Sun 25th April - Re-Up #2 @ The Sandringham Hotel

Do you remember what I said about Melbourne having loads of hip hop acts under the one roof for heaps cheap?

Well Sydney had something similar... Thanks to LookUp who put on the annual Anzac Day hip hop festival – Re-Up 2. The day featured Def Wish Cast, Thundamentals, Dialectrix, That’s Them, Class A, Nikkita, Swarmy, Daily Meds, DJ’s 2Buck, Ology, Psyke One and Mathmatics. An MC Battle (that was hilarious), beat making competition, a sketch battle and the price? Only $18 pre-sale, so I take it back, Sydney city does have alright deals now and then.

The highlight of my night was Def Wish Cast. I haven’t seen them perform in what feels like years, so I made sure to stick around for the headliner. An Aus hip hop act that’s been doing their thing for years, the name Def Wish Cast seems to have stuck but their music isn’t familiar with the newer crowd. They are incredibly ‘Aussie’, and really epitomise where the scene begun. In my opinion they are technically brilliant and impressive, if they could be bothered, they have the potential to still be at the top of the scene.

However, maybe not, the sound of Aussie hip hop is changing and a gig like Re-Up 2 – with it range of new and old performers – made me realise how a ‘feminine’ energy is shaping the sound of hip hop in Australia. Obviously I’m speaking generally by looking at the chart toppers, bgoing off the past few years, in such a short amount of time it’s grown and changed so much. Who really knows where it’s heading next, Aussie Hip Hop has an interesting ride ahead of itself.

There is a great blog about Def Wish Cast, that I encourage anyone who finds Aussie hip hop intriguing to read.

http://britcorereviews.blogspot.com/2008/09/def-wish-cast-mad-as-hatter-ep-random.html

Image taken from Def Wish Cast facebook