With The Best Intentions

Whether he’s guiding a Sydney Harbour Bridge climb or on stage as the other half of hip hop duo Spit Syndicate, Nick Lupi talks shit for a living and manages to keep his audiences entertained doing it.

“At the moment we’re just trying to juggle doing Spit Syndicate stuff with the real life stuff we have to do in order to pay bills and things like that,” Nick says. “I’m a tour guide on the Sydney Harbour Bridge; I take people up and talk shit to them about Sydney. It’s not that different to what I do in music, it’s just a different way of talking shit to people and trying to keep them vaguely entertained.”

Alongside fellow emcee Jimmy Nice, Lupi and Spit Syndicate are back with the first part of their new mixtape, ‘Best Intentions: Part One’, which features a range of guests from Pharaohe Monch to The XX. “It was just something that happened really quickly and really naturally and I think that’s why people dug it; because it didn’t sound forced. Some of the songs on the mixtape are other people’s beats. They’re just beats that we really vibe on, things that makes you go ‘Shit I wish I had that beat for myself’.

“The finished product isn’t 100 percent yours. It’s not your original piece of art but the lyrics are yours. The mixtape was free, it didn’t cost us anything to make and it doesn’t cost anything for people to hear it. It’s just art for art’s sake, if you will.” But that’s not all the duo has been up to in between touring. ‘Best Intentions’ is a two part mixtape, with ‘Part Two’ set to come out by the end of summer with an album in the making too.

“‘Part Two’ will be out in the first quarter of next year but we’ve actually got a third album due and that’s probably a higher priority than ‘Part Two’ of the mixtape so we’re working on them both. The album will hopefully come out in the second or third quarter of next year. For us it’s just about being as productive as we possibly can over the summer.”

The new album will pick up where the last one left off, conveying Spit Syndicate’s thoughts, feelings and experiences they’ve had over the past two years. “We’re not particularly old yet but we’re getting older and it’s just where we’re at in our heads. We like to make songs that make people think but not intellectual rap. We try to make stuff that has a good groove to it, that people can dance to, and that people can enjoy live but we’re also firm believers in lyricism. That’s the sort of hip hop that we like, people that take time to write something that means something.”

Spit Syndicate will be playing at this year’s Blah Blah Blah festival where they will be ready to test their new material. “We did a tour with Illy about a month ago supporting him on a few gigs around the country and doing those shows and Blah Blah Blah festival is about road testing your songs, trying them out live. We’re still at the stage where we don’t know which of these songs will make the album and which will be cut. We will see which ones people respond to, which ones get a good reaction and which ones perhaps don’t get the reaction we were after.”

While the twosome wouldn’t say they’re living the good life just yet, getting the Spit Syndicate name out there has provided a few glimpses of fame, with one that stands out from the rest for Nick. “It’s not an entirely glamorous life trying to get your music off the ground but I found out the other day that the actress (Lara Cox) that used to play Anita on ‘Heartbreak High’ is a Spit Syndicate fan and I’m a huge ‘Heartbreak High’ fan. Anita was always a fairly sexy character so I’m pretty chuffed about that.”

SPIT SYNDICATE PLAY BLAH BLAH BLAH AT SOUTH BANK CULTURAL FORECORT WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 28. ADICTS.COM.AU