Despite top economic forecasters reporting that 2017 has seen a sustained fall in Australian living standards, one plucky musician has turned a negative into a positive.
Pablo Smalls, 27, a local rapper and MC, has told the Sydney music press, “A declining quality of life is actually a good thing for me and my art. The reason American rap is so much better than Aussie rap is that America can be a really difficult place to live – an enormous class divide, widespread violent crime, rampant urban poverty… Now that we’re seeing Australian living standards decline and the basic freedoms and privileges we enjoy in this country being slowly eroded, it makes me think I might be able to rap about some of that stuff here, too.”
There is a consensus amongst hip-hop fans that a further decline in living standards will ultimately benefit the genre.
One commentator told The Garter Press, “This is just what the Aussie rap game needs to break into mainstream consciousness.”
However, they did have personal financial concerns about Australia’s economic decline.
“That being said, now that penalty rates have been cut and rent prices are continuing to climb, I don’t know how many records I’ll be able to buy this year.”
