I seem to be on a little stroke of genius reaching out to interesting MCs at the moment. While we boast a huge number of talented artists here on the island, there’s also a real fluctuation of hip hoppers chancing the wildlife and flying overseas to divide and conquer our many stages.
This week I sat down with one of the classics, one of the most influential rappers of the early naughties, Masta Ace. Now, I like to think I know a little something about this game, but I’m not fronting in front of one of the greats! So I’ma start with that - is this really all just a game?
“It’s a game because there’s no one way to play it, you know? We had ideas and beliefs and dreams that we had to work towards but there were of course limitations. There were boundaries that we weren’t aware of and we had to learn real quick, you know?”
Now, I’d give you, my readership, the benefit of the doubt in knowing exactly what this ‘rap game’ is. Hey, maybe you don’t! Maybe it’s all just cars, bling and repetitive dross to you but, like absolutely any genre of music, there are rules that apply. So, who’s playing bank (host, dealer, dungeon master, whatever spins your record) and which rules apply to whom? There is a hell of a lot of players in this 'game' and you’d be ignorant to think it’s a simple roll of the dice…
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“Of course there are rules, man! There was then and there still are now, you know? As an artist — particularly as a young artist - there were laws that we had to abide by and starting out we weren’t always aware of what they were. We had dreams but how to bring them to fruition sometimes wasn’t always the way we wanted to play it. When I was working with Warner Bros they had me putting out Me & The Biz as a single… and that wasn’t the single I wanted out first, you know? At the time I wasn’t even sure if it was a single, but I either ran with what they wanted or nothing, you know? As I got more experienced, I realised and learnt how to do my own craft and how to play it. Cos I tell you what when labels fail, or things don’t go well, I wanted to fail on my own, on my own feet, you know?”
Masta Ace is from the Golden Era, one of the greats that influenced and developed hip hop music into how we know it today and when you think about it, there’s been a whole lot happen in a short amount of time. One can only imagine what was happening in US hip hop in the '90s and while it was undeniably one of the greatest periods in rap music, I personally feel like it was also where we began to see hip hop exploited as a product. Were you aware of that commercialism that so quickly became apparent?
“Yeah I was, but that was more Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer type shit. For me, personally, and the people around me, we didn’t really lend ourselves and our music to that sort of style. We were more on the ground-floor, on the streets and we wanted our story told without anyone else trying to change it or sell it for us. We didn’t worry about materials cos we just wanted to make music."
When you think about the trajectory of Australian artists now, there’s a whole lot less pressure on getting signed. Now, of course, the internet has a huge part to play here, accessibility to music and a mass audience at the flick of your thumb. And I feel like bedroom studios are more important than actually keeping clothes in the cupboard! So, has the negative stigmas and democracy of industry suits outweighed the actual title of being 'signed'?
“Man, back then it’s what you had to do. It was about reach, money and more reach. We didn’t have access to crazy studios and even today labels have access to an audience that most people don’t... definitely, the people that ‘matter’ too. ‘Course there were times that doesn’t work out, n’ players try to own you. Back then, I was 20 you know? You can’t be emotional at 20, no one knows how to at that age and people seem to glorify and idolise this ‘fame’ thing that isn’t actually real.”
With a prestigious career, Ace has so many projects I wanted to talk about. His narrative is so real, authentic and illustrative. He’s one of those rappers where you’re unsure when fiction crossfades with non-fiction. After some quick-revision, I noticed there’s a fair bit of coverage on the 2004 album A Long Hot Summer (probably because it’s fucking fire!). But I also noticed only a year after that albums release Ace dropped 24-track album Disposable Arts which, apart from a dope title, was the beginning of a seven-year solo hiatus. I wonder if the MC was frustrated back then about the lack of interest in creating music with legs?
“Well I was getting out of the suburbs round that time, and I made the record when I was going to college you know? I suppose there’s a little bit of both fiction and non-fiction…” he trails off. “But it kinda speaks for itself you know? So much work goes into making art and it can just be thrown away. Then there are kids that don’t work shit and make hits! Nowadays everyone got a shorter attention span and music doesn’t last longer than a month. But that's not just fans that’s also from the artists perspective. A lot of cats are using throw-away beats cos there’s no limit to what you can release!”
When I look back to my days in high school, there’s a standout track that serenades my memories of falling in love with the culture. Seasons (by Cunninlynguists featuring Masta Ace) so effortlessly painted a picture of rap music so different to what I experienced here in Aus.
Ace’s verse recites: “A box with the right sound was all you needed / When it blast, they must move / You just proved you’re hard like L in Krush Groove / And songs started to drop / Ain’t nobody start at the top / Before Preme learned the art of the chop / This is way before SPs and MPCs / And long before CD or MP3s / The game start to bloom and blossom / And masters ready for the ceremony, like a groom in costume / Growth from the rain of the previous years / I took notes from what I heard through these devious ears.”
It was a completely foreign world in a foreign time frame. All made complete with content (somewhat) un-relatable to my own 'devious ears'. But somehow the simplistic narrative tells a story of just how necessary hip hop and it’s music was… These reminiscent feelings make me feel a little bit embarrassed when I look at the fake plastic world we live in now. The 'struggle' a person of privilege complains about daily... It’s like the very essence of the culture has been forgotten and replaced with stature-justifying dollar signs.
“All I’ll say is there has to be a better way of teaching cats,” he says. “How to make classic, real music with actual longevity that stands the test of time you know? Just rap about what you know, what you see and what you feel. Simple! Don’t rap about drugs and AK’s if that’s not in your world. Just do you, and work hard man! Success doesn’t come to those who wait."
Masta Ace is playing at Brunswick Music Festival on March 10, supported by Melbourne’s N’fa Jones, Mistress Of Ceremony and P-Unique. He'll also be conducing an In Converstaion on March 11 and performing at the Jazz Lab on March 12 as part of the festival. For more information, head to theGuide.
