BACK ON THE MIC: MELBOURNE HIP HOP LIVESTREAMS
Bringing Melbourne’s vibrant hip hop scene back together.
7 events, 7 crews, 50 Melbourne hip hop artists.
Hip hop has been the most popular global genre of music since 2017. Melbourne has one of Australia’s most thriving hip hop scenes, with long-running hip hop events, local hip hop labels, and emerging/established artists such as Briggs, Sampa The Great, Remi, Ecca Vandal, Illy, Adrian Eagle, Birdz, Pez, Dylan Joel, Alice Ivy and many more.
Building on our newly launched project, the Melbourne lofi hip hop radio, Melbourne Minute is producing a series of innovative livestreamed hip hop events, collaborating with 7 hip hop crews and organisations.
The goal is to use livestreaming technology to provide a new creative platform to bring our diverse hip hop community back together while the live scene recovers from the impact of COVID-19. The project aims to build on the strengths and diversity of the Melbourne hip hop scene and make it accessible to an online and in-person audience, pending COVID-19 restrictions.
This project will make a significant contribution to reinvigorating the Melbourne hip hop scene and solidifying Melbourne’s reputation as the music capital of Australia.
INTRODUCING THE PROJECT
“We’re living in a pretty special era for homegrown hip-hop.”
CONFIRMED EVENT PARTNERS
Ninah Nicole is the host for the Back On The Mic series. Ninah is an MC and producer best known for her appearance on Triple J’s ‘Bars Of Steel’ series. She has performed at events such as 4ESydney Festival, Ahimsa Festival and Speak On It, and was selected for The Get Down’s ‘People’s Choice’ show.
Her debut mixtape, Dilla Diaries, has led to international shows sharing the stage with some of hip hops most notable artists such as: Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang Clan, Salt’N’Pepa, The Game, Dj Quik, Kurupt, Masta Ace, Twista, Tha Alkaholiks, DJ Yella of NWA, David Dallas, Obie Trice, Swifty McVay of D12 and more.
THE CHANNEL (ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE)
The proposed venue for the Back On The Mic events is The Channel, Arts Centre Melbourne's learning and participation venue and a leader in music, sound and media technology. Located in the heart of Southbank, this exciting, spacious venue boasts a world class performance space.
The Channel hosts Dig Deep, Arts Centre Melbourne’s dynamic hip-hop and urban music program for under 30s, including Dig Deep Live, a series of exciting all-ages hip hop events held at The Channel.
Here is a video from one of Dig Deep’s live hip hop events held at The Channel. This is an example of the staging that will be possible for the Melbourne Hip Hop Livestreams series.
ABOUT MELBOURNE MINUTE
Melbourne Minute is a creative agency with a history of spearheading community-focused activities in the Melbourne hip hop scene, as well as providing videography, digital strategy and promotion services for independent hip hop artists.
We are a two woman team of Emerald MacGill and Kim Williamson and are passionate about championing independent artists and diversity in the music industry.
We have been involved in all aspects of the Melbourne hip hop scene, in roles of rapper, event promoter, videographer, artist manager, admin of Melbourne’s largest hip hop Facebook page Melbourne Hip Hop, youth program facilitator, lecturer in social media at Box Hill Institute and digital marketer working with independent hip hop artists and hip hop festivals.
This project brings together our grassroots community network, professional skills, industry experience and our passion for supporting the hip hop scene. We are creating an innovative and exciting project that will offer opportunities for Melbournians to engage with Melbourne hip hop culture and showcase the Melbourne hip hop community to the world.
Emerald MacGill hosting hip hop event Can I Kick It?
ABOUT THE EVENTS
The 2 hour livestreamed events will feature freestyle cyphers, performances and panel discussions, taking place in The Channel (Arts Centre Melbourne). Melbourne Minute will livestream the action with a dynamic multi-cam set up and run a digital marketing campaign to attract viewers.
Performers will be paid $200 per event.
The events will be primarily livestreamed to an interactive online audience, with potential to add a small studio audience following COVID-safe protocols, depending on restrictions for live events.
FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
We are aiming to work towards running financially sustainable events that will be able continue into the future. Over the course of the 7 events, we will invite the audience to donate to support future events, and also aim to develop partnerships with business sponsors.
Each event costs $2400 to put on, including paying 8 performers and 2 video crew. If we raise $340 in donations per event, we will be able to put on one more event. If we raise $685 per event, we will be able to put on 2 more events. Our reach goal is to be able to raise enough funds to put on one full event for every 3 events sponsored by this grant.
Freestyle games at Can I Kick It?
Rapper Daz Jones
Rapper Philosoraptor
“From charged messages against racial injustice and discrimination in the 1980s and 1990s, through to the localisation of the music being embraced by the wider Australian music industry in the 2000s and now, with an ambitious new generation of artists picking up the mantle, there is no other sector of Australian music in as much flux as Australian hip hop.”
PARTNERS
We have teamed up with 7 of the biggest, most diverse and longstanding hip hop crews and organisations in Melbourne. Each event partner will have creative input into one event and will invite 6 rappers and a DJ to represent their community.
