“Talking shit with a hero of yours, that’s a good vibe,
As good as the first time you saw Hilltop Hoods live”

The first time I saw Hilltop Hoods live was way back in 2001 (when most of you probably didn’t even know Australian Hip-Hop existed). It was the album launch for Left Foot, Right Foot at Cherry Bar in ACDC Lane – a venue that holds about five people. How far they have come since then, playing to thousands at sold out shows, and tens of thousands at festivals in Australia and around the world.

I have gone to a majority of the shows the Hoods have played in Melbourne over the years, including the Big Day Out and the massive Stopping All Stations Tour at Festival Hall, as well as two or three of the phenomenal four sell-out nights in a row at the Corner Hotel in 2004.

So did I enjoy this show as much as all the others? Well to be honest, no, not really. It was the same hits from the previous two albums that I’ve already seen a number of times before, with the addition of songs from the latest album, which besides Chase That Feeling (in my opinion one of, if not the greatest hip hop song to come out of this country) I’m just not really feeling.

It was great to see Chase That Feeling live, but aside from that, I spent the most part more in awe of seeing the huge crowd all getting into it. While the show itself I could take or leave, seeing three guys from back in the day rocking the stage, and thousands of adoring fans singing along to their songs and loving every minute of it, is a fantastic thing to see. We’ve come a long way from Cherry Bar…

And the atmosphere really was amazing, with the Hoods performing with the same energy as they always have. They are consummate performers, and second to none in this country.

If you’ve seen the Hoods before, you don’t need a review to tell you about their show because you already know how awesome the Hoods are live.

And if you haven’t…well, you’re missing out on a good vibe.

By Patrick Ho

Image provided by Kez Photography.

State of The Art is availble now, well, everywhere.  For those after a copy of this on vinyl,  it is now availble for a whopping $100.00. You might want to call a head before heading down to your local record store because chances are they aren’t stocking it and you will need to pre-order. I have no idea why it is so expensive but apparently it’s been blessed by a pope and the wax is actually made from the tears of small children. Ed

Thursday night’s are usually reserved for a few pre-weekend drinks down at the local tavern, but not when The Main Ingredients rolled into town last week. Boasting a juicy lineup of some of Australia’s, UK’s and USA’s finest up and comers, everybody helped to serve up a good dose of that banging live hip-hop you come to expect from all artists on the bill.

Killaqueenz did a good job dishing out the entrée to get everybody in the mood being backed with some fine original beats as well as some tried and true classics, but it was Polo Club who truly got the party started.
Using their catchy, eclectic electro sounds, they managed to draw the crowd in to prepare them for the evening. With dense, bassy production and some incredibly crowd friendly chorus’, in no time at all was the crowd feeling the vibes of this one-to-watch Melbourne duo.

The quality just continued as New Zealand producer P-Money coupled with Australia’s own heavyweight producer M-Phazes brought on the producer showcase, giving the audience a taste of what they both had cooking on the backburners. As well as that, each producer flexed their skills by crafting a beat from a sample the other one would give them, which was nothing short of spectacular and resulted in some crazy head nodding on the crowd’s behalf.

As the night progressed, the relatively unknown Buff1 from Detroit smashed out an unexpectedly big live show that definitely got people moving. Even aware of his lack of exposure in Australia, this didn’t stop him bringing the crowd some of those tailor made live bangers that would have more then certainly woke a few heads who had been sleeping.

Finally, the much anticipated return of one of UK’s finest – Jehst. Backed by another unknown, Sonny Jim, also from the UK, both brought fans what they had been eagerly awaiting almost a year to see. More of a fan based show, Jehst brought his renowned UK monotone raps to the stage with an up tempo vibe that definitely kept the followers happy and satisfied at the worthwhile wait. Bringing out tunes from the past right up to the present, everybody was able to enjoy a large, mixed plate of Jehst goodness and definitely left everybody on a high at the end of the proceedings.

The crowd was very comfy, not necessarily packed, but it was full enough to call the night a big success. Big ups to all who put this together and who performed, including DJ’s Ology and Flagrant who provided the light entertainment between acts.

Continue to support these gigs and they will continue to happen!

BY Brad R

Let’s hope the receivers responsible for Central Station/Destra manage to keep these guys in business. MORE INFO Ed.

