Fame is all relative I suppose. I read a story recently where an Australian radio personality was in the US and happenned to be sitting in a diner witnessing someone trying to explain to Brian Wilson (of Beach Boys fame) who Charlie Sheen was. So I suppose if you don't know, then whether the person is famous or not is debateable. The funny thing is the incident I just mentioned ends up with the guy in the diner saying "and he has been your neigbour for the last 6 years Brian". So even living next to people is no guarantee that you are going to know who they are.
When it comes to the rap/hip hop community, I always imagine it being somewhat insular, in that it has its own culture. I don't mind those styles, but I don't perform them, and I haven't been called upon in the studio to work on any hip hop projects (although I figure it would be kinda fun). So outside of the guys you see on TV getting into/outof rehab, getting killed, getting notice at award ceremonies, I don't know who any of these people are.
Last sunday while playing at the pie shop in Bakers Hill, I met this guy:
(courtesy Phrase myspace page)
He turns out to be a Melbourne rap/hip hop artist called "Phrase". He was coming back from a festival in Kal and had two other guys with him, a percussionist and a turntablist (he referred to himself as a DJ, but I am old school and associate that word with Gary Shannon, Lionel Yorke, John Burgess etc). I figured them for musos because when a group of younger guys are at a venue and they are checking me out and start asking intelligent questions about the gear...... well I can just tell anyway, they smell like musicians, you can spot them anywhere if you know what to look for.
Really nice guys. No clock around the neck, excess jewellery, fancy canes, semi naked sheilas, they didn't say anything bad about anybody's mother, use ghetto slang, spray paint graffiti anywhere and they didn't try and hold up the pie shop.
So it seems that I am greatly misinformed about performers of this genre and was holding onto quite a few negative stereotypes.
"Are you a famous rapper?" I asked. Well, he didn't really want to say that he was (modesty too - I always thought all rap lyrics were about saying how you are better than all the other rappers), but he said he had a few things up on JJJ etc. So I got home and googled the guy and lo and behold he has two album projects out on Marlin/Universal (think Marlin must be a sub of Universal) and has various other credits to his name including an ARIA nomination. He is also married to Jade Macrae who is a helluva singer in her own right.
Now the record industry is not what it was, and the few majors left (Universal being one of them - let me see Sony/BMG, EMI, and Warner being the others from memory) do not sign artists or release their material unless they have a lot of faith in recouping their investment. So someone thinks this guy is pretty special.
Here is a link to his myspace page so you can check him out http://www.myspace.com/bigphrase. I had a listen to the three tracks that have been posted here and my observations are as follows:
1. "Never Fade" - Not what I would have expected from this genre in that it doesn't swing. Sort of an 80s ocker rock thing ala Choirboys or something like that. With rap vocals interspersed. Get the impression Phrase is singing as well as rapping here. Well produced, radio friendly.
2. "Clockwork" - More the type of hip hop groove I'm familiar with. Uses samples/loops from late 60s hit "The Windmills of My Mind" as a basis which drives the song nicely. Sounds like a hit.
3. "Spaceship" - this features quite a pronounced rythmic rap shuffle groove (think maybe MC Hammer in his Addams Family song) rap interspersed with sung vocals in octaves, sort of a retro Bowie/Trex vibe in the sung bit. Different and worth checking out.
Oh, by the way, he bought a copy of the Fairytales CD.
So if you were wondering what ARIA nominated rappers listen to when they are at home, now you know. They listen to me. Well that is what I would like to think anyway.
When it comes to the rap/hip hop community, I always imagine it being somewhat insular, in that it has its own culture. I don't mind those styles, but I don't perform them, and I haven't been called upon in the studio to work on any hip hop projects (although I figure it would be kinda fun). So outside of the guys you see on TV getting into/outof rehab, getting killed, getting notice at award ceremonies, I don't know who any of these people are.
Last sunday while playing at the pie shop in Bakers Hill, I met this guy:
(courtesy Phrase myspace page)
He turns out to be a Melbourne rap/hip hop artist called "Phrase". He was coming back from a festival in Kal and had two other guys with him, a percussionist and a turntablist (he referred to himself as a DJ, but I am old school and associate that word with Gary Shannon, Lionel Yorke, John Burgess etc). I figured them for musos because when a group of younger guys are at a venue and they are checking me out and start asking intelligent questions about the gear...... well I can just tell anyway, they smell like musicians, you can spot them anywhere if you know what to look for.
Really nice guys. No clock around the neck, excess jewellery, fancy canes, semi naked sheilas, they didn't say anything bad about anybody's mother, use ghetto slang, spray paint graffiti anywhere and they didn't try and hold up the pie shop.
So it seems that I am greatly misinformed about performers of this genre and was holding onto quite a few negative stereotypes.
"Are you a famous rapper?" I asked. Well, he didn't really want to say that he was (modesty too - I always thought all rap lyrics were about saying how you are better than all the other rappers), but he said he had a few things up on JJJ etc. So I got home and googled the guy and lo and behold he has two album projects out on Marlin/Universal (think Marlin must be a sub of Universal) and has various other credits to his name including an ARIA nomination. He is also married to Jade Macrae who is a helluva singer in her own right.
Now the record industry is not what it was, and the few majors left (Universal being one of them - let me see Sony/BMG, EMI, and Warner being the others from memory) do not sign artists or release their material unless they have a lot of faith in recouping their investment. So someone thinks this guy is pretty special.
Here is a link to his myspace page so you can check him out http://www.myspace.com/bigphrase. I had a listen to the three tracks that have been posted here and my observations are as follows:
1. "Never Fade" - Not what I would have expected from this genre in that it doesn't swing. Sort of an 80s ocker rock thing ala Choirboys or something like that. With rap vocals interspersed. Get the impression Phrase is singing as well as rapping here. Well produced, radio friendly.
2. "Clockwork" - More the type of hip hop groove I'm familiar with. Uses samples/loops from late 60s hit "The Windmills of My Mind" as a basis which drives the song nicely. Sounds like a hit.
3. "Spaceship" - this features quite a pronounced rythmic rap shuffle groove (think maybe MC Hammer in his Addams Family song) rap interspersed with sung vocals in octaves, sort of a retro Bowie/Trex vibe in the sung bit. Different and worth checking out.
Oh, by the way, he bought a copy of the Fairytales CD.
So if you were wondering what ARIA nominated rappers listen to when they are at home, now you know. They listen to me. Well that is what I would like to think anyway.