#132 – Aussie Hip Hop

During the 90s, the bogan’s knowledge of Hip Hop was limited to US-produced recordings, which were strictly gangsta in nature. West Coast rappers Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg were favourites, the bogan identifying with the theme of anti-authoritarianism, the incessant bragging, tales of violent belligerence, open misogyny, and the pervading sense of ascendant machismo apparent in artists of this ilk. Having little in its personal history allowing it to relate to daily life in hardscrabble South LA, the bogan’s imagination was nonetheless piqued by the artists’ description of life on the street, and their connection to organised crime. Despite its often racist views on the home front, in the 90s, the bogan spent countless hours in front of the mirror pretending to be a black American gang member. White rapper Eminem’s emergence provided the bogan with a welcome respite from this fanciful routine, and he was widely adopted as a bogan mascot.

Unbeknownst to the bogan, a home-grown Hip Hop scene was well-established by this time, as local MCs, DJs, graffiti artists and b-boys began to forge an Australian take on the culture. Aussie Hip Hop music first came to the bogan’s attention with the spectacular success of long-standing Adelaide outfit The Hilltop Hoods, whose 2006 release ‘The Hard Road’ displaced a Ben Harper record to debut at the top of the ARIA charts. The bogan quickly learnt that it could get all its fronting, beefing and battle rap requirements not only from white people, but also from an Australian source, delivered in an accent that sounded a bit like Robbo blueing with his missus. Inevitably, the bogan developed a huge Jones for Aussie Hip Hop – the description of Australian suburbia stimulated its ‘Aussie Pride’, and provided an opportunity for the bogue to lay yet another dubious claim on another country’s culture. The bogan loved the combination of feeling simultaneously gangsta-tough and patriotic by playing this music, and soon it was heard blasting from the sound systems of countless Chevrolet Commodores, which had so recently only announced the imminent arrival of the Vengabus.

There are some things which complicate the bogan’s love of Aussie Hip Hop. As is often the case with popular music, the lyrical content can occasionally verge on exhibiting a social conscience – sometimes even to the point of political correctness gone mad. This will madden, confuse and frustrate any bogan who ventures to deconstruct the meaning within an Aussie Hip Hop rhyme scheme. For this reason, the bogan’s wallet will customarily yield only to Aussie rappers on the ‘chicks, beer and barbies’ end of the spectrum, which explains why the Hilltop Hoods are such a roaring success in the bogan market. It also annoys the bogan that, unlike their once-beloved West Coast gangsta rappers, Aussie Hip Hop tends to eschew the promotion of violence which so successfully stimulated the bogan’s punch-on gland in the 90s. Luckily, the bogan needs little encouragement to perform maxtreme acts of violence, and any hip hop beat will generally elicit the required pavlovian response.