“I’m trying not to show too much emotion right now,” he laughs. “It’s not really the cool thing to do in hip hop to give away yourself too much, you’ve got to be stoic and have your chest out and head held high like you can take on the world! The truth is that every time I have this conversation regarding the pending release of my final album – even as I was putting the press release together and the artwork and everything – I seriously choked up quite a bit doing the whole thing! I was at Debris’ place a couple of months ago where I did my last four bars potentially ever, and he goes, ‘This is so full-on, these are your last four bars ever!’ and I was so taken aback! The only thing that’s sort of helped is knowing that I’m still going to see all the guys that I’ve worked with and toured with at hip hop gigs and social gatherings and stuff like that. The friendships and relationships are still going to be there.”
The sense of mateship, according to Shulman, is what makes the Australian hip hop community so unique. For this Melbourne emcee, there is a strong sense of pride that remains even at the end of his career, knowing that he helped establish an entirely new genre which is now completely self-sustainable.
“The way it sits for me is that I’ll be 40 years old next year, and I’ve spent over two decades working away to help create a scene that is self-sustainable now because there is so much great new talent. Once I saw that it was in good hands, once I saw that this has been achieved, I realised that it’s time for people like myself to maybe take on a more mentorship role and help others rather to continue making the music. The other thing is that I’m getting older, but my kids are getting older as well and my workload is increasing. I got a promotion at work too, I’m a teacher with a day-job, and I’m also a dad and a husband and I have to pay the mortgage! In that sense, I’m happy to take on the role of mentor and I will continue to do that through my workshops.”
According to Shulman, the opportunity to work with young people through his teaching role, as well as through his youth workshops, has been an absolute blessing. Being surrounded by young people who are trying to find their voice has given Shulman the chance to help empower the next generation but also learn some lessons of his own in the process. That’s right, even old dogs can learn new tricks, as Shulman laughs.
“I’m so humbled by the fact that when I go to work every day, I’m surrounded by young people who either have a strong voice of their own or are just trying to find their voice. I feel blessed that I am in a position to empower my students to speak up and share their experiences and develop their passions and run with it! One of the things that they’ve taught me is that you can never go through life trying to be somebody that you’re not. That goes for myself being Reason on the stage and being Mr S in the classroom! After the kids saw me on stage they wanted to know if that’s the same person that was educating them in class, they were trying to get their head around that. One of them said to me, ‘Mr S, when you’re hanging out with your mates, are you different to how you are with us?’, and I said, ‘no, not at all, I speak to you guys in the same way I speak to my mates’. And that’s the truth! There are times during my on-stage performance where I show a level of enthusiasm that I wouldn’t necessarily in the classroom – I wouldn’t jump around in the classroom or say some of the things I’ve said – but I try to show them I’m the same person in everything I do in life.”
No point in wearing distinct hats at different times, in summary. The person you hear on Window Of Time is the same person who’s teaching chemistry in the classroom, running workshops in rural indigenous communities, and watching Dora The Explorer with his daughter at home.
“Everything you hear on this album is a true representation of everything I stand for,” Shulman states. “My albums in the past have often been specific to a particular topic or a particular angle – on this one, I cover them all! I really wanted to cover all grounds on my final record. You’ll get the home truth on environmental issues and youth problems, but at the same time the underground heads will want to get rowdy to it and I personally think one of the track I do with Lazy Grey called Rep The Legacy will really hit home with the die-hard hip hop heads. In some ways, people have heard this kind of record form me before – but this is the climax of it all.”
