Peak Street Magazine

The time has come to unplug the mic, take the batteries out of the boombox, put the records back on the shelf.

Yup that's right, your favourite white boys with a magazine who don't know how to act have decided to retire.

We would like to say we have come a long way since starting as a gully community hip hop radio show, but we haven't really. Sure we dropped a few classic magazines, had a dope exhibition, pissed off everybody on Twitter from Chuck D to Richard Kingsmill, ran a charity auction for the Brisbane Floods, resurrected Hologram Tupac and dropped the Australian version of Detox in the form of the 93 Mixtape. But we still remained the same rap bastards who got kicked off-air for drinking longnecks and leaving the studio unattended to watch Anthony Mundine fights.

In our heyday our celebrated peers described us as 'fucking rap nerds destroying the culture from within like a cancer' and 'a shit excuse for journalism'. We are far too humble however to accept such grandiose accolades.

We believe Hau best summed us up when he said Peak Street was "That hopeless mate in your crew who pisses you off, but you can never stay angry at."

We could yell at all you cunts who never paid their bills, the rappers who drunkenly threatened us or the groupies who begged us not to run those pictures of them with Trials from 2006, but we are far too classy for that.

Instead we will simply say this - thanks fuckers, you've been great. Peak Street fans have been our sort of people. Heads with a true love of hip hop who don't take shit too seriously.

Let's not say goodbye forever though. You never know... G.O.A.T.'s have a tendency to lace the kicks back up to show young bucks how it's done. But for now we're taking a break to concentrate on new projects. The brains behind the operation are free agents now too. Guns for hire. Creative ronin if you will. So click below and contact us personally if you have some business you need some expertise on (and some goddam cold hard cash to pay off our extensive parking ticket collection), or if you just want to continue listening to our bullshit on Twitter get your follow on.

Peesh

Peak Street Familia

David Edgley (Editor, Writer & Head Janitor)

Twitter - @mindtheedge / Instagram - @mindtheedge

Chad Mann (Designer & Head of Basketball) 

If I hear one more person/blog/publication extol what a lyrical genius Lil Wayne is then I am going to get all Suge Knight on peoples asses. The kid just doesn’t make any fucking sense whatsoever and the more I listen to his garbled 16’s the more certain I become that he is suffering some sort of mental impairment. Don’t believe me? Then read over some Weezy lyrics cause they really speak for themselves;

“I’m an extension cord, I’m a lightning rod / I’m a lion roar, I’m a dinosaur.” - from ‘Don’t Touch Me (Remix)’

There are so many levels of retardedness in this lyric I never know where to begin. So Wayne conducts electricity? Fantastic! Good to know I can plug him into the powerpoint so that I’m able to vacuum the car on Sunday afternoons. But wait he is a dinosaur too! Raaaaar! For my money I reckon he would be a Stegosaurus – the dinosaur with the littlest brain mass per body weight. Scientists were surprised the Stegosaurus could even feed itself with such a miniscule brain, much like how most hip hop heads are amazed that Lil Wayne can even walk and talk at the same time.

“Papa I did it to em, I’m a bastard /  And I’m going to do it again like nigga backwards.” - from ‘Shoot Me Down’

A straight up F on this one Wayne. Let’s break it down on the blackboard. Nigga backwards spells A-G-G-I-N. Now perhaps with that down syndrome mouth full of marbles mumbling of yours uttering ‘aggin’ actually sounds like ‘again’, but I am afraid that this lyric is an epic fail on the spelling front. Time to go to the Special Ed class.

“I’m a venereal disease, like a menstrual bleed.” - from ‘A Milli’

Gonorrhea is not the same thing as a period Wayne. For somebody who supposedly is surrounded by fine ass hoes and bitches all day everyday, you seem to be rather ignorant about the reproductive health of women in general. I’ll actually agree with you on the venereal disease comparison though Wayne. You are itchy, unpleasant, spread everywhere and I’m not fucking with you.

“They can’t stop me, even if they stop me.” - from ‘3 Peat'

Wayne they just fucking stopped you! You’ve been stopped. Stopping has happened, therefore you have been stopped and your logic and understanding of basic physics is utterly fucked up beyond comprehension. Einstein’s ghost is currently punching your dead homies in the throat for this nonsense.

