WORD: We Jammin' The Airways

It used to be Soundclick then on to social networking sites like Myspace and now our music can be heard over the radio topping charts and getting more requests day by day. If you’re with me, then I’m sure you belong to the people who are now smiling and standing proud looking at the achievement of our very own ever since back in the days.

We used to not have any solid equipments to work with, no bedroom studio, no producer that’s readily available offering their services to people who’s out to make a banger except the occasional hiphop gig that happens for us all to showcase our music. In fact, it wasn’t just technological advancement that helped us get to where we are now, our sheer determination to ‘Keep It Real’ and getting out there to ‘hustle’ our cause enabled us to enjoy the current success.



Many passionate scenesters worked hard to create channels for other like them to put out their work. There was Platform, FreshNite, Hiphop Festival, Da’Shocase and recently Floetry, which was all set up to keep the local scene and spirit of hiphop alive. These specific events weren’t just made for the hiphop fans in mind but it being held outdoors helped to further reach out to the public’s ears. Not until Construction Sight (rap duo in which Sheikh Haikel was a part of) won Asia Bagus, hiphop in SG was non-existent then. That was the first step right there. It helped spread not just the music but the word about our very own hiphop out to the people.



Anyhoos enough sidetracking and let’s get back on track here. So with many new aspiring emcees sprouting out every now and then how do you make music and put it out there for others to listen? Soundclick.com was the answer back in circa ’01 – ‘05. You could do up a profile and upload all your songs and promoting your music was as easy as linking your listeners to the page. On comes Myspace which was a gazillion times better because of well…the Bulletin board. No more hopping from forum to forum to promo your music one by one because the Bulletin helps broadcast your message across to all in your ‘Friends’ list. For many of us that have yet to make it big, sure yeah, such sites are enough for us but for people who have a little more passion and dedication to the art form, that couldn’t possibly be the limit, right? They have to get out there and find new avenues to get their music out to the public and that was exactly what they did.



The mass media. We made it on TV and got our songs played on the radio. It was the best medium to showcase our talent. It was an outlet to let the people see/hear us. Freaky Z, Rauzan and Sleeq to name a few all got their songs heavily played on the radio because it was good and the masses loved it. The local scene is evolving and progressing. The path has already been set and now it is up to the rest to follow in the footsteps of these pioneers.

I must congratulate these guys for helping to promote good hiphop music to the public and to everyone else who’s helped since day 1 to spread the sounds of our homegrown talents. Be it the release of mixtapes or having our own bedroom radio shows done through podcasting or whatever, it is all done for the same cause.

Big ups to Divine-Aura for the distribution of the non-profitting Voices from Beneath mixtape project, XS.One for the Xclusive Online Radio series and 65&Hope for organizing events actively for us all to get together and enjoy what we have learned to love about the art.

- Hafiz RSG




ps; If you have articles you would like to share and publish, simple send them to 65hope@gmail.com. We wanna know what you think about the scene. :)