Putting a gig on in Melbourne on Cup weekend has always been a risky venture, whether it’s on Cup Eve or any other night over the long weekend. There are so many things to do in Melbourne it can be hard for anyone to prioritise what they want and need to do. I was lucky enough to have absolutely nothing on last Friday and as there where a couple of gigs (Hermitude @ The Prince – check back for review later) on in Stkilda plus Terra Firma at The Espy. As I had to prioritise what I wanted and needed to see I got down to the Terra Firma (AUS) gig at around 12.40 am, I had been told they where coming on at 12.45am so I thought I had scheduled this perfectly. When I got to the front door I saw they where already performing and was in a hurry to get in there and cop the show. Unfortunately I wasn’t on the door, but there is a saying in the music industry ‘if you think you belong there, then you probably do’. Well it’s not commonly used but essentially if you can talk shit enough, you are going to get in. The first thing I noticed was that the (Gershwin) room was empty and by that I mean it was fucking empty. There was so much room in there that I could have held a rave, from the bar to the back of the room without the few diehards at the front caring too much. No wonder my name wasn’t on the door, I thought to myself. Whoever promoted this gig, really fucked something up and this gig wasn’t just running at a loss it would have been equivalent to the current US deficient. For those who haven’t heard of Terra Firma (AUS) or who haven’t (didn’t show up) seen them perform before are missing out. As members of Adelaide’s legendary Certified Wise collective, MC/producer Simplex, MC Raph A.L, MC Mic Lez and DJ Dyems are possibly one of he best outfits in Australia at the moment as far as grass roots Oz Hip Hop goes, on a world standard these guys are beyond up there. Which again brings me back to being truly disappointed with the crowd size. This didn’t seem to phase the lads at all, they performed as if the room had 1000 punters in it. Playing a mix of tracks from there recent release Music To Live By (out now dist. By Shogun Distribution) and older releases from Culture of Kings compilation and Walking The Past (2003). No tracks performed stood out as any better than the previous as mthey where all performed with Gusto. And having not actively listed to these lads and not received their current album it was hard to judge on anything other than pure merit of the performance. Which was gold. I do have some footage from a shoddy camera phone, which I will try to upload for you soon. On a rating out 10, these guys deserve a 10 for performance and effort. WHEN you get a chance to see them again, check them out, you will not be disappointed. I have invited Terra Firma to drop by and make some comments on the gig and maybe fill in the blanks on tracks.

Check out there myspace page here http://www.myspace.com/terrafirmacrew

What is a live show? In fact, what is hip-hop without all the elements? Well, not hip-hop, but a group who definitely don’t neglect any element of the culture is Sydney hip-hop pioneers Def Wish Cast. Complete with turntablism, emceeing and a dash of graf and b-boyism, nothing could have been more visually exciting then experiencing the full force that was DWC.

The group had incredible solidarity and unlike many emcees that grace the stage, Die-C, Def Wish and Sereck couldn’t have orchestrated themselves better. Dropping all the classics from both ‘Knights of the Underground Table’ and 2006’s explosive sophomore ‘The Legacy Continues’, nothing but the heads were there to show their support.

Also there to support musically were some of Melbourne’s originals including RKS and also one of the founding members of the AKA Brothers, Pac Diesel both delivering short but no less large performances. A highlight however was the nowadays seldom seen b-boy show put on by Melbourne’s Fresh Sox Crew with J-Red on the decks, pushing out that old skool steez to accompany the boys in showing you how it’s done.

Apart from the sadly minimal turnout, the night was a huge success and definitely kept the audience active, satisfied and hopefully prompted all those hip-hop enthusiasts to get off their arse and get to doing.
By Brad Reich

The Australian Idol for Australian rappers – The 10th Annual Revolver Battle took place last night for the biggest prize pool in history, which had a value of over $10k. An unknown Melbourne emcee ‘Yak i’ll’ defeated Illuminate. I won’t go as far as saying he had any pre-written raps but he definitely played on illuminates largish physique and punch lines aimed at illuminates Mum where also fair game. Illuminate seemed fixated on being called a ‘red head’ and while he was able to make few punches out of it in response, it got boring pretty quickly and he lost the crowd. Illuminate fell apart in the final round while Yak ill was able to dominate with some steady punch lines. Yak had hyped the crowd for his set when he opened and maintained participation throughout. Bias B who hosted the night got progressively drunk from the sponsored bourbon he was drinking and managed to slur through the sponsors at the end of the night. Third and Forth went to Nymphlow and Prime. Congrats to ill Yak, look forward to seeing more of him and what him makes of his prizes which included 200 pressed Cd’s which should help him with his first release.

As the charismatic emcee that he is, C-rayz Walz put on a hell of a show at the Laundry in Melbourne. Direct from New York, the man has a lot of love and respect for hip-hop worldwide and it showed as he took to the stage in front of a very intimate yet receptive crowd on Thursday night.

Pumping out tunes from ‘Ravipops’ all the way up to his latest, unheard material, everything flowed smoothly and at a fairly steady pace, making room for a large selection of tunes to exercise the venues sound system to it’s fullest extent. It did at times seem however that Walz’s underground popularity was new to a vast majority of the crowd as boredom was evident throughout the set, but his bite sized tracks made his material digestible even to such a passive audience.

From him reveling in being able to freely use the word “cunt” in Australia all the way to his unbelievably catchy chorus’, his set was well constructed and made sure every audience members last dollar was being spent well for that real hip-hop.

By Brad Reich