Last year, tragedy struck Sydney’s beloved Easter Show when teenager Uati “Pele” Faletolu was fatally stabbed in a wild brawl that broke out near the amusement rides.
NSW Police’s solution to increase safety at this year’s event? Ban rap music.
“Rapper music is being used to lure youth into a life of crime”
In a series of statements announcing the show-wide ban on hip-hop in 2023, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith claimed there was a cultural link between gang-related crime, and what he dubs “rapper music”.
“Through rapper music investment, [the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang] procured a significant youth gang problem to carry out violent crimes,” he said (via ABC News).
Smith continued to point the finger at a number of local hip-hop artists including drill group Onefour, claiming: “KVT, Onefour, all those gangs were carrying out serious violent crime on behalf of the Comanchero gang, we’ve got all the evidence we need to demonstrate that rapper music is being used to lure youth into a life of crime”.
In addition to the hip-hop ban, any music with “offensive language” will also be outlawed at this year’s event, while NSW police have also blacklisted up to 40 young people linked to the city’s so-called “postcode war”, embroiling rival gangs from the Guildford, Blacktown and Canterbury-Bankstown areas.
The Show’s general manager, Murray Wilton, has backed the move, telling the ABC, “If you look at the psychology of music… there is scientific fact the type of music that is played actually predicts somebody’s behaviour”.
However, this claim has been strongly refuted by University of Sydney Criminology Professor Murray Lee, who reckons there’s actually “little evidence” of any kind to suggest a causal relationship exists between rap music and violent crime.
“Here in Australia, you’d have to say that the idea that groups like Onefour incites violence seems to be a pretty long bow to draw at this point,” he told the broadcaster.
The professor has also dubbed the move “aesthetic policing”, likening it to the type of moral panics we’ve watched unfold throughout history around musical subcultures like heavy metal, the punk movement and as far back as Elvis Presley and the advent of jazz.
“This is the latest version of those sorts of panics,” he argued.
The rap ban has also incited a massive backlash across social media, with many punters branding it racist.
“What a fucking joke, and nothing but tunnel vision racism,” music media personality Jackson Langford said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, rapper Urthboy attributed the ban to “racist cops”.
While another user raged: “Okay so NSW cops are literally going around sexually assaulting women & children at festivals, but we’re banning *rap music* from the Sydney Royal Easter Show as a ‘safety precaution’???” another user raged, referencing previous disturbing revelations that NSW police have been routinely strip-searching hundreds of underage girls at music festivals since 2016.
However, the Easter show boss is denying the move is racially motivated.
“I don’t think it’s racist. We are determining the type of music and the type of genre that we do and do not want acceptable at the Easter Show and that’s what we’ve been working with the carnival operators,” he said.
Other increased safety measures being implemented at this year’s event include boosting lighting in the sideshow alley, using metal detectors and turning the music volume down.
No word yet on whether the Easter Bunny is facing a similar hip-hopping ban at the show this year for safety reasons, but we’ll be sure to update you with more information as it comes to hand.
Further Reading
Newly Obtained Data Reveals That NSW Police Strip Searched Over 120 Underage Girls Since 2016
Police Watchdog Finds Multiple Underage Strip Searches Carried Out At NSW Festivals “Unlawful”
