Words by Matt Hall
Australian, no, World Hip-Hop is losing a legend. Ur Boy Bangz has decided to hang up his flat-cap and diamond studded earrings. You can follow full coverage of his abrupt retirement here, but I would just like to take a moment to reflect on this emcee’s unmistakably remarkable career.
Bursting on the scene with his urban anthem Let me take you to da movies Bangz quickly established himself as the pre-eminent rapper of his generation. There are too few superlatives to explain the impact of this immense odyssey. I know for myself, and my housemates at the time, we must have played this song hundreds, if not thousands of times.
Bangz takes such a simple premise, something we can all identify with, like going to the movies. He melds it with the simple desire of going to the movies not alone, no, but with a shawty. It’s a dubious proposition, and an abstract concept like this in the hands of a lesser artist could have been a convoluted mess. But Bangz nails every note, every lyric, and suggests, nay, convinces you to join him at the movies.
But it doesn’t stop there. Bangz isn’t content in just taking you to the movies. If you’re lucky enough to be his baby, he might even Take U 4 A Dinner.
From the opening shouts of Dinnertime I could think of nothing I would rather do than have dinner with Bangz.
And frankly, Bangz is at his best when he’s taking us somewhere. It could be to the aforementioned movies, or dinner, or even On A Date, or even just Shopping.
After the epic war with Jimmy Fallon, where Jimmy took potshots at Bangz complex music and lyricism, and Bangz fiery response, it appears as if it has taken a toll on him. It harkens back to his early work we he proclaimed My Life is Hard, and spoke of “too much trouble in my mind”, and we can only wonder if it has now caught up to him. Either way, one can hope, and I do, that Bangz life gets a little bit easier outside of the hip-hop crucible, even if it is devastating to see him go.
He plans to leave us with one more album. It’s a shame, as over his short career it is easy to feel that Ur Boy Bangz has become Our Boy Bangz. But for now we can ruminate on his telling piece Hip Hop is Dead. And now that he is retiring, truer words have never been spoken.