Western Sydney MCs Ello. C & Gunnah Y.A breakdown their latest track 'Virtuoso Freestyle'

Ello. C’s first release of 2022 sees the MC tap fellow Western Sydney rapper Gunnah Y.A to hand-deliver a lyrical assault on any doubters, fakers or haters seeking to get in the way of their come-up. At 2 minutes and 22 seconds, the track flies by with little regard held for stepping on eggshells in the period that Ello and Gunnah eloquently convey their verses. Ello and Gunnah take a turn each to relent on their innermost thoughts, with the verses designed to make the scene and society around them question the hypocrisy of their ways. The production from LethalNeedle combines classic hip-hop drums and old school-esque keys to give Ello and Gunnah the elevation needed to spit their wisdom to listeners, whilst working in-tandem with both rappers to help puncture the insecure and fraudulent via the lethal beat.

Scroll down to read the full lyric breakdown by Ello. C and Gunnah Y.A.

"Settled my debt to the heads before me and learnt the craft, But still be doing some wavy shit with that turner on HA!”

Ello. C: “I wrote these bars stating that despite my come up from an earlier unwelcoming era of local hip hop where the staple of battle rap type lyricism had a much stronger presence.. I've learnt from plenty Sydney OG's and continued to apply that pride in my lyricism with the current music I'm making today. Even if I've now chosen to utilise autotuned vocals in some of my current songs, I've never compromised my ability to come up with detailed rhyme schemes and flows over new sounds, it may not be received well by the older generations but it is what it is Haha!"

“Fictional flexing, their holographic approach is so predictable, these class of writers highly dismissible..”

Ello. C: “Its come to a point where sometimes rappers automatically typecast themselves into us already expecting them to say a bunch of staunch things that are fictional just a filler to fit the intimidating gangster image, to me its predictable and I feel like we don't get anything out of it.. it's for show.. holographic.”

“The fuck they gon' do about it, throw some animosity towards what is outside of ya one way thinking - it's a one trick Pony but the Dark Horse been fast drawing these techniques on you Derelicte's”

Ello. C: "Derelicte's - a comedic reference to the "Zoolander" movie where Mugatu was going to start a new fashion line getting male models to pose as the homeless to glorify living on the streets as fashion statement. I used this to compare how some artists today pretend to be hard "street" as a way to intensify their image fraudulently when they're completely opposite to that.. just be yourselves."

“From the lineage that murdered captain cook with a blade, the revolution in effect - where it’s carried out today”

Gunnah Y.A: “Within this 16, I’m trying to establish my world as fast as possible to the listener, I want to unravel, challenge and spark conversation. Not a direct connection of lineage but connection of culture. Quick story quicker. In his Hawaiian voyage, Cook ordered his men to build on top of sacred grounds which eventually led to his death from Hawaiian natives. How is it carried out today? Anything sacred to you of this much value, you should hold your ‘ground’ for it.”

“I’m reading books to prioritise time; they can’t colonise my mind.”

Gunnah Y.A: “Reading books is something I want to further in my community. Lot of gentrification happening here which is modern colonisation. We gotta level up in these things, with the right knowledge we could learn about infrastructure, economics and get more involved in local planning.”

“On a mission, where the odds stacked all against us – no golden ticket needed ima get it – Charlie Buckett”

Gunnah Y.A: “I’m from Shalvey, Mount Druitt. This place I’m proud of. The adversities, the hustle, the triumph - this bar expresses the independence to never rely on luck like a ‘golden ticket’.”

Ello. C Photo by @princereyesphotography & Gunnah Y.A 2nd Photo by @par.reyes

Words by Matthew Badrov, Ello. C & Gunnah Y.A