There's A Message Behind The Beats

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday July 26, 2007

BENJAMIN LONG

MACROMANTICS

Tonight: UniBar, University of Wollongong

Romy Hoffman was touring the United States as a guitarist in the Ben Lee band Noise Addict when she first got turned on to rap music.

Such was its impact that she gave away indie pop in favour of hip-hop.

"I went to America in 1995-96 and I was pretty much just blown away by the immediacy of hip-hop," explains Hoffman, who now uses the stage name Macromantics.

"It was kind of like punk rock in that it was like a social and cultural commentary, and the music was like loud and immediate and documenting what was going on in the world.

"Beyond that I liked that it was an art form that made itself out of nothing. I came away from that tour, and I had always written poetry and liked stream-of-conscious stuff, and just thought 'Wow, I could put this to music'."

While Hoffman knew that rap was what she wanted to do, it took her a while to hone her chops.

"I got back and was pretty much in my bedroom for two years writing rap," she says. "It started off pretty silly and very basic and I guess I honed in on it more and developed a style more.

"It's something that I've been doing over the past 10 years and it has become an extension of myself and is a vital part of me."

The Macromantics style is melodic beats with witty wordplay, social commentary and sharp humour.

There is usually a message in her music; no surprise given that it is the more political rappers that have influenced her most.

"I really think the rappers who are doing something interesting are the ones who are pushing the boundaries and who are commenting on the world and what's going on.

"I do like some candy-coated stuff - you know, rappers who rap about guns and money and girls. That can be alright, but there's only so much of that I can take.

"It's rappers who have meaty content and subject matter and who you can see are doing something different and flipping the game on its head, those kind of rappers I listen to more."

While there is a serious side to the lyrics, they are usually cut with a good dose of humour.

"I think the humour is important," she says.

"I never used to be as light-hearted. My stuff just used to be this straight-up dark depressing kind of stuff. But you get older and you get a bit more light-hearted and don't take everything super-seriously and just have of fun with it."

Having fun with it also describes Hoffman's approach to performing.

" I like improvising because anything can happen up there and you never know how you're going to feel on the stage, and letting yourself go is a really amazing beautiful process.

"I prefer (performing live) to the recording aspect personally.

"There's something about recording your work and having it cemented in time and space forever that's kind of an eerie concept for me, whereas the performance is about now. Whoever was there got to share it but now it's over."

© 2007 Illawarra Mercury

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