 “I’m a shark in the water, you just Long John Silver” - from ‘The Rapper Eater'

So let me get this straight Mr Weezy. I’m one of the most famous fictional pirates of all-time, a fucking ruthless cunning villain, who nearly every other pirate has bitten the steez of (peg legs and parrots motherfucker - I started that shit) who managed to successfully evade capture by the authorities and disappeared with a small fortune? And you’re a dumbass fish with teeth that will eventually get caught in a net somewhere off the African coast, sliced up, battered and served with my chips? Sure.... sure Wayne. I can live with that.

“I’m nuts, just call me squirrel.” - from ‘Get High, Screw Da World’

I don’t know ANY squirrels whose mother named them Nuts. None. Nobody does. You know why? Cause squirrels don’t even have names motherfucker! And if they did, I doubt they would name themselves after things they consume. That’s like your mum calling you Purple Drank.

 “And yeah I’m a bear, like black and white hair, so I’m polar.” - from ‘Phone Home’

Straight up, this lyric is completely and utterly 100% Rainman certified spastic. There is absolutely no way of attempting to interpret this line with a logical mind. It doesn’t fucking make sense. Then of course you have the rest of the song which basically has Wayne pretending to be ET in a spaceship. Son, lay off the sizzurp.

“I’m fresher than a newborn and um, I could work you out like a futon.” - from Chris Brown’s ‘Gimme That (Remix)’

There isn't much more we can say about the latest Maundz track "Take It Back" that hasn't been said already. Whether praising Wik's beat as an instant classic that could sit comfortably next to Pete Rock's work in the mid-90's or saying Maundz just gets better and even betterer with every verse he lays down or that Bias wearing that tracksuit and ponytail is the best thing that has happened in a filmclip since Reason was being drunk in a flannel with Def Wish - everybody has already gabbed on about it relentlessly.

G-Force, Forkie, Force, Gareth - whatever you want to call the bespectacled MC and DFTC Records ringleader, everybody admits he is fucking top bloke. Since this top bloked actually helped out drop our fucking long awaited mixtape by bailing us out of a Burmese prison we shot him one of our patented quizzes.

Future Is Now or Violent by Design?

Hmmmm.  Both are dope for their own reasons.  Stoupe fucken smashes the production on VBD, I smoked a shitload when this was dropped and it was like some second wave Wu Tang shit to me.  So many dope guest spots as well.  I still listen to it but these days seem to skip to tracks with features like Lif on Speech Cobras, after 2000 a lot of shit either imitated this to a t or was on some fruity shit.  I guess The Future is now was the Violent By Design of 2002 almost.  That raw gritty shit. Production on TFIN was a classic line up that blended so well.  Look, they both are classics but im going with The Future is now because I personally think the chemistry of Ill Bill, Goretex and Sabac works better as a whole album.  If VBD was billed as a Stoupe Production album then it may be different.  Fuck it,  check 'Rock Stars' and tell me that aint the shit.

In Peak Street’ Magazine’s humble, yet godddam correct, opinion - 1993 was a vintage year for hip hop. 36 Chambers, Doggystyle, Midnight Marauders, 93 Til Infinity, Bacdafuccup, Slaughtahouse, Black Sunday, Lethal Injection, Return of the Boom Bap, Enta Da Stage and Buhloone Mind State are just a hint of the classic albums which hit speakers in the nine-trey. Timeless music.

To pay homage to this most awesome of hip hop years, Peak Street put a call out to all Australian MC’s to drop some bars over some classic beats from the year 1993 for a mixtape. All heads had to do was track down an instrumental to one of their favourite joints that was dropped in that year and then lay down some bars worthy of it.

Some of the finest lyricists, both established and underground, answered the call with a huge number of tracks being submitted. After much careful deliberation from a panel of esteemed judges consisting of Chad Mann (Peak Street Designer), Ronan Hamill (Hippopotamus Rex Radio Presenter), Jim Steps (blogger from allaussiehiphop.com) and Shane Scott (Hip Hop journalist), the Peak Street Editor disregarded all their advice, gave the dopest tracks to Dazed to go and mix and then fled to Cambodia to meet Pegz and start a south-east Asian drug syndicate.

