Doing his thing: Bali’s graffiti artists paid homage Saturday night to those who started the hip-hop movement in the early 1980s in the US. “We came up from the bottom. We are trying to change things for those that don’t have much,” says rapper Oddy Girinda, of band Black Masker that is working the roots of hip hop, a movement evolved on the streets of America’s haves and have-nots society.
Despite living in Bali, the paradise of glossy travel magazines, Javanese Oddy and his band see the poverty behind the bling of tourism. Black Masker believes it has a responsibility to raise the consciousness of Bali’s youth via hip hop, rapping out beats of the street in poetry that calls for better wages, gender equality, freedom of expression and political transparency.
“I sing for my country. I want to see my country grow up; to change the system. That’s what we are talking about in our songs,” explains Tyo aka Big T Black.
Working with Bali’s hip hop community made up of rap bands, graffiti artists and break dancers is US-born Kamau Abayomi, who has lived in Bali for much of the past six years. He first met the local hip hop crew on the beach of Kuta where he says a group of kids were breaking on the sands.
“I am here because there is a community of youth developing and growing within the arts that I grew up with. Doing this [hip hop] in Bali helps me grow spiritually and as a human being,” says 35-year-old Abayomi who, as an eight-year-old when hip hop was born, was an instant devotee of the street music that spoke for his people in a dominantly white society.
Abayomi and other artists spoke during a hip hop fundraiser last Saturday night at music studio and club, Serambi Arts, Antida in Denpasar. The aim of the gathering was to raise money for a hip hop community center where young people can further develop their art forms, examine issues such as local energy needs, sharing information on these through performances, work with their communities to improve lives and also create employment through hip hop arts and entrepreneurship.
Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) helped fund the evening as part of that organizations support for Indonesian artists, including youth.
“We want to bring light to the issues of the day and another component [of the center] is entrepreneurship — street entrepreneurship where we utilize what we have within ourselves to generate income and employment — where people may lay down some tracks and say I am going to take my little CD and sell it to tourists,” explains Abayomi of the proposed hip hop center. He points out “hip hop artists, in the truest sense, don’t like having a boss. It’s not about going to someone else and asking for a job — it’s ‘I’ll make my own job’.”
Bali’s hip hop community is already expressing the spirit of street entrepreneurship, making hats and T-shirts and they have just completed their first compilation CD.
Rap with a cause: Break dancer and rapper Ecko Satrio raps with female rap artist, Windy. And the street is where the core of rap, graffiti, dance — the arts of hip hop — was forged explains Abayomi, who well remembers the movement from the early 1980s, long before the fat cats of the music industry saw a dollar or two in the making and before the gangster rap of guns and bling was born. It was then about knowledge and wisdom — the understanding of self.
“It was not mainstream. People today know only one genre of hip hop and that is the one that makes corporations money. The true essence of hip hop is 30-plus years old. When it first started getting popular in the States it was mostly Blacks and Latinos. It was cool to have knowledge — to be socially aware. That was from 1987 to 1992 and is called the Golden Age in hip hop,” says Abayomi. He stresses people need to understand the history of hip hop to ensure the elements of cultural pride and social conscious survive.
“Even the gangster rappers of the time had a political edge [to their music]. There was a lot of social commentary going on. That social commentary is still there, but it has lost its focus. In the Golden Age it used to be ‘this is what’s going on and we need to change it.’ Now it is ‘this is going on and you are not cool if you are not part of it. A selfish element,” says Abayomi of American hip hop in the second millennia.
“Sex, drugs and rock and roll sells in any genre. It was seen that corporations can capitalize on that [hip hop]. The majority of the US is white — prior to hip hop it was rock. Now people can take a trip to black neighborhoods through their audio without ever having to dodge the bullets — that’s where hip hop has changed over from social consciousness,” says Abayomi who still finds that root message of hip hop alive and well in Bali.
The movement is also about fun, youth, and excitement. “There are rappers who are funny, serious, having fun or getting information out there. There was a whole spectrum across the hip hop movement,” says Abayomi.
Elements of the hip hop spectrum were seen Saturday night as young people took to the black and white stage, slicing the air with spins and turns, flying through night sky in unbelievable feats of athleticism, others rapping the beats and making the audience laugh at the funny side of life, get wise with songs on corruption and groove to the love songs that are also vibed up in hip hop.
The movement has great appeal to young Indonesians, says break dancer and rapper, 25-year-old Ecko Satria who was decked out in pork pie hat, T-shirt, jeans and the sports shoes that allow him to dance like a street wise Nureyev.
“I started dancing seven years ago because I really liked it. I have always danced, but there is a passion that comes from the heart and soul. There is a freedom in break dancing,” says Ecko.
This dance of the streets is not confined to males. Novi at 25 has been breaking the beats for the past two years. “For me, breaking is the freedom to express ourselves. In Bali there are not a lot of break dancing girls. In the US there is a lot,” says Novi adding her parents are supportive of her hip hop lifestyle, despite their lack of understanding of the movement.
“My parents don’t really understand because the hip hop generation is the new one, so it’s hard for them to understand. My Mum now fully understands, but it’s harder for my Dad. They have seen me break in videos and they were both really proud of what I do,” says Novi.
King flare: Break dancing is an art form that demands strength, flexibility and the ability to fly the beat. Rapper Izzy KMC is the party boy of the local hip hop scene, his music designed to lighten a mood. “My songs tonight were about hip hop itself and the second one was about partying over here, but it’s also about the beat and giving young people a voice. You can do rap and it’s a positive thing. It’s about coming together in unity,” says Izzy. He adds he steers clear of politics in his lyrics, preferring to talk about friendship, about “doing the best by yourself and everyone else as well.”
The act of creating is important to 21-year-old Windy who sings of love and the “strength of spirit”. “It’s also nice to goyang [groove] to the beat. I also feel I can have a strong future with rap. I write songs, maybe that will take an hour, a day or weeks to write,” says this young woman who sees hip hop as an important creative outlet that her parents support.
“They don’t know hip hop, but they support me in this,” says Windy who along with the members of Bali’s hip hop community are staying true to the movement’s Golden Age here in paradise.
— Photos by JP/J.B. Djwan
