Five Things We Learnt From 360's Spot On Q&A

Last night, renowned Aussie rapper Matt Colwell, aka 360, appeared for the first time on ABC's weekly panel program Q&A. The acclaimed rhymesmith made his debut alongside 'rock-star physicist' Brian Cox (who was a member of '90s pop-house act D:ream), actress Miranda Tapsell, conductor and educator Richard Gill, and mathematician Nalini Joshi for a broad range of questions and answers that covered everything from time travel to the education curriculum, and 360 represented well with his contributions to the robust debate, enlightening viewers with far more than the simple confirmation that he scrubs up well in a suit...

he thinks the australian flag is a racist icon

May as well start with the big one — far and away the most controversial statement we heard from 360 last night was his admission that he equates the Australian flag with racism.

"“There are so many racist bigots in this country, and they’re everywhere," 360 began, responding to an audience member's question about whether it is time for Australia to demonstrate that it is not an inherently racist place. "I was talking to someone earlier about this, but the Australian flag, to me, has now become… I identify that with racism."

When host Tony Jones pressed him to elaborate, noting the contentious nature of the statement, 360 expanded:

"Like, on Australia Day, you see a bunch of dudes walking around with their tops off, and they’re getting on the drink and all that. They’ve got an Australian flag around their neck… I’ve seen it so many times, like, I’ve been in a taxi where we’ve pulled up because these dickheads have been walking across the road, and they just start yelling at the taxi driver, like, ‘Get out of the country! This is not your country!’, you know what I mean? And they’re wearing Australian flags! I’ve seen it so much, like, growing up, still today… it’s pathetic.”

ain't room for bigots at a 360 show

Continuing the thread of discussion on racism, Jones asked 360, 'Do you think you have a role in challenging this?' before citing one of the rapper's lyrics — I don't want to have fans that are racist pigs — and questioning if 360 thought he had fans who might themselves be racist.

“I think definitely, yeah," he replied. "I think in hip-hop, in this country, there’s a lot of racist people … it’s not all, don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying everyone is. But there is. And if you are, I don’t want them people at my shows. I don’t want anything to do with them." 

hip-hop has a homophobia problem

As the topic of racism continued to dominate the panel, 360 made a brief comment introducing the topic of sexuality to the mix, on which Jones picked up and pressed for elaboration, pointing to the existing culture of homophobia in hip-hop and even citing a 360 lyric: "If the devil wears Prada, then the devil must be a faggot".

“I used to use homophobic slurs all the time, in battle rap, every day talking to my mates, and stuff like that," 360 explained. "And I was young; I was very ignorant. And then I got interviewed by a gay man, and he said to me, ‘Do you understand your power with kids and how much influence you have on these kids? And you’re saying a word like "faggot", and it teaches them that’s OK.'

"And, ever since then, that changed me. I think the only way you can beat ignorance is with education. And ever since then, I’ve realised the position that I was in — I was a role model for young kids, so I wanna be a positive one, you know? I don’t want to be a negative one. So that just changed everything for me after that. I realised I was ignorant; I realised that was stupid, but I grew up. I moved on."

he wouldn't go to the past, but would to the future

Before the discussion turned so socially conscious, though, early questions gravitated around Professor Cox's field of expertise, with multi-universes and time travel and other weighty subject matter dominating the early part of the evening — but 360 hung in impressively throughout, offering an early insightful gem, a Butterfly Effect reference and an F-bomb for good measure:

"Nah, I don’t think I’d want to travel back in time and change things," he replied, when asked his opinion on essentially screwing with history given the opportunity. "Like, that whole Butterfly Effect movie scared me from that. Every action has a reaction, stuff like that; but I’d definitely travel into the future. If someone had a… fuckin’… machine and just sent me off, I’d go."

...aliens (and god)

Of course, everyone has their own opinion on the existence of intelligent (and/or omnipotent) life, and 360 is no exception, telling Jones he "definitely" thinks — or "would like to think" — that there is alien life out in the universe, while God "is just a word, a metaphor for the universe, that just means everything".

When Jones asked him if he'd previously made contact with any extraterrestrial beings, 360 quipped: "Have you ever heard of a drug called DMT? … We’re not alone."

What we wouldn't give to hear the details of that close encounter.