This new career move didn’t quite pan out though so months later he has returned and teamed up with Down For the Count Records to drop the best mixtape of this year. 

DOWNLOAD LINK

http://dftc.bandcamp.com/album/93-mixtape

TRACKLIST

1. Tommy Illfigga - Back On Track

2. Dialect & Motion - Reign Of The Tec

3. Syntax - Chief Rocka

4. Hau - Let 'Em Know

5. Defyre - Slammin'

6. Baptist - Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit'

7. Deece - Ghetto Bird

8. Autism, Fatty Phew, Fraksha & Scotty Hinds - The Funky Child

9. Prophet Rayza - That's When Ya Lost

10. APHSUB - Hip-Hop Hooray

11. Raven & Myk Reid - Lyrical Killa

12. Tornts - Spitters Are Low

13. Slats - Not With A G

14. Choose Mics - In The '93

15. LSD & Rob Shaker - En Focus Remix

16. Conseps - Dolly My Baby

17. GOATMOB - I Want To Get High

18. Nymphlow & Fevapres - Old Ways

19. Young Lean - Hope You're Happy

20. Maundz, Discourse, Wansix & Fluent Form - 93 Like

21. 27 Politics - Devils Lung

22. DFTC - Aint Goin Out Like That

23. Koolta - Out Here Pt. 2

24. Hunter - 93 Till Sooner

ALTERNATIVE COVER ART

COMPETITION

A stack of NBA basketball cards from 1993 are up for grabs to anybody who can correctly guess each of the 24 beats, plus all the 1993 movie villains. Email us at david.edgley {at} peakstreet {dot} com

Let us know what you think of the mixtape and what year we should do next in the comments below.

Thanks to all he dope artists who contributed (whether you made the cut or not) and Dazed, Chad Mann, Forkie and Nevs for making the 93 Mixtape happen.

Dazed

Third Half Design

       That is right motherfuckers! After we spent the last few months unsuccessfully trying to get former Death Row Records artist Tray Deee out of prison and resurrect his rap career, we gave up and are now ready to drop The 93 Mixtape.

Thanks to some hard work and hustle from Dazed and Down For The Count Records, and us at Peak Street now attending our AA meetings on a regular basis, the mixtape is done and we're gonna play the whole thing on Goonbag Radio today at 6pm regular Australian time. Tune in to hear me talk a gang of shit and to listen to some of the best rappers in Australia smash some of the best instrumentals from the year 1993. Can't get much better than clasic beats and Australian hip hop together right?

Pagen Elypsis MC and young go-getter Purpose has got bars to spare. Plenty of them. Like more than Pentridge and Barwon combined. But does he have answers? We decided to throw him our patented 'I Got 5 On It' quiz and see what happened.

Frank Ocean or The Weeknd?

Tough one, I'm a Frank fan but I'd have to say The Weeknd. Put a lot of quality music out last year, enjoyed all of it. Dude can sing his ass off.

"Dead Presidents I" or "Dead Presidents II"?

"Dead Presidents II'. Original is good but Pt 2 is just classic. Reasonable Doubt is one of my all time favorite albums and that song is a big part of the reason why. 

360 or Kerser?

In the battle? 60. It was a good battle, but 60's experience just rapping/clarity won it for me.

Deafness or Blindness?

Woooooow another tough one. Damn. Uh.... I think I'd go with Blindness. There's so much in the world to see, but music can paint a clear picture in the minds eye. Plus then when I bump into people they'll just feel bad instead of us fighting to the death.

Big L or Big Pun?

Big L. Both were amazing writers but me and my boys probably know all the words to every Big L song.

So some awesome motherfucking kids over at gun.io have just nabbed Ol Dirty Bastard's FBI File thanks to the Freedom of Information Act that allows for the release of FBI files if that dude is deceased. And since ODB is as dead as Common's diss game, they dropped the files.

