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Eshay is an Australian underworld subculture associated with lower middle class youth.

Originating from Sydney and Melbourne’s graffiti scene in the 1980s, the subculture was heavily influenced by lower middle class culture in Sydney and Melbourne’s numerous Housing Commissions throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The subculture was prominent in the underground scene in the 2000s, with the style of 2000s hip hop such as striped polo shirts, rugby shorts, white air-max sneakers and bumbags widespread across Sydney. While initially stigmatised by the general public, the subculture became popularised across the country, eventually influencing fashion, language and music.

The subculture traces its roots to predominantly young men from low socio-economic backgrounds, initially drawing inspiration from American casual/skater clothing, and Belgian New Beat and later Hardcore dancing/style, eventually creating a distinctly Australian style. Eventually, the subculture was later influenced by hip hop culture and music such as such as Gangsta rap, Big Beat, Grime and Ghetto House and its underworld subculture with similar origins, alongside the popularisation of Mount Druitt rap group Onefour. Criminal activities often linked with the subculture include widespread Anti-social behaviour, often mainly petty crimes such as Shoplifting, Larceny, Vandalism, Violence, Assault, Harassment, Tampering, and often more serious crimes such as Murder.

Etymology and usage

The origins of Eshay as a term is hotly debated, however there is some consensus that it is derived from a bastardised form of pig latin, which is a common lexicon employed within the subculture. One explanation contends the term derives from Eshay Adlay which is pig Latin for He's Lad, this is in reference to the term which is often interchangeable with Eshay. Others suggest the word is related to sesh, a term commonly used to describe a prolonged period of drug-consumption. The use of Eshay is versatile, and may be employed as an interjection or statement of agreement. Similarly it can be used as a replacement for "yes", "cool" or "excellent".

Characteristics

Eshay’s distinctive style is the result of a culture of shoplifting endemic to social housing estates and low-income environments generationally, and reflected in the Australian graffiti and hip-hop scene, whereby young men would shoplift luxury sportswear to complement their otherwise working-class clothing. The result is said to have led to a disrupt in society's expectation of who should be wearing high-brow brands, and enforcing a heavy stigma on some, as clothing brands from Ralph Lauren, Gant, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste and notably Nautica, began to be adored in Sydney's working class suburbs in the Inner-South and the West, complemented with Sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas, KR3W, Hurley, Global, Under Armour and Ellesse. Lads are often considered hyper-masculine, associated with criminality, fights, postcode wars, generally hang out in packs, wear sportswear and engage in intimidatory and anti-social behaviour.

Fashion

A major component of the subculture, fashion plays an important role in denoting ones involvement in the Eshay scene. Distinctive outfits trace their early origins to the emerging late-1990s to 2000s street style scene, where cuffed track-suit pants, windbreaker jackets, popped-collar polos and bent-brim dad hats or Nike dri-fit caps balanced precariously on the crowns of one's head began to gain popularity. By the 2000s, the influence of hardcore and hardstyle was evident, as music festivals such as Defqon 1 and Stereosonic became popular in Sydney with people in the lad clothing style, as bum-bags became critical to the emerging uniform. While the aesthetic associated with Lads has changed over time, the 2000s aesthetic very-much followed a uniform of: striped polo shirts with popped-collars, high-waisted sports shorts , Nike TN sneakers and bumbags slung over one shoulder.

Considered to be the defining element of Eshay fashion was the introduction of the Nike TN, an expensive sneaker adorned with eye-catching colours. Sportswear stores in Western Sydney have consistently recorded the highest sales of TNs in Australia, though the shoe was divisive, largely stigmatised by the mainstream who associated it with criminality. The wearing of Nike TN's, as well as Tailwinds (commonly referred to as Jailwinds) denote street-credibility and esteem within the prison-system respectively, as both shoes require the wearer to defend them should another group of “Lads” seek to rob them.

In the beginning of 2013 the TN still mostly maintained its criminal reputation, the conservative sector of society were still terrified of the sneakers silhouette and the TN faithful were still wearing them with unwavering pride. But in that same year, a 15th anniversary year for the Air Max Plus, Foot Locker relaunched the original ’Tiger Orange’ and ‘Hyper Blue’ colourways. Ultimately, this pushed the Nike TN into the mainstream with it's adoption by Hipsters in Melbourne and Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, while fashion publications began to appropriate Eshay aesthetics into contemporary designs, with the sneakers once stigmatised for their associations with criminality, poverty and drug-use had become commonly appropriated by people not associated with underworld activity.

As a perennial counter-culture, Eshay's adapted to the appropriation of their fashion by changing the brands they wore, ultimately moving away from Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste and adopting luxury European brands such as Gucci, Louis Vutton and Versace. This coincided with the rise of UK Drill, with it's heavy use of luxury brands. As well as a move away from the traditionally white-working class face of Eshay culture to that which incorporates the styles of the various ethnic groups that make up Australia's working-class. Similarly, expensive outdoor wear brands such as Arc'teryx, The North Face and Helly Hansen have remained popular with some Lads, especially as a lucrative brand to rack (steal), this comes from UK influence.

