And right now, Australian hiphop is a special place to be. As a relatively new genre to the world, Bliss n Eso have taken on the pulse and culture of this sunburnt country and emerged as pioneers; brazen, candid yet still blithe - a reflection of the values and attitudes of the country they have grown up in. With MC Bliss an American import, DJ Izm of a Morroccan background and MC Eso a true blue Aussie, their combined heritage mirrors the vast melting pot that is Australia.
First growing up together in school during the 1990s, this trio would bond over the message and honesty found in hiphop. In a hiphop devoid expanse where the genre had only just reached our shores, these two MCs and one DJ would come together to shape the cultural soundscape of Australian hiphop through their unique layering of patter, spoken word, beats and rhyme. Now Aria award winners with four highly acclaimed records to their name, Bliss and Eso have forged a unique path for Australian hiphop. The world is their oyster, and they are determined to savour each and every drop.
When Bliss N Eso kick off the count down to 2012 at Summadayze in Adelaide for New Year’s Eve, they will look to the promise of the New Year and all the challenges it presents. In the leadup to their huge Adelaide gig, MC Bliss sits down with Lady Lex and tells it how it is: what makes great hiphop, what festivals mean to them and what the crowd can expect when they ring in 2012.
QAs one of the country’s leading hiphop artists, what do you think makes great hiphop?
AI think it’s about honesty from the artists. When you’re listening to the artist, you’re feeling the connection there; whether it’s literally through the topic or just feeling you’re getting a real piece or slice of somebody - and it’s really them. I think that’s one of the most important things when making hiphop music. Hiphop is different from any other genre in the fact that it is spoken word poetry (rap) over music, which is very different to singing. And you can get that totally different connection via that rap. I look for honesty anyway.
QLet’s focus on you - MC Bliss - for just a moment: You have a great voice and do quite a bit of singing on many of the tracks. Why did you choose the mic for rap rather than singing?
AWe certainly sing over our songs - we do mix it up. We don’t neglect the singing element – we give it a crack. When we were young, rap was so different to anything else. Hiphop was this phenomenom and a whole new way of communicating through song. Personally I was really drawn to that.
QThere must be plenty of literal goings-on in your brain for you to come up with the words you do whether it’s in the studio or onstage patter. Can you tell us about the process of the way your mind works when you’re improvising and how the words sit in your head?
AWith writing rhymes, there are two main things that happen: one is where you’re heading with the song direction-wise, topic-wise and what you want to speak about. The other side is the technical side of the rhyming. It’s so important when you’re piecing it together. From the technical side you have to find what words rhyme with what words, and what syllables rhyme with what syllables and how I can piece this puzzle together for it to make sense and make it say what I wanna say, but still all say it in a rhyming format. There’s those two kind of sides of rhyming. That’s really what goes through my head when I’m writing.
QRock, hiphop and electronic dance all feature at festivals these days, so this must expose you to such a huge cross section of fans. What do you think about festivals?
AThe festivals we’ve been playing over the last few years is like that; a big cross section of music, which can mean a cross-pollination between the genres – and that’s always a good thing Hiphop is cool though. Because it’s a sample based genre, it draws upon all different influences and all these genres and mixes them all together. Because of that, we have an advantage of attracting listeners that might listen to a different genre, because there will be elements they know and get into through the beat. It definitely happens, and it’s always a cool thing when you get the opportunity to make new fans.
QFifteen years ago, there was hardly any hiphop and you’ve worked through that to reach such a massive level of success. What obstacles have you got ahead of you now?
AThe rest of the world is a bit of an obstacle. Not to say we own Australia – we’ve done well here obviously. And it’s great and we have a great fan base here. But we’re keen to take our music globally and travel to as many places as we can and play music. We’ve done a few tours in the States and Canada which have done well, and hopefully we’ll be popping over to the UK. The world is your oyster and the final frontier is outside of Australia.’
QYou’re at a pinnacle of success. What do Bliss N Eso have to do to challenge themselves musically?
AIt’s always a challenge to write great music. More importantly, it’s always a lot of fun to try to. The reason we got into this in the first place is because we love music and it’s an enjoyable thing to do. You’re always trying to write quality music; music that connects with people and resonates with people. It’s always a challenge – its never easy. It doesn’t get easier as you go. Sure you learn your craft and you learn the technology and you refine your skills – you get better in that sense. But the ideas always need to be fresh and you have to innovate as you keep pushing forward in your career. It’s always a challenge – it never gets easier.
QHow has Bliss n Esso shaped Australian hiphop and at the same time, how has Australia shaped Bliss n Esso?
