Maths - counting a quarter-century in hip hop

Having blown crowds of punters, bboys and hip hop heads away at The Scenario in August, and 2009 marking his quarter-century of involvement in the hip hop scene and all, we at hatonrack thought it was time to sit down and tell you all a bit more about the force of Australian hip hop known as Deejay Mathmatics.

Download The Scenario mixtape Part 1 by Deejay Mathmatics now!

Deejay Mathmatics behind the turntables at Shadow Wars, Australia's biggest bboy battle event. Does this guy age?...

Having been involved in the various elements of hip hop since it arrived in Australia in the early '80s, Deejay Mathmatics made his first major moves in 1993 when he co-founded the RoboTek crew with hip hop artists Swipa, Mandrin and Phero.

"At first RoboTek was known primarily as a bboy crew," Maths explains, "but as time went by we became recognised as having skills in more than one of the five elements. We got this recognition through doing showcases combining multiple elements of hip hop, for example shows with djing, bboying and graff etc."

During the 1990s, RoboTek performed alongside some of the games biggest global names, including Jurassic 5, Q-Bert, Naughty by Nature, Roots Manuva, Rock Steady Crew and many more.

Then in the late 1990's, RoboTek joined forces with Australian hip hop Legends Def Wish Cast and Ser Wrek to form the Ground Assault crew. "As Ground Assault we delived power-punch performances all around Australia, including shows for Sony Playstation , Channel Ten, Triple J, X Games, FHM magazine and others", says Maths.

In the early 2000s, like all good artists Mathmatics decided he needed a change of direction, to focus more directly on his djing and turntablism ("although never for a second abandoning my bboy and graff roots", he's quick to point out). It was at this time that he began touring intensively and taking on more club nights, festivals, bboy events and battles around Australia.

He hooked up with Dj Skoobz at this time and started performing back-to-back on four turntables at clubs and festivals. During those years focussing hard on turntablism, Skoobz won three consecutive state DMC titles and the duo came runner-up in the Australian ITF crew battle.

"It was also in the early '00s that I began taking in new recruits for the RoboTek crew and established the next generation of squad members, including Monsta Rok, DJ Dizcipl, Fort Knox and so on", recalls Mathmatics.

So you read the story of a guy like this and wonder, from all of these years of experience, can there be a single highlight moment?...

Probably not. But Maths does say that "one major highlight for me would have to be my being the only Australian to ever DJ for the legendary ICE-T, which I did at the Oz Bboy Championships." Now that's TRUE original gangster!

Add to that highlight his performances over the years not only around most of Australia but also internationally in Scotland, Italy, Venice, England, New York and New Zealand, and you start to get a feel for the span of Mathmatics' journey.

Is he stopping to rest a while? Man please!

Deejay Mathmatics is still representing RoboTek Warlords in 2009 (yep that's 16 years - way longer than most marriages), and is part of the LookUP crew; the latter being of course a long-time hatonrack friend and collaborator. Since 2007 Mathmatics has partnered with famed Sydney MC Scott Burns of LookUP, smashing a huge number of shows around the country, running parties and events and releasing a number of albums, records, mixtapes & videos.

He's also of course running sh!t in the bboy scene (as evidenced in his primary DJ status at this year's Shadow Wars battle, pictured above) and regularly blessing club and festival DJ booths around the country.

Want to hear the kind of thing Deejay Mathmatics puts together in his "spare time"? Download his The Scenario mixtape Part 1 now!

"The mix I delivered here is a good indication of what I would play at The Scenario" says Maths - "a well-put-together blend of up-tempo, block party hip hop, dirty stankin azz funk, a few crazy mashups, some soul and possibly a bit of reggae and dancehall."

Word, that's a mix alright. Thanks on behalf of the whole community for all your work and commitment Maths - here's to another 25 years homeboy!