Skimming through the info, it seems that the Wu-Tang Clan were clearly nothing to fuck with. Hell just check page 5, and I quote;

"The WTC (Wu-Tang Clan) is heavily involved in the sale of drugs, illegal guns, weapons possession, murder, carjacking and other types of violent crime."

Protect your neck kid!

The document connects the Clan to a couple of murders, a shoot out with the New York Police Department and the Bloods Gang. It also outlines Ol Dirty's being robbed and shot.

Tell us if you find anything else interesting rap nerds. 

If I could steal anyone's flows and cadences in the game, it would most probably be from Dialectrix. Unfortunately I would waste all that amazing talent spittin about Burger Rings, Macgyver re-runs and longnecks. We decided to throw some questions with out 'I Got 5 On It' quiz.

Chester P or Jehst? 

Damn! Thats hard right off the bat! This to me all comes down to timing. Had I been asked this 3-4 years ago it probably would have been Jehst. Like many younger MC's in this country High Plains Drifter was one of those seminal records that all those young 'lyrical rapity rappers' liked and I was definitely one of those dudes, yet I hated a lot of the dudes who overrated Jehst as they were usually pretentious hippy wankers for some reason.

All that aside I've always respected Jehst as a wordsmith. He's got the ability to make me focus on his imagery rather then get lost in his word flow which is a rare and talented gift I reckon and his influence on Australian rappers is huge. Having said that Chester takes this in my books. He can be equally as convoluted and as esoteric as Jehst yet Chester has been more prolific and is far better at hitting home with conscious subject matter and has more of a sting to his bars when he's passionate about what he's talking about. To me Chester P is a mans rapper Jehst is more of a boys rapper and unfortunately I'm turning into an old man.

Streetfighter of Tekken?

KILLER INSTINCT!! CO-CO-CO-COMBO BREAKER!!!!!!!!! Um..... yeah.... Streetfighter hands down. My big bro is a die hard Tekken head and he's swayed me over the years but Streetfighters unfuckwitable (unless Killer Instinct is involved!)

The Beatminerz or The Beatnuts?

I have more respect for the Beatminerz 'cause of their crazy catalogue of history yet I've got more sentimental attachment to the Beatnuts as they were one of the first groups that got me into rap heavily and I copped their shit when it dropped rather then checkin them retrospectively like a lot of the earlier shit from the 90's. If I was offered a beat by the two I would pick the Beatminerz though

Stress: The Extinction Agenda or Clear Blue Skies

You're an arsehole! Shiiiiieeeeeet! Breeze and Pharaohe are both in my top 5. This is bullshit! As albums I would have to go with Stress.. overall but I think there are moments in Clear Blue Skies that I think are better. That "Damn-it-to-hell-again-I-feel-my-brain-swell-like-meningitis..." flow Breeze does is one of my favourite verses of all time and the album as a whole is stoopid! But Stress to me is more consistent with more classic tracks as a whole but... it would depend what mood I'm in I guess.

De Niro or Pacino?

Pacino's done less cheese. He fucked it with the coffee ads but. Taxi Driver is one of my all time favourites and I like it better then Scarface that must make me an emo punk or something I'm just going to say De Niro on that alone fuck it.

Go make sure you vote for Dialectrix in the Triple J Hottest 100. He has his awesome Like a Version of "Buy Me A Pony" and the track "Priceless" with Pegz and Joe New. CLICK CLICK.

For hip hop heads in Australia there are some big awards that they can now aspire to win. Whether it is picking up Best Urban Album at the ARIAs, getting into the Triple J Hottest 100 or scoring Best Verse on a Posse Cut that was Produced by a Tasmanian on Fruity Loops at the OzHipHop.com Awards. But now there is THE Award for local hip hop. Australian Hip Hop's Sexiest Man. Ladies it is time to disregard the intellectual and personal traits of these men in order to focus on them as instruments of pure sexual gratification. 

Fill out the survey at the bottom of the page to have your say in these historic awards. Re-tweet THIS or share the survey on Facebook to go in the draw to win an awesome mystery prize! The survey closes on Wednesday 18th of January and we will have an expert panel of judges dissecting the results and announcing the winners.