AAustralia has had a big influence on us – we live here after all. It is a very multi-cultural place. Our identity is a bit of a melting pot and works really well with that multi-culturalism. So many things have influenced us – from the culture here, the laidback lifestyle; it affects the accent and our sound to some extent too. One of the things we really noticed when we toured The States is how much people responded to our subject matter. Our sound isn’t engrossed in that commercial hiphop overrun with the bling bling, gangsterisms; hos and bitches and that kinda stuff. That doesn’t work here. People are like ‘whatever mate’; it’s not really relevant here. And that’s a really cool thing. Australia’s got its own identity because of that. And because we come from a place where we’ve grown up here; that’s definitely shaped our sound and makes us unique to the world. I think we’ve had a hand in shaping Australian hiphop – along with other groups who have come along with us. It’s special to be a part of creating and defining a genre in a land that didn’t previously have it. And little kids growing up and their first taste of hiphop is Australian hiphop – that’s pretty epic. When we first started, that wouldn’t have been the case because we would have grown up with American hiphop – that’s where it’s from. But we’ve created a scene where there are other artists and kids are now growing up on our music, which is pretty special.
QComing together and staying together is trying for any group of artists. How does the group dynamic affect what you guys do?
AWe’re an interesting bunch of three - we definitely have our own personalities but at the same time, we get along pretty well. We are definitely positive people. Positivity is a big part of our success and our general mind state and the reason why we got to where we have got. But we are individuals. There’s a lot of joking and shenanigans with everything we do. Laughter is really important and there’s definitely a lot of that between us.
QYour third album ‘Running On Air’ has been labeled by many as your career defining album. What was happening in the air as Running on Air was coming together?
AWhenever you make an album, you get really close to the music and it becomes a part of your life. It was no different with Running On Air. The format we recorded it in was special and unique. We went out to a house way away from mobile phone reception and people. It was totally isolated and we got back to making music. We definitely felt like we were making a special album. Every album has been special to us and making songs is a sacred thing to us. We get into it and it’s a fun thing to do. It’s never like we’ve got this label breathing down our necks and get this album out because it fits into the schedule. It’s a lot more organic and creative than that.
QDo you want to explain the process of Bliss N Eso recording an album to us?
ABasically the way we work is generally we start with the soundscape first – that is, the beat. And that will inspire where we’re gonna head lyrics wise and topic and direction of the song. The way we record it was in two week blocks – two weeks on, two weeks off so you don’t get cabin fever. We put on a beat, and we might freestyle to it; see what comes out. Or we’ll listen to the beats and discuss where we wanna head. Sometimes we bring beats back to our separate lives in Sydney and write individually to it and meet up later and say this is what I came up with. It’s real mixture of how things come together. Whenever we are recording, it is a collaborative effort, particularly with the choruses. Eso and myself will write our individual verses but will generally share where we’re going or asking each other hey man, what rhymes with this? It’s always fun bouncing ideas off each other. There’s a lot of variance to the way the songs come together.
QWhat drives you to do what you do? To pick up the mic, to get up onstage, to play?
AWhat doesn’t? It’s been a dream of ours forever and that’s the drive in itself. As you get closer and closer to achieving that, the dream expands. We feel lucky to be doing what we do – that drives us. We love what we do. It’s a lot of fun getting up on stag; it’s so much fun listening to music. It’s an outlet to emotion and being able to talk about different things in our music. There’s so many things to it – it’s great. Every human being on the earth is creative at some point in their life. Creativity is within all of us. Some get to express it maybe more than others in their chosen feild. As you keep going, the snowball gets bigger, and it drives you more, because you realize how lcky you are to be going it. As you go up the ladder of success, it keeps fueling the fire.
QYou recent Brisbane show was an absolute blitz with an 8,000 strong audience at the Brisbane Riverstage. What does this show say about the future of hiphop?
AThat was a crazy show! That was awesome! I’m editing it at the moment for the Running On Air live DVD – which will be out by the end of the year. Yeh – that show was definitely special. We were really nervous doing it at first; it’s a huge venue and we asked ourselves ‘are we going to sell this out? We don’t wanna do a massive venue and only have it half full!’ We wanted it to be the appropriate size and make sure it’s packed and the vibe was awesome. So to sell that out was crazy, and to have the support from Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunny Coast was wicked. It just goes to show that Australian hiphop is on the up and up. It’s always blows me away to see the fresh faces. We have a real mixed bag of fans – from mothers, to kids in their 30s to high school kids. I went to a show where it blew me away with how many young kids were there. It’s special to capture the hearts and minds of kids that young. It’s indelible that it’s going to be in them. It’s crazy to be a part of helping grow genres that never really existed here before.
QYou’ll be bringing in the New Year for Summadazye in Adelaide. What can we expect to hear from you on the night?
AOur live show is always about making sure everyone has a good time and get into it to have a lot of fun with a lot of crowd interaction and a high energy show. So expect a crazy live show!
Written by Lady Lex Courtesy of Future Entertainment
