Australian profile article 0121 added 01.10.07 words: Fraksha technical: Spoon   So I first visited Melbourne back in 2002. At the time I was stuck between getting a job or carrying on with what I was doing at the time, which was pretty much nothing so I decided to put off getting a job as long as possible by saving up a few hundred quid and flying over to Melbourne to carry on with my dossing. The plan was always exactly that. Just put off real life back in England for a year and have some fun. I never imagined at the time I would have enjoyed myself so much that I’d want to leave England for good, but that’s pretty much what happened. After a year in Australia I came back to England and quickly realised that I’d had enough of it and wanted to get back to Melbourne. Three long years later I finally managed to get my shit together and make the move and I’ve now been here since mid 2006. Luckily I managed to convince the rest of Nine High to make the move with me – on a temporary basis at least – to check out the place I had bigged up constantly for three years. Having been here a year now with the rest of them I can say that we’ve had a stupid amount of fun, seen some amazing things and met some really good people and look at Melbourne now almost like a second home. They’ll have to deport me to get me out of here now! I decided I wanted to put something together for ukhh.com and draw people’s attention to some great music being made over here that most of us would be unaware of. When I first encountered Ozzie hip hop I’ll be honest, I was a bit thrown by it which I put down now to the accents. As someone who has grown up on Neighbours and Home & Away, my knowledge and awareness of things Australian was pretty limited and so it took me a while to get used to it. Nowadays I don’t even notice the accent because I’m hearing it everyday. I’ve become accustomed to certain slangs and styles and appreciate the music made over here as much as I do the music made back in England. I’d go as far to say I’ve found the ‘scene’ over here a breath of fresh air compared with back in England. Of course there’s still politics, bullshit and snakes as there is everywhere, but on the whole I’ve found people here a hell of a lot more open-minded, more relaxed and with less ego and front. Another thing I’ve noticed here is that there are actual fans!!! You can do a show and not have MC’s, DJ’s etc making up three quarters of the crowd like seems to so often be the case in England. We’ve been made to feel real welcome over here and feel lucky to have the opportunity to be able to perform our music to crowds the other side of the world and be shown a lot of love so I wanted to put a little back and show you some artists from over here I believe are making good music. The artists featured are all Melbourne based which is not me trying to say its all about Melbourne - tho it is my favourite city – this is just because I’m living in here and so know more Melbourne artists than one’s from other states basically. There are also plenty of other artists that I would have liked to have featured in this, but I gave myself a two week time limit because otherwise I would have never got anything done. Some other artists worth checking out from here I would say would be: Pegz, Forthwrite, Lyrical Commission, Funkoars, Reason, Tornts and Hired Goons, Patto, Spit Syndicate, Hungry Humans…the list could keep going…but anyway, enough chat. There are a few interviews here with some mc’s, producers and DJ’s. Check them out, have a listen to their music and hopefully you’ll find something that you enjoy.  Ciecmate of the Hospice Crew Interview - 1st October Ciecmate was one of the first people I met when I was originally here in 2002 – he thought I was an Ozzie putting on an English accent! – and I can safely say he’s one of the safest people I’ve come into contact with…but don’t mistake kindness for weakness, a keen martial artist he will stomp you out! Anyway, back to the music…Ciecmate is a part of the Hospice Crew and also runs Broken Tooth Entertainment, renowned around Australia for releasing no bullshit, staunch as it gets Ozzie hip hop... - Ciecmate interview  M-Phazes Interview - 1st October I make no bones about it, Phazes is one of the illest producers in the world right now! His beats are stoooopid! He’s been grinding away on the Gold Coast doing his thing for a while now and at the beginning of the year moved down to Melbourne to be closer to certain things business and music wise and I’m glad he did. Officially a sick caaaaant, you will definitely hear more from this man in the future... - M-Phazes interview  Plutonic Lab Interview - 1st October Plutonic Lab is a name familiar to pretty much every hip hop head in Australia having worked with so many of the scene’s leading names over the years. Regularly polled as one of the best producers in the country, Plutonic has most recently been enjoying success as part of the producer / MC combo, Muph & Plutonic and has been flat out touring in support of their most recent release... - Plutonic Lab interview  Jase Interview - 1st October Obese artist Jase has been a stalwart of the Ozzie scene for many years now, supplying beats to a diverse number of acts as well as enjoying worldwide success as part of the break-beat outfit Nu-Breed. He’s been there and seen it and witnessed the growth and change of the scene from what it was to where it is today so you know I had to speak to him for this article... - Jase interview  DJ Flagrant Interview - 1st October Manager, artist, promoter, top boy DJ etc etc. Flago is the man with his finger in many many pies of different flavours. Constantly with a phone to his ear juggling this and that, he’s always on the grind. As well as his own interests he’s helped out countless acts and rarely will you find anyone with a bad word to say about the man (apart from the odd middle-aged Venezuelan woman, but that’s another story)... - DJ Flagrant interview  Rigorous Recordings interview with Bigs Interview - 1st October A Rigorous show is a sight indeed. Bare people on stage going wild, beer flying everywhere, the smell of weezy in the air…how it should be! I met Bigz back in ’02 when I went down to do something for PBS radio in Melbourne and we’ve shared a few zoots since I arrived back. Definitely on the grimier side of Melbourne hip hop Rigorous have developed a tidy roster of artists that has seen a regular slew of releases recently... - Bigs interview  Autism Interview - 1st October One of the most chilled humblest people I’ve met out here would be Autism, but when he hits the booth or the stage he switches to something altogether different. If you like your hip hop crazy, violent and fucking hyper Autism’s your man, but don’t get it twiss, none of this is at the sake of flows or lyric’s which he has in abundance... - Autism interview  563 Interview - 1st October Another Englishman to make to move to Melbourne, 563 has been putting in work in the London scene for many years now and since moving over here has been busy playing shows around the place as well as working at Obese, so I felt it would be good to see what he had to say about his time in Melbourne... - 563 interview  Mantra Interview - 1st October I first saw Mantra smashing it up on a Monday evening at the Evelyn and he just stood out head and shoulder’s above everyone else that night. Mantra has a sick flow, but aint one of them rappers that sacrifices lyrics for multi-syllable nonsense and what I really like Mantra is there’s no pretence or front with him. He’s just a safe brer who makes really good honest music.... - Mantra interview  76 Interview - 1st October Another of my countrymen who decided to make the move to Melbourne, 76, originally from Birmingham and a member of the collective known as The Herd, has been hard at work in recent months putting together and opening his studio –Stronghorn Studio’s. I wanted to get another Englishman’s take on the Melbourne scene and life in general over here so after months of barbeques and Carlton Drafts 76 was the man for the job... - 76 interview - Fraksha  Related Links: Ninehigh on myspace Fraksha on myspace

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