Sleepless in the Hustle

5 straight nights of little to no sleep. So much has happened in the past week, I never got a moment to sit down and write about it. Read on for Emkew news, Vibe Union news, and some huge news about our latest venture.

Hit play on this video and read on

It all kicked off on Thursday night, supporting Dave Dilly at Laundry Bar. As always his infectious and dominant energy filled the room and set the tone for the night. Kudos to all the performers there, but it’s a powerful feeling to roll up to a gig to support a Vibe Union homie and see the room fall in love with them. We on the rise!

Friday saw me in a big meeting that could see me MC’ing a whole new range of parties and events around Melbourne. Watch this space for more news to be confirmed this week – but basically, you could be seeing Emkew on the decks before long. And then there was Royalty Noise. As with last night, rocking up to Northcote Social Club as Vibe Union to support the homie Tumi the Be felt nice. And then we were treated to one of the best damn live shows I’ve ever seen! It’s always been a dream of mine to do a live set of hip hop with fully live instrumentation, and getting to see it executed so damn well was such a treat. Check out this snippet I threw up on my Instagram

And of course, once again, I got home at about 2am only to be up at 8 to get back into it. Before long I found myself at the notorious Red House of Brunswick, where D-Rad MC was hosting a get together of a range of musos. We partied long into the night, freestyling to beats for hours on end, and making up music with the Spanish-speaking housemates. Inside 24 hours I was already materialising my goals of creating live hip hop from scratch, with real instruments. I got home at a cheeky 3am.

Sunday was meant to be a write-off, but I was up again nice and early, plugging away on a proposal for Ronnie’s Blue Bar for an upcoming night (stay tuned!) Before long I was catching up with a Melbourne musician keen to get involved in Vibe Union, and it was nice just sitting back and chatting about all things music with someone from a different musical background. Then I headed over to the SalamFest picnic, where people were going to bring instruments and jam. The video at the top is from that picnic and it was a powerful feeling connecting with these talented and renowned musicians to create something from scratch. It was an honour jamming with you, Renaud, Yousupha, Kate, Mashhoor, and the entire SalamFest crew!

From there I made my way to Spike Leo’s Squad Sundays. ConnR had been raving about these events for a minute and I figured it’s always good to see how other networks are establishing in this city. There was a great turnout and I appreciated the fact that our ticket costs went towards pizza and wine to help set up a nice atmosphere. It was great to hear direct from Spike’s experiences being a player in this game for so long, and he had good advice to offer. Personally I took more away from the meta-play, understanding how he sets up the room, an atmosphere for collaboration/networking, and how he re-markets to his existing client base. Ever since a friend convinced me to watch Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line Persuasion tapes, I’ve been obsessed with reverse-engineering the approaches of industry players to unpack their approach. I like watching sales pitches purely to understand how they’re selling, not what. In all it was a great experience and it was awesome meeting other musicians like Desmond Masé, but I likely won’t continue attending as it just runs divergent to what we already have going in Vibe Union. I’m blessed with a steady stream of new collaborators and potential mentors/mentees through my organic movements in this city already, I don’t feel I need a formalised lukewarm monthly “hang” to bolster that.

And then there’s Monday. Sweet, bloody, crazy Monday. First off, the latest episode of the Vibe Union Podcast dropped. It’s an incredible ride through Tumi’s experiences and I highly recommend it to any emerging artists considering dabbling in the live music scene this year. I pushed further with the proposal for Ronnie’s Blue Bar, and we set up the event for Vibe Union’s next gig. Details here. Between 3 prospective new jobs, managing Emkew, managing Vibe Union, planning festivals, gigs, and new nights in Melbourne, and volunteering with a refugee support network, I’m just lucky I have a house to myself right this minute. It’s an amazing feeling knowing there is so much opportunity, but it does feel like it can get to be a lot at times. And in those times I remind myself to breathe, step away from the computer, re-calibrate, and refresh. There will always be work to do, but sometimes it’s more important to step away. I went to bed at 10:30 and I feel amazing today because of it.

Which is good, because today was monumental. Today I made the news:

Emkew news Ticker NEWS Vibe Union VU
Emkew discussing Vibe Union on ticker NEWS. Taken from Twitter: https://twitter.com/tickerNEWSau/status/1364032138077642753

It was awesome discussing what Vibe Union is up to, and how we’re changing the landscape. And from there, I went to meet with Ronnie to deliver our proposal:

I am pleased to announce that Vibe Union and Ronnie’s Blue Bar are teaming up to bring you Melbourne’s most inclusive Hip Hop night – Rappers Delight! Inspired by (and really missing) Hip Hop Karaoke, I put the wheels in motion to revive the night with a new look and feel at Melbourne’s home of hip hop. After meeting with Ronnie and hammering out the details, we are pleased to announce that the first ever Rappers Delight will take place on March 25th at Ronnie’s Blue Bar. Free entry, awesome DJ’s spinning the tunes, and all your favourite songs performed by all your favourite people! Watch this space for the Facebook event.

So yeah… I’ve been busy. I have one more surprise for you this week in the form of an exclusive website-only release… It’ll be out… soon. Best subscribe to the mailing list to get the jump on the news!