Box Hill Institute, Diploma of Music (Specialising in Hip Hop)
Box Hill Institute offers Australia's first recognised music qualification designed for the modern hip hop artist, the Diploma of Music Industry (Specialising in Hip Hop).
Participants manage and develop their own career, study hip hop production, songwriting, business and performance in this intensive one year diploma.
This course is taught by some of Australia's leading hip hop artists, including: Nfa Jones (ARIA winner, 1200 techniques, House of Beige), Dave Norris aka. Dizz1 (Roots Manuva, Aloe Blacc), Syrene Favero aka Creamy Spies (House of Beige, Remi, Sampa the Great), Rob Tremlett aka Mantra (JJJ album of the week, Promoe, Drapht, Urthboy and Illy).
It mentors aspiring hip hop students through the process of making and releasing their own music that will help kick start their hip hop career, over 36 weeks in Box Hill Institute’s world-class venue, recording studios and production suites, under the guidance of industry-experienced teachers.
Dig Deep
Dig Deep is Arts Centre Melbourne’s dynamic hip hop and urban music program for under 30s. The program comprises a series of workshops at The Channel and all-ages events at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Through each Dig Deep workshop series, participants work with established artists and professional mentors to hone their skills in hip hop and urban music songwriting and performance.
At the end of each month, workshop participants had the opportunity to step up to the mic to showcase their original tracks in front of an audience as part of Dig Deep Live, a series of exciting all-ages hip hop events at Arts Centre Melbourne. This offered young people the opportunity to develop their skills in events management and youth music programming through Dig Deep, as producers of Dig Deep Live events.
Can I Kick It?
Can I Kick It? is Melbourne’s largest and longest running freestyle event. CIKI has run weekly since 2015. It is home to a community of several hundred rappers, producers and DJs. Jumping on the mic at CIKI is a rite of passage for all Melbourne emcees. The event is known for its signature freestyle games, inviting any attending rappers to come onstage to take part in unrehearsed word challenges, amid audience interaction. The culture of the night also centres around live performances and alleyway cyphers.
All You Can Spit
All You Can Spit is a regular hip hop night running in Melbourne since 2016. It features packed line-ups of Melbourne’s best underground hip hop artists on fresh rotation. Shows consist of both performances and freestyle sessions. The events are run by, featuring and largely attended by members of Melbourne’s African-Australian community. Events have taken place across the city at venues such as Kingston bar in Footscray, Rubix Warehouse in Brunswick, Laundry Bar in Fitzroy and Green Knoll in St Kilda.
The Get Down
The Get Down is a series of hip hop events running in Melbourne since 2016. Events celebrate emerging artists and offer an inclusive environment. Line-ups are known for being culturally and gender diverse. The Get Down has one of the largest hip hop communities in Melbourne, with packed shows and a large online network.
Pang Productions
Pang Productions is a label and collective of rappers and producers based in Melbourne. The crew consists of 1/6, Joe Snow, Adam Koots, Must Volkoff, Nelson Dialect, 2nd Thought and Dyl Thomas. Members of the collective are independent artists who have joined forces to release music, run showcase events and promote each other. They have released 92 music videos, many of which have reached upward of 100,000 views. Pang is known for a grimey, UK-inspired sound, high caliber lyricism and tongue-in-cheek commentary on Melbourne life.
Uncomfortable Beats
Uncomfortable Beats is an Australian-based music label and worldwide collective, dedicated to the sounds of beats, hip hop and bass music. Since 2011, they have been steadily pushing cutting-edge electronic music across a range of local residencies and international shows, releasing music from top emerging artists based in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and more.
ADDITIONAL PARTNERS
We have 2 additional confirmed event partners if we are able to put on future events: Garden of Beats and Sound of Future.
Garden of Beats
Garden of Beats brings a new wave of music and DJs to Melbourne audiences. This hip hop collective celebrates everything Melbourne, everything music and everything art. From the start of 2019, Garden of Beats ran regular hip hop shows showcasing Melbourne’s finest producers, emcees and creatives. Their events feature high production quality, a diverse community and high energy vibes. Garden of Beats keeps their roster fresh and encourages the community to get into the rhythm and soul of Melbourne.
Sound of the Future
Sound Of The Future is a not-for-profit organisation run by Dave Norris (Dizz1) that runs music and creative writing programs aimed at young people between the ages of 8-26 years. Their goal is to utilise new and innovative solutions to curb destructive cycles of poverty, health disparities and lack of opportunity in the community.
“A cultural movement derived from oppression. A musical genre that has illuminated struggle and identified a sense of belonging amongst the marginalised and in doing so, became an art form of empowerment.
From its beginnings in the Bronx, hip hop has since developed into a dominating force in pop culture today.”
BACK UP VENUE
Section 8 has confirmed interest in hosting our shows in the event that The Channel doesn’t work out.
Section 8 is about as Melbourne as you can get. It is situated in an easy accessible location on Tattersalls Ln in the CBD. The urban aesthetic, complete with graffiti-covered walls is perfectly suited for hip hop events. It has been a popular performance venue with many of our Back On The Mic artists. Section 8 are able to provide a DJ mixer and sound system (pictured).
