Cursing Kerser

"I don't really care,” says Barrow. “I don't think Aussie artists really dig the music so much. They can't relate to it, but then again I could never relate to their music. I think as far as the hustler side of things I'm still getting my music out there without any airplay. They can't deny that I've hustled the hardest.”

Indeed, without radio play Barrow has relied on his internet reputation to cultivate a love-hate relationship across the homegrown hip hop market. His second album No Rest For The Sickest topped the ARIA Urban charts and his latest, S.C.O.T. (Sickest Cunt Out There) released last October is moving significant units on iTunes.

There is the other side to that coin, stemming from the attention Barrow draws from his craft by ruffling feathers of fellow MCs, most notably those of Melbourne MC 360. That, and Barrow's indifference to what he calls a barbecue rap style of summer stories and political rhetoric..

“Where I'm from people don't wanna hear that shit. That's not making a difference where I'm from,” he stresses. “People over here are struggling and that's why my shit has kinda blown up because it's a refreshing sound and something they can actually understand and relate to. I've had people that have said to me, 'Oh I don't like a lot of Aussie hip hop but I love your shit'. So I'm the first to break away from that shit and give these people something they can relate to.”

For those who don't draw the parallels with the barbecue vibe and geopolitical concerns covered in most domestic rap tracks, Barrow provides an anthem and a voice with which they can relate.

“This street sound is only going to get bigger. I was saying yesterday, there is a whole bunch of kids from south west Sydney, west Sydney who are starting off now and I just think there is a whole movement going to take off with them, this street shit. It will be more accepted in the future, five or ten years down the track. I'm just the first to do it and get on mainstream to show those kids the way to do it and be heard.”

Bringing his reality-rap brand of hip hop to the masses, Barrow is readying himself to hit the Big Day Out circuit for what will be his biggest turn-out yet. “I've done festivals but I think Big Day Out is a whole other platform. So I'm really looking forward to this one. We'll do a big pumped-up set and yeah, at a Kerser show I know people are there to see me but at a festival we take into consideration that people are there to party. We'll just make sure it's a real hot set.”