HALFWAY CROOKS TURNS 8

When Halfway Crooks started, neither of us had a beard. Only one of us had a real job. Neither of us were married and we sure as hell didn't have kids. What we did have was a desire to go to a club to hear the rap we liked without the DJ scratching relentlessly over the top, where you could dance all night without the fear of getting pushed out of the way by a breakdance circle opening up in the middle of the crowd every five minutes. It sounds friggin' crazy now - the rap we love can now be heard blasting from every second restaurant and retail space, or at your choice of ten rap parties that go down in Sydney every weekend, but when Halfway Crooks started in 2009, Sydney's few regular rap nights were either old school throwback or R&B superclub. Not that there's anything wrong with those options, we just wanted to have something in between. A monthly celebration of rap both old and new, diverse sounds for a diverse crowd.

In the eight years since we've started we've thrown just shy of 100 Halfway Crooks parties, mostly on land but a couple on the sea. We've changed venues three times, including a venue which has changed its name three times, and shared the stage with everyone from Jeremih, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino to A$AP Ferg, Rae Sremmurd and Chance the Rapper. One time Joyride gave Halfway Crooks a shout out in a Horrorshow song. One of us has a beard now, we're both married with kids. Only one of us has a real job. Every month we fill the back room of Hudson Ballroom with people who love rap. The old, the new, the obnoxiously loud, the soft and soulful. The faces in the crowd have changed dramatically over the years, as our mates got too old for staying out past midnight and new generations of rap fans realised there was nothing better in this world than doing that.

We've had an amazing 8 years, and as longtime promoters and DJs who've started multiple projects that barely survived 8 days, we know what a cool milestone this is for our little rap party. Come celebrate 8 years of rap anthems, cheap tinnies and post-Crooks Whoppers. 8 years of Levins losing his voice after spending the entire night screaming along to Waka Flocka Flame songs. 8 years of Franco playing all 50 verses of A$AP Ferg's Work remix. 8 years of people commenting "no such thing" on our new event listings. 8 years of good friends making new friends while playing their favourite songs in the world.

Happy birthday to us, come party with ya boys Levins and Franco. We welcome all new Crooks fans, the ones who've been there from start and the ones who've think they're too old to dance to Laffy Taffy in a nightclub at 2 in the morning (you're not, come back, we miss you). Here's to at least 8 more years of Halfway Crooks (we've already booked Archie, Teddy and Tilly to play our sweet 16th birthday in 2025.