Indonesian Hip-Hop Has a Lot to Learn from Jogja's Hellhouse

Indonesian hip-hop has been undergoing something of a resurrection these last five years. We have rising stars like Rich Brian making waves overseas and a new generation of MCs and beatmakers like Joe Million and Senartogok reshaping the aesthetics of the local scene back home. After years of stagnation, the scene is thriving in Indonesia, with new artists coming out of places as diverse as Danau Toba, in North Sumatra, and Jayapura, in Papua.

But no where is as strong as one street in the city of Yogyakarta.

Jogja has always had a hand in the growth of Indonesian hip-hop alongside bigger cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung. And for the last decade, a lot of that growth has been the work of Hellhouse, a hip-hop collective located right in the heart of the sultan's complex, the Kraton, on Jalan Wijilan.

Hellhouse was initially formed to fix a problem in Jogja—the city's severe lack of independent recording studios. So the city's local MCs and beatmakers banded together to build their own. But it then morphed into something more as they started to release albums under the collective's Hellhouse Records from artists like Begundal Clan, D.P.M.B, and Boyz Got No Brain. They also started to promote other artists who weren't on their label, backing Bacil Kill’s the debut album and singles by Serigala Malam.

Hellhouse specializes in a sound firmly rooted in the sounds of the `90s—the golden-era of hip-hop. Re-Attitude, the debut album by the two-man crew D.P.M.B is an obvious nod to '90s boom bap—a style Donnero and M2MX have down to an art both live and on the record. If you dig them, then you'll also like Bacill Kill’s Antikunix and Boys Got No Brain’s Bunga Trotoar, which features a track with a Cheryl Lynn sample.

Hellhouse newcomer Mario Zwinkle hasn't even released an album yet, but his two singles—"DIYU" and "FUNK YEAH"—are enough to get hardfunk puritans asking for more. And then there's Lacos, arguably one of the hottest beatmakers in the Indonesian hip-hop scene right now. With his MPC and Boss SP, he has produced beats for many rappers including Hellhouse's own Optizilla and veteran rapper Yacko.

In a world where technology has helped hip-hop artists and enthusiasts from distant corners of the world find each other online, Hellhouse does an amazing job maintaining the offline community as well by hosting local shows and freestyle sessions in Jogja.

To the Hellhouse crew, hip-hop isn't just about uploading music to Soundcloud or music videos to YouTube. It's about an evolution of a culture in the real world. Hellhouse even holds classes teaching children to make beats, write songs, and paint graffiti. It's a community in its truest sense of the word, a hangout spot where its members interact and see each other face-to-face almost every single day. It helps that it's a small enough city that allows the creation of an intimate, grassroots community that other cities in Indonesia can learn from.

But it's not without its controversies. On 1 April, a day after hosting an event called "It's Wijilan" that was attended by 1,000 hip-hop enthusiasts, Hellhouse received a visit from the local police. The police told Hellhouse that it had to disband. The reason? Their name had offended some religious groups.

When the members of Hellhouse pushed back, saying that their neighbors on Jalan Wijilan had been fine with their name for five years, the police fired back. They called in local elected officials, and even representatives from the Keraton to force the collective to take down every sign, sticker, and tag that said "Hellhouse" on Jalan Wijilan.

For five years, there was a huge sign reading "Hellhouse," in front of the building with no complaints. So, the police crackdown took them by surprise. But sign or not, Hellhouse is still the heart of the Jogja scene, a group trying to embody the LL Cool J. They're hard as hell.