So we've started this new quiz called 'I Got 5 On It' which is basically 5 random questions where we give heads two options to choose from. They can answer any damn well way they please. First up is Golden Era heavy hitter and Stevan Segal of Australian hip hop - Vents.

Hit Squad or Def Squad?

Did Hit Squad even put out an album? I only heard the first Def Squad album and from that I only really played one song a lot (checkin me out?) so they win off that. Plus, Eric.

John Rambo or Rocky Balboa?

Rocky. Did you know Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed all of these? (thanks, Dr Bind) 

Coffee or Cigarettes? 

Well, I started smoking when I was... what? 10? 11? And I only got addicted to this other wonderful legal and incredibly addictive psychoactive drug CAFFEINE in the last couple of years. So, durrys.

Vin Rock or Phife?

Wow. Phife. Did you know Vin Rock is Mike Tyson's cousin? And Treach is married to Pepa from the group Salt N Pepa? Or maybe they divorced by now. Is this the kind of ranting you were after, Dave? As long as the conversation stays on Reagan era cinema and 90's rap, I can keep going like this forever.

Only Built for Cuban Linx or The Infamous?

Fuckkkkkkkkk. Shit; both really original, heavy, classic albums. I love both of these equally and it would be unfair to place them in a competition. But, since we're doing that... shit... fuck... Infamous. Actually, Cuban Linx. No... Infamous.

Australian hip hop has come a long way in the last few years, but in our esteemed opinion it still has a while to go if it wants to catch up with hip hop from the States. Sure we have some successful rappers nowadays, but rappers in the States don't even rhyme anymore! Sure they may put out an album or a mixtape every now and again, but it is all about producing your own line of beverages these days.

Whether it is Diddy and Ciroc Vodka, 50 Cent and his Street King Energy Shots or Ludacris' Conjure Cognac - spittin lyrics just gets in the way of poppin bottles and making paper.

Therefore here are a handful of drinks from Aussie rappers which we would like to see on sale at the bottle-o, or perhaps over the counter at Obese, sometime soon.

Kerser wouldn't be the relentless lyrical beast he is without the Western Suburbs and beer, so his beverage should pay homage to both. Nothing like crackin open a longie of Eshays Lager while hanging with the lads at the park in Punchie, yelling at sluts, rollin cunts with boxcutters with your collar on ya Nautica polo up around your ears. 

    Some rappers are just far more educated, emotionally mature and sophisticated than others. Illy is a case in point. He has a law degree, raps about feelings with heartfelt, grown up singers and had a brand of coffee named in his honour. He is truly a man of the world, deserving of a beverage as classy as himself. Illy Livered Ale is that beverage. Imbibe!

Those among us hip hop aficionados who wish to enjoy an alcoholic beverage without feeling guilty about exploiting impoverished, third world farmers are now catered for with The Tongue's fantastic new drink Xannon's Green Pilsner. Unfortunately the socially conscious brewing process means that it is a slow and time consuming to produce, the alcoholic content of the beer is negligible and it costs $27 a bottle.

When you need to stalk the streets at night and think murderous thoughts, Tornts' new brand of Swillin Piss Draught is right up your horrific, gut-rot, rubbish strewn, rat-infested, Hades-like darkened alley. Tastes much like Carlton Draught, though made with more spewing human hatred and ice cold stares.

Peak Street vs Triple J

In case you missed it, here is our inaugural Unearthed column in the latest Triple J Mag.

Down For The Count Records - "Eddie Holman"

So when I heard that Forkie had formed a record label, I was all like 'For the love of Zeus, why? There aint no money in rap. Go invest your money in something which will provide reasonable returns in the short-term such as uranium shares or gambling on dogfights'.

Luckily though I'm not a certified Financial Advisor, can never find the dogfights out in Sunshine and Force never listens to a word I say anyway. So old mate dropped Down For The Count Records on an unsuspecting public, assembling some of the finest heads who have all been shovelling shit in the coal mines of the underground for a while.

