The name Mystro is well known to Aussie hiphop heads, as he’s appeared on a slew of records which hit their hearts and local charts. Resin Dogs, Downsyde and Adelaide’s own Hilltop Hoods featured Mystro on their major releases, and he’s toured around the country, impressing audiences with his flow and dialogue. Now he returns the favour with his own album ‘Diggi Down Unda’, due out January, alongside artists such as P Money, Hilltop Hoods, Dazastah (Downsyde), DJ Bonez (Hyjak N Torcha), Phrase, Macromantics, Maya Jupiter, and more. Released in the UK and Australia, it will hopefully impress the UK punters in the same way Mystro has impressed Australian audiences.
Mystro got introduced to hiphop at the age of 12 through artists such as NWA, Public Enemy, and De La Soul. He was also introduced to ragga, and even dabbled in a little bit of jungle MCing. “There was a time when hiphop kinda droped out for me,” he laments. “It wasn’t as interesting as when I first heard it, around like early 90s. There was jungle, and that was all UK music, everyone in the area was heavy into it. I had a friend who had a local radio station and people were going “you should go on the radio show” so we did. I lost interest in it quickly because people didn’t care what you were saying, just going “yiidayyiddayidda” to the music, man,” he bursts into laughter, and I have to admit it’s one of the finest dnb MC impersonations I’ve witnessed.
Luckily his interest in hiphop perked up as artists like MC D and Blak Twang appeared with a uniquely UK sound. Mystro set about impressing people at open mic clubs and battles which eventually led to Deal Real signing his first single ‘Kiss That Arse Goodnight’. His rise is not too dissimilar to the way a lot of Aussie hiphop acts start, and it’s no surprise he won many fans not only in the UK but Australia as well.
That fan base wanted to hire him to play in Australia. “I originally got booked to play in Australia in 2004 and it was only a 3 week tour, hitting the major capital cities. The promoter basically introduced me to anyone I could meet at the time, and it went from there,” he says of how he got involved with many Australian artists. “I came back and toured for 3 months, and we hit Adelaide on that run – it was actually the Hoods who booked us to do the show. We stayed at Debris house and ended up recording the track on their album. When I had a gig in Perth Downsyde booked me to support them. Most of the time when I got to a city I’d be approached by the promoters or an act I was working with to do stuff with them.”
Originally ‘Diggi Down Unda’ was just going to be an EP, but the talent here and Mystro’s love for making music led to a full album. “Australian hiphop has its own identity. Everyone I’ve got on there uses their own accent. There’s no body on there who sounds like anyone else they (the UK listener) ever had heard of,” Mystro says of the artists on the album. “There’s a range of different voices and flows. Whether UK people get into it is another matter, but I think it will be easier with a familiar voice there. But that’s the goal – to let UK people know there’s talent all the way over there.”
Although both the British and Australian scenes have strong local following, it’s still rather underground, and hasn’t made a blip on the American Radar. “The people at the top still don’t take it seriously. There are still people in the industry saying “ah, nah, UK hiphop will never blow up” and there’re still probably rednecks in Australia who say the same thing about Aussie talent,” he laughs. “But I think it’s just a case of being marketed the right way. It’s sad to say it, but that is what it’s turned into now.”
“It’s not about just having a good album, you’ve got to have a good album, you got to push the album, hit all the radio stations and posters, flyers, magazine interviews, and now even you’ve got to pay to get the front page and get slotted in the right place in the store,” he sighs. “And this makes it harder especially for the independent artist and labels to get their name out there and get their promotion done as well as all these majors are doing. The majority of homegrown talent isn’t signed to major labels and I think that’s the backbone of the problem – no body really gets to hear it because it can’t be promoted well and there’s not that much talk about it because it’s not on the big billboards and that.”
However, he doesn’t see all gloom, otherwise he wouldn’t be still in the game, and the success of the Hilltop Hoods has buoyed his spirits. “The stuff the Hoods are doing is really good for the scene. It’s not like they’re making stuff that all of a sudden changed for punters or labels. It’s good that a group like Hilltops won the Aria and not some bubblegum rap that Sony have just signed or something,” he chuckles.