Tkay Maidza and Australian Hip-Hop

This is something new I'm trying after a suggestion a friend made. I want to keep this an art blog, but sometimes there's stuff I want to talk about, so here's some art I did specifically so that I could talk about something I wanted to.

Tkay Maidza's someone I've learned about recently, who seems like a musician tailor-made for me. A singer / songwriter / rapper from here in Oz, with a distinctive style and flow, plus a penchant for cool anime-inspired music videos? Result.

So here's my response to her whole hip-hop afrofuturist thing she's got going on. I was especially inspired by her latest video, M.O.B., which I've stuck below. It's a great song even without the video, but with all this anime sci-fi space stuff going on, It's something else.

I'm going to be really interested if this is something that sparks a subgenre of Aussie hip hop. I love that Maidza's sound incorporates plenty of Electronic Dance Music, as that is something that represents a big part of Australia's music scene. I know Flume has done pretty well, and big EDM festivals like DEFQON show that it's a big deal here.

I love hip-hop first and foremost, but I think a country or region needs to find its distinctive voice for hip-hop to thrive. The UK had great rappers the whole time I was growing up, people like Roots Manuva, Ty, Estelle (nowadays maybe better know as Garnet on Steven Universe) and Blak Twang, but it was only when the UK hip-hop scene incorporated home-grown styles, like Grime and Dubstep, that it really took hold and started to break through like it has in the last decade with people like Tinie Tempah and of course Dizzee Rascal.

It was the same when hip-hop started to leave it's New York birthing ground: The West Coast took a while to really break out with NWA and Ice Cube, and really defined itself with G-Funk; The South needed acts like Outkast and Lil' Jon and the Crunk scene.

I loved watching these voices be found, and I'm excited to see if what Maidza's found is her voice, or the voice of something bigger. Either way, there's great music being created, so I'm happy to wait and see.
 

The original photo I based my picture off, from Sodwee.

 
©2015 James Mathurin

Been a while since I posted some new art, but I've been really busy getting towards a move to the far side of the planet. It wasn't until I spent a few weeks there that I got time to do some drawings, so, umm here's some mad birds from the Sydney Easter Show...

I'll get some more stuff up over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for your patience...

©2013 James Mathurin

A few more sketches from Australia

These are just a couple more things I did in Australia.

©2010 James Mathurin

Windsor (the Australian one)

One thing that's slightly strange about going around Australia is the number of places that were named after British towns by the European settlers. I went past a Richmond, Croydon and many others, including a small country town called Windsor, whose main claim to fame is the flabbit (flying rabbit), a creature created by a hoaxer and which now adorns their posters and flags. I also did these sketches of the river that borders the town, a colonial house, Willy Wagtails and a boat out on the river and a lorikeet.

©2010 James Mathurin

Art Gallery of New South Wales

These are some sketches I did in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which is an absolutely fantastic place, which really highlights the individual character of Australian art, as well as having some great pieces from around the world. Although I sketched in pencil at the gallery, I was keen to try some different inking techniques, something a bit less busy, as an alternative to the cross-hatching I like. I'm quite happy with the results.

The pieces are Circe and The Dancer by Bertram Mackennal.

©2010 James Mathurin

Australian sketches

These are sketches and drawings I did while I was on holiday in Australia in December 2009. As you can tell, I was quite taken with the wildlife there, as well as the architecture.

 

©2010 James Mathurin