The result is an LP that is fucking tight from front to back both lyrically and, even though there is a slew of producers, sonically too. By now you should all know that Sparts and Force together are like goddam relentless rhyme steamrollers crushing anything in their path, especially if you caught their Powerlines EP. Well you also get Sin Synik (who you may remember as Sinks) and his implausibly elastic flow, Dazed's emphatic MPC bangers and thoughtful mic steeze and this Mol One kid (who I only remember from some Blazin Marty collabo) who is going to be a beast if somebody keeps feeding him.

Seriously it's one of my favourite releases of the year. And I hate a lot of shit. Actually probably most shit. Especially yours.

I was gonna post 'King Killaz Part 2', cause the strings that Dazed laced that number with are what you would normally hear upon waking up and finding Freddie Kreuger standing over your bed and cause Sparts says Trotskyite.  But Dazed already threw that beat at Grand Arkiteks for his 7. Also nearly threw out 'The Ones' cause Force's words over Shroomz's stuttering headnodder feels like my own personal anthem.

But what you're getting above is the opener 'Eddie Holman'. Describing it pointless when you can just click the cover and listen, but what you're getting is the whole crew straight ripping a B Wiv heater with horns that Pete Rock couldn't have placed more perfectly. It's the shit.

Goat Mob (Geko and Aetcix) - "Code Green"

If the Goat Mob promo video is anything to go by then this new Crate Cartel project will basically be Aetcix talking so much shit that Chunk from the Goonies wouldn't be able to get a motherfucking word in and Geks sitting silently at the back tweeting people that he is unimpressed with their utilisation of Americanised spelling. Kind of like a stoned version of Penn and Teller, only with less weird goatee's.

Thankfully though you can't trust everything you watch.

Goat Mob is the sound of ditching that Espy gig, punching the last billy, standing up and tripping over a coffee table full of empties and smashing your face into a milk crate full of grimy boom bap records from the 90's. In other words, my kind of shit. No really - that is a typical weekend for me.

This particular track by the 2 producers/MC's "Code Green" is about the current financial situation in Greece and the effects which the current round of austerity measures is having upon the psyche of the younger generations of disenfranchised youth. 

Or it might just be about weed. Click the cover to listen and cop the LP from Crate Cartel

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib (MADGIB) - "Thuggin"

Mr Otis Jackson is always at his best when getting his collab on. Teaming up tends to filter out the crazy Lib type shit that can sometimes do my fucking head in, so I love it when he gets in the studio with heads like MF DOOM, Dilla, Guilty Simpson, Talib Kweli or Strong Arm Steady (not Percee P though, that album was worse than Donkey AIDS in your ears). Can't say I saw this hook up with Indiana's Freddie Gibbs and his straight G shit coming round the corner though.

Supposedly the Cali beat wizard and Indiana G are working on a full-length album which they are looking at dropping early next year. And if this little EP is anything to go by, I aint mad at em.

Freddie's flow rides shotgun effortlessly spitting definitions of his street life that could sit comfortably next to a Death Row-era Tupac verse while Madlib's beat cruises past slowly, slouched in the drivers seat giving you the finger.

Ciecmate and Brad Strut - "I Need Change"

Newsense knows how to run a record label. He puts out slick media kits, calls out slack media outlets (even mouths off at them when necessary) and probably shakes down retailers who don't pay their invoices on-time. He's basically the Australian Suge Knight, only with more manners and less jail time. 

Well Mr Sense shook us out of our self-imposed hip hop exile this week to let us know that Ciecmate is about to drop a production LP entitled 'Chess Sounds'. Everybody's favourite social-media Luddite has obviously pitched a fucking tent in his new studio considering this is his second full length drop this year. 

I want to say that the MC's look like a 'Dream Team', but that inevitably poses the question 'Well, which one is Christian Laettner?' and more importantly sounds really gay. And since I aint heard the whole thing yet, it is probably best just to leave the basketball metaphors on the bench.

What we do have here is the track "I Need Change" with the always on point Brad Strut ripping his patented lyrical jabs straight at your dome. Ciecmate comes correct with some booming drums that Buckwild would be pissed he never found and some frantic quitar riff that makes me think that Macgyver only has 10 seconds to diffuse a bomb with a stapler and chewing gum. It's tight shit. Can't say I'm completely sold on that chorus though... I reckon Ciecmate should have got Briggs to warble it.