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Allday Thinks He’s Better Than Australian Hip-Hop, Calls It Trash

Adelaide rapper Allday has been trying to crack the American market during a tour out there, while simultaneously giving Australian hip-hop the middle finger, proclaiming “fuck Australia.”

In an interview with Paper Mag, Allday called out Aussie MCs by saying “a lot of Australian hip-hop is trash. It’s not current. It’s a sham.”… I think he can safely say ‘see ya’ to any Triple J Hottest 100 votes.

Now whilst I am always the first to say, “back in the days when hip-hop was…”, I can also admit that Australian hip-hop has come a long way, because hip-hop is forever evolving regardless of country. America has its flavour, so does England, and so do we. Just like American hip-hop’s roots can be tied back to graffiti, so can Australian hip-hop – just listen to some old school Bias B – or look at pretty much any album cover from anyone else.

“I feel like to be in hip-hop, one of the things you need to be is effortlessly cool. The best hip-hop artists ever have been icons of culture and fashion as well,” Allday went on to say. “People forget that you have to have a part of your personality that really makes you stand out. That’s a really big part of it.”

“I’m not going to do anything different, just to become a rapper. I’m just going to be me. I’m going to hang out with the girls in clubs, I’m going to go to rock shows AND I’m going to rap,” he continued. “It’s about being you, and the more complex, the better.” Allday seems to think he is some sort of innovator, as if never before has a rapper said, “I’m going to just be me.”

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Definition from Urban Dictionary

Australian hip-hop has always tried to distinguish itself from the American rappers, lyrics about how they were different and how they didn’t rap with accents to fit in. Aussie MCs just went out there and rapped about being themselves. That’s been one of the building blocks of  hip-hop worldwide.

Today’s MCs have taken these building blocks and built a scene that shows a group of more confident MCs who have taken the inspiration of Brad Struts, the Reasons and the Pegz of old and built a new level. Many of them are a couple of albums in and are taking some time to have fun with the genre, not to mention the new wave of Australian hip-hop like Tkay MaidzaRemi and Baro each receiving their fair share of critical acclaim and cult-like followings. There are plenty of underground MCs out there that would kill to be given the leg up that Allday has had, many of them just as talented – if not more so. It’s our hip-hop, and we should be proud of it. If Allday doesn’t find the state of Australian hip-hop to his liking, then a move to America might well be the best career move for him. But no need to tarnish the good Australian name.

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Via Triple J

Allday later took to Twitter afterwards with a series of tweets hoping to clarify his comments, which were later deleted.

At the end of the interview, he said he had been writing some new raps and that they would be out in a couple of months. While a part of me is interested in how he plans to distinguish himself from the ‘boring’ Australian hip-hop, for the most part, I think that if you can’t support home grown raps Allday, then I can’t support you. Peace!