MC Layla (Layla Hanbury) is a female Australian based MC from Perth.

Biography

Her first gig was at an MC battle in Perth where she was the only female among 20 entrants.

"I've written poetry for years and I've always listened to hip-hop. Then they just sort of merged one day. I just thought I might do it to a beat and I did it and it just went from there. I never thought, I wanna be an MC.

Layla's current boyfriend is Dazastah from Downsyde and they live in Bayswater.

She currently is on the Obese Records label and in March, 2005 she released her debut album, Heretik.

Her music is defined by her forceful and candid lyrics that range from her frustrations with female recording artists using their bodies to sell music in "The Fuss About Sluts", to an exploration of her own creative practices in "Driving Miss Layzy".

She is a member of the Syllaboliks Crew with the other Australian MC's such as Drapht, Format, Matty B, Dazastah etc.

Layla was one of the Australian Hip Hop artists which featured in the documentary "Words From The City", which screened nationally on ABC Television on December 7, 2007.

Discography

Albums

• Heretick - Obese Records (March, 2005)

Also performed on

• Tomahawk- "A Bitch Named Hiphop" (2008)
• Hospice Crew - Visiting Hours (2006)
• Drapht - Who Am I? (2005)
• Downsyde - When The Dust Settles (2004)
• Various - Straight From The Art (2003)
• Terra Firma - Waking The Past (2003)
• Hunter and Dazastah - Done DL (2002)
• Suffa - Suffering City Volume 1 (2002)
• Various Culture Of Kings Volume 2 (2002)
• Clandestien - Clandestien (2001)

References

Links

• Layla on RapCella
• The Age article about Layla (April 8, 2005)
• Artist Profile (Layla) at Obese Records
• Triple J Interview
• Layla Interview: Raw Lyrical Power - Andrew James
• Layla Burns Like A Heritic
• 'Straight Up' interview with Layla (July 26, 2007)
• Local Noise - Layla Interview (April 17, 2005)