Freak the technique: Hip Hop hits CarriageWorks Redfern

Now in its third year, Platform 3 is the biggest hip hop festival in town and it just keeps growing.

More than dancing, the festival brings a wide range of artists together.

Animation artist Luke Cavalan will present his film Kaos in King St, a claymation about the effect anti-graffiti laws have had on graffiti artists. Cavalan will present alongside the nation’s best beat boxers, MCs, DJs, graff artists, wordsmiths, musicians, movers and shakers, poppers, lockers and breakers.

Apart from the death-defying break-off final on Saturday night, the festival has become known for its unique event “flexing skills” - a mix between improvised theatre, jamming, poetry and beat boxing.

This year there are two new off-site elements to the program - a walking tour of the best graff art sites in Newtown and Enmore, and workshops with young people at Redfern Community Centre to work up an act to bring to the festival showcase.

This year also marks the first time that the entire judging panel of the big break-off will be made up of international hip-hop artists.

Most of the contestants are from Sydney, with a few international competitors.

“The beautiful thing about hip-hop is that it’s a storytelling culture,’’ executive producer Jamie Dawson said. “It has a unique flavour no matter where it is. People draw upon their background and surrounding environment. It is the new folk music of its generation.’’

Platform at CarriageWorks was the brainchild of Nick Power, a breakdancer, choreographer and producer who started Brisbane’s massive hip-hop festival, which has grown to incorporate street closures.

Power has performed with heavyweights such as Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC and the Resin Dogs and has tutored in remote Indigenous communities.

Platform 3 includes artists such as Morganics, Brethren, Mistery, Nikkita and Class A, Mathmatics, Ill Will, Jules and DJ Sizzle, Sista Native and Brothablack.

If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at breakdancing, there are free public breakdance lessons scheduled for this Saturday at 11am to get you in the mood for the festival.

The two-day festival begins on Friday night, March 19, and continues Saturday afternoon and evening, March 20.

Source: http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au/news/story/freak-the-technique-hip-hop-hits-carriageworks-redfern/