perth and Adelaide to the fold this year.
This year, AIA is calling for better treatment of all refugees and asylum seekers, not to mention the present government’s shortcomings on the issue. Freedom from arbitrary detention. Freedom from uncertainty. Freedom from isolation. To drum the message in, Freedom ‘04 has secured the best thing to come out of Colorado since, well, eh….since ever damn it; they’ve secured possibly the finest emerging trio in US hip hop, The Procussions.
Fresh from supporting Jurassic Five and Blackalicious on US tours, The Procussions bring back a vibe reminiscent of the De la Soul and Tribe Called quest days, riding high on the back of their new LP As Iron Sharpens Iron. Full of jazzy breaks and gripping lyricism, the LP confirms dope hip hop is now to be found in every corner of the US.
Obvious choices to headline the Freedom line up, Jay 1 points out that; “If we could look at the world as one piece and see all people as brothers and sisters there wouldn’t be refugees. The borders to our country are the doors to our homes and if anyone comes knocking for shelter we should welcome them as guests.”
Other hip hop acts confirmed include Australia’s hottest rapper of the moment, Herd front-man Urthboy with MC Ozi Batla and Elgusto, Good Buddha, Morganics, Bonez and Hyjak plus emerging Sydney outfit Debasa (yes, that is Merlin from Big Brother, get over it; he’s in a decent band too!)
The event will also feature awesome drum n bass line-ups brought to you by the Break and Enter crew, while other djs will be spinning anything from dub to breaks to nu-jazz and all in between. In short, this is a mammoth event!
Freedom takes place starting this weekend:
Thu Sep 16th – Melbourne [BUY TICKETS]
Fri Sep 17th – Canberra [BUY TICKETS]
Sat Sep 18th – Sydney [BUY TICKETS]
Fri Sep 24th – Adelaide
Sat Sep 25th – Perth [BUY TICKETS]
Check http://www.amnesty.org.au/freedom or ITM Whatson for varying line ups in each city.
