It ain’t necessarily so.

Just ask the Illawarra’s newest hip hop star, Mark Meddows, aka MC Mibbs.

Go to his house on the fringes of Shell Cove, where the houses are still under construction in this neat, affluent suburb. 

It’s a world away from the Bronx.

While we talk in his living room, his four-year-old daughter climbs onto her daddy’s knee and starts fiddling with the tape machine, then the microphone.

Mibbs gently pulls her fingers away and explains that the man is recording dad for the newspaper.

Although only 29, Mibbs reckons he’s old in the scene – but not too old to release his first EP as part of the duo he formed eight years ago with Matt Andrews, aka DJ Frags.

‘‘A lot of the old gangsta rap they were going through hard times but now it’s just brought on to sell albums,’’ he said.

‘‘With Aussie hip hop most of the lyrics are the stuff that we know.

‘‘We don’t try to play it up and pretend we’re some kind of gangster.’’

Growing up in Campbelltown, Mibbs was introduced to hip hop via bands such as Public Enemy and Cypress Hill through his older brother.

He was a typical  kid, started playing guitar when he was five and playing in a couple of high school bands when he was a teenager.

‘‘When I heard hip hop, I just liked the beats and the vibe, the head-nodding stuff,’’ he said.

Mibbs met Frags online because he wanted to use one of his beats and soon they were playing together, calling themselves N2W.

(North for North Shore, and now the North Coast, where Frags lives, and West for Mibbs’ home in Campbelltown).

Their brand of Aussie hip hop is big on keeping it real – rapping about their lives, and always in their own voices, never aping the ghettos of New York or Los Angeles.

So on the EP – We Won’t Stop This – he raps about his love for his wife and how they met at a friend’s 18th on a Sydney Harbour cruise.

(Who would have thought I would ever get a girl? Right place, right night, right time).

Or the other love of his teenage love, his first car (It was my first ride, nothin’ flash from the outside, never forget from the inside).

His big break came when he hooked up with Dave ‘‘Big Dave’’ Parsons, himself now a family man who founded his own record label, but formerly with authentic claim to gangsterism.

Parsons endured a chaotic childhood marked by violence, alcohol, and a period of three years on the run.

Then, he travelled with his father and his sister around Australia, staying in caravan parks and short-term accommodation.

The last time father and son met, David – then aged 12 – threw rocks at his dad’s parked car before fleeing on his bicycle.

Parsons still has family in the Illawarra and lived in Berkeley while on parole after completing a five-year sentence  for armed robbery and two counts of assault.

The charges arose out of a drug-turf war. He freely admits that only a good lawyer got him off previous charges related to his life as a mid-level drug wholesaler.

‘‘Mark had a really honest style and raps about things that the average guy can relate to,’’ Parsons said.

Coinciding with the N2W EP, Parsons released his first album, Self Made, that comes with a single that raps the praises of family life.

Now living in Canberra with a partner and two young children, Parsons finally believes he is living the title of his new single – The Good Life.

‘‘I see a lot of hip hop guys portraying a lifestyle that doesn’t gel with having a wife or children,’’ Parsons said.

‘‘My music is a reflection of me, so as my life changes, so does my music.’’

Hip hop is notoriously difficult to see live because venues are wary of the bad-ass attitude and the risk of having their toilets tagged with graffiti.

However, Parsons is planning a national tour with N2W early next year.

Wollongong will certainly be on the list of gigs.

Meanwhile, Mibbs and Frags will continue to produce material as best as they can given one lives in the southern Illawarra and the other on the NSW North Coast.

They are already planning their first album and Mibbs has just completed what he believes is his best work – Blood Ain’t Always Thicker – a homage to his close-knit group of mates.

‘‘Writing is not a constant process because it’s hard when you get home from 10 hours at work and you have a couple of kids needing constant attention,’’ Mibbs said.