Music

Lads have often been synonymous with Australian Hip Hop in its various forms. In the early 2000s the most closely associated variety was gutter rap or lad rap which often contains lyrics depicting criminality, drug use and poverty. Gutter rap artists such as Campbelltown's Kerser, Hurstville's Skeamo and Nter, and Blacktown's Fortay rap primarily about Australian working-class lifestyle and issues (such as crime, drug addictions and financial struggles), similar to traditional American Gangsta rap and Chicano rap. Unlike most popular artists in the Australian hip hop scenes, which have proper mainstream presence and support, gutter rap has remained largely underground on the internet due to associating with a stigmatised style. However some artists from the genre have gained mainstream recognition and success, an example being Kerser's second album No Rest for the Sickest which reached No. 15 on the ARIA albums chart.

While Australian Hip-Hop and Gutter Rap were once considered a genre dominated by Australia's urban white working class, this changed rapidly following the advent of Australian Drill in 2018/19. The prolific rise to fame of Mount Druitt outfit OneFour brought a refreshing change to the hip hop scene, with production heavily influenced by UK Drill, Afrobeats, traditional Polynesian music. OneFour, who often reference Eshay culture and language in their lyrics, prompted a music revolution with various groups with Polynesian, Arabic, African and Indigenous heritage coming to the forefront of Australian music. While UK Drill echoes the Roadman subculture of the UK, in Australia the drill scene is born from the Sydney Searchers subculture, nowadays called Lads or Eshays, which has seen a massive revival in popularity.

In Sydney, Hardcore music and the Hakken dance it is accompanied by has been popular amongst Lads, as from the mid-2000s, music festivals such as Defqon1 and Stereosonic became popular places to rave and start fights. The Hakken dance is mainly referred to as gabber (noun) or gabbering (verb), named after the Gabber subgenre of hardcore it is performed to. Despite the fact that it is called Gabber, it is usually performed to music of the hardstyle genre by most ravers in Australia. The influence of Gabber and Melbourne Bounce on Australian music is exemplified in the work of Eshay artists like Hooligan Hefs who incorporate these sounds into Australian Drill.

Lads have also been involved in the rock, heavy metal and hardcore scenes. Some Australian bands such as the DMA's have been known to sport Eshay fashion.

Language

Important to Eshay culture is a distinct dialect of urban slang that is employed by those in the subculture. Most commonly known as a bastardised form of pig-Latin, the dialect has led to the rise of popular words within Australian English such as Eetswa (sweet, good), Redhot (suspicious, high-risk), Staunch (tough, to punk someone), Gronk (derogatory term), Roll, Rolled (To be robbed) and Urch (to commit burglary). This pig-Latin is employed as a means of evading scrutiny by authorities, namely police or prison guards, by conversing in a 'secret coded language'.

The dialect has been heavily influenced by immigrant communities in Melbourne and Sydney, specifically the Wog accent, which is derived from a mix of Southern European Languages, Arabic, and Australian English. Similarly, Polynesian, East African, and Indigenous communities have influenced the urban dialect with the introduction of traditional words.

Efforts to reintroduce the Dharug language into Sydney used Eshay language and terminologies to better relate with Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth

See Also

• Cholo (subculture) - A similar subculture

References

1. ^ Mahmood, Fazal (8 August 2018). "Are Eshays Australia's Most Prolific Performance Artists?". Vice Media.
2. ^ Lill, Athena (17 December 2014). "From local to global: the evolution of musical play in secondary schools". International Journal of Play. 3 (3): 256. doi:10.1080/21594937.2014.976036. S2CID 143188838.
3. ^ Sacha, Molitorisz (January 8, 2010). "Tribes of the Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald.
4. ^ Boyd, Tim (24 January 2020). "Inside the secret world of Millennial subcultures". Australian Financial Review. Australian Financial Review.
5. "LADS – A confusing and intimidating subculture". fashionphantasmagoria. 23 August 2015.
6. Fazal, Mahmood (21 March 2018). "Interviewing the Eshayz Behind Cult Game 'Big City Earnerz'". Vice. Vice Media.
7. ^ Georgiou, Oliver (September 26, 2015). "Hard Knock Life: How the Air Max Plus Became Australia's Unofficial Sneaker Symbol". Complex. Vice Media.
8. Fazal, Mahmood (14 November 2018). "Nike 'Jailwinds' Are the Crown Jewel of Australia's Prison System". Vice.
9. Mandybur, Jerico (27 October 2014). "Lad luxe: the fetishisation of the working class in fashion is the height of snobbery | Jerico Mandybur". The Guardian.
10. "Chartifacts - Wednesday 14th November 2012 - ARIA Music News". 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16.
11. Faruqi, Osman (13 December 2019). "'We will make their lives miserable': Police say they want to stop YouTube rap group OneFour performing". ABC News.
12. Fazal, Mahmood (1 August 2019). "Behind The Scenes With OneFour: Australia's First Drill Rappers". Vice.
13. Kevin, Christopher. "HOOLIGAN HEFS: A SIX-MONTH WAKE-UP CALL & HIS FRESH START WITH 'THE PARTY'". FILTER.
14. "Decoding the Melbourne iccent". The Age. 16 August 2003.
15. Re-awakening languages : theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia's indigenous languages. Sydney University Press. 2010. p. 184. ISBN 9781920899554.

• Articles with links needing disambiguation from October 2020
• Australian youth culture