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HURSTVILLE. WORDS FROM HURZI RESIDENTS: LOCZZZ AND LUCA

Growing up, I've always heard stories of Hurstville from back in the day – specifically 1991 and onwards. Hurstville is affluent now and drastically different, but it used to be littered with crime.

The fashion in Hurstville always ran brighter in colour than what you'd see out in Western Sydney from the late 90s onwards - well, at least for a while. I say this because of what I saw growing up, and seeing what the senior lads were still rocking. Not mentioned enough, but NTER and the gutter rap scene had an influence on Hurzi fashion too. 



Before the seating area outside the station was renovated by the council, we used to refer to it as "red seats." But there were also the seats to the right entry of the station. You know, at that intersection area where the buses are now. That spot had four corners, and each corner carried a different cultural heritage. You would see the Lebos on one side, the Aussies on the other, the Islanders on the next, and the South East and East Asians together on another. 

Looking back, Hurstville was pretty segregated. But for the young lads like us, they would always give us lollies and money.

Not far from there, the Viets used to chop up blocks of ice with their long nails and sell it in the walking tunnel right next to Hungry Jack's. That Hungry Jack's is also long gone now.

Then there were the fountains, which was a common hangout spot at Hurzi, located on Forest Road – also long gone now. Everyone used to just come to Hurstville and look who was at the fountains. Whoever was there essentially became your group for the day. 

But back when Hurzi was beefing with Bankstown, there would be big brawls all up Forest Road and around the fountains. When you think about it, a lot of these hangout spots we had were repurposed by the council.

We also have this local junkie called Colin, who always stands at the bottom of the escalators at the main entry to the station. He'd lowkey claimed that spot with his sets of bags against the wall, standing there smoking a j. Super recognisable, obviously, because everyone was walking past the main entry. He is passive and friendly, and everyone practically knows the lad. If you want proper names in the area, though, T-Rex was quite infamous.

Growing up, it was super common to hear NTER being played by lads, even if it was just through the phone without headphones plugged in or through a speaker. Gutter rap was popular with us. While NTER wasn't born in Hurstville, he was definitely raised and shaped by it. 

NTER has very much become associated with us and the rest of Sydney as the voice of Hurstville. Aside from NTER, lots of the lads would pump Anger as well. The area would go crazy whenever Anger came back. Gravy Baby was also quite common to hear.

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