Australia has a pretty disastrous relationship with touring international hip-hop acts for festivals and tours.

Tthis year’s spotty track record of collapsed hip-hop music festivals and troubled rap events alone would have many believe in the myth of the ‘hip hop curse’, but a Sydney based label celebrating its 15th birthday is looking to buck the trend.

Elefant Traks, the award-winning independent label founded by Tim Levenson (aka Urthboy), is celebrating its 15th anniversary with an “elefant-sized festival” presented over two nights in Melbourne and Sydney this November, as FasterLouder points out.

The all-Aussie lineup for the Elefant Traks festival will showcase the label’s star-studded roster and topping the bill will be AMP-winning duo Hermitude, Sydney hip hop outfit Horroshow, along with Levenson’s formative group The Herd, as well as solo sets from Urthboy and fellow Herd clansman Ozi Batla.

Also on the Elefant Traks Festival lineup are Joelistics, Jimblah, Astronomy Class, The Last Kinection, Sietta, Sky’High, The Tongue, and in her solo debut, Jane Tyrrell. The all-Aussie lineup for the Elefant Traks festival will showcase the label’s star-studded roster…

Each act on the lineup “is only performing once over the two nights, so if you want to see everyone, you need the two-day pass,” as Elefant Traks’ festival announcement notes. The label is also encouraging for a sold out weekend by hosting the first night at a larger venue, then a second night at a separate venue, emphasising “the smaller gig is a very limited capacity.” Namely at Sydney’s Red Rattler, which holds just 250 punters, and the Northcote Social Club’s 300 capacity room for the Melbourne leg, while the bigger nights will be held at The Metro and The Corner Hotel in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

Organisers note they have a “huge… special plan” set for the larger venue shows that will be announced closer to the November kick-off of the Elefant Traks 15th Anniversary Festival. A Facebook post notes that the label had planned dates in other cities, but proved “too hectic” to organise.

Pre-sale two-day passes will be available from Wednesday 11th September for $60 (+b/f), while one day passes go on sale on Friday 20th September, while Elefant Traks are yet to reveal who’s playing which days on the lineup.

The relatively smaller, safer model that Elefant Traks has announced looks to be a much smarter move than the large-scale flops that have dotted 2013 so far. The most high-profile victims of the hip hop curse being the Nas-curated, Live Nation-backed Movement festival, the postponed all-ages Supafest, and the inaugural Hype hip hop festival falling apart before its lineup was even announced.

Then there was the sad case of Fat As Butter promoters Mothership Music going into liquidation after they lost a crucial court case seeking $400,00 in damages from Flo Rida over his 2011 festival no-show.

Then there were the risky failures of Urban Vibe, billed as “the biggest hip-hop event Mildura had ever seen,” Coolio’s recent Australian Tour, a botched visit from Mos Def (nee Yasiin), and the stricken Heatwave festival, whose promoter called the ‘hip hop curse’ all superstition.

Despite the worrying trend, the Eleftant Traks festival isn’t the sole Aussie hip hop event that’s looking to break the downward trend. The annual Sprung hip hop festival, kicking off next month, is expanding to Melbourne for the first time this year and eyeing off further legs across Australia. The Drapht and Illy topped Come Together festival celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year, while the Rap City mini-festival is bringing Talib Kweli to Australian shores in October to headline their mini-festival.

Elefant Traks 15 Festival 2013 Lineup

Hermitude
Horrorshow
The Herd
Urthboy
Sietta
The Tongue
Jimblah
Joelistics
Astronomy Class
The Last Kinection
Ozi Batla
Sky’high
Jane Tyrrell (solo debut)

Elefant Traks 15 Festival 2013 Dates & Tickets

Melbourne
Friday 22nd November – Corner Hotel
Saturday 23rd November – Northcote Social Club

Sydney
Friday 29th November – Metro Theatre
Saturday 30th November – Red Rattler

PRE-SALE INFO:

Pre-sale two-day pass available Wed, Sept 11 (10am) at discounted price of $60 + BF. These passes are strictly limited.

– Melbourne two-day passes will be available Wed, Sept 11 (10am) from the following links:Corner Hotel  and Northcote Social Club.

– Sydney two-day passes will be available Wed, Sept 11 (10am) from http://ticketek.com.au 13 28 49 and www.metrotheatre.com.au (02) 9550 3666
Please use the following pre-sale code: ETFAM

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