Daniel Merriweather gets the international recognition but Phrase gets all the Australian love.
The Melbourne rapper has just delivered his second album ‘Clockwork’. Marlon Records label-mate Merriweather helps out on the haunting ‘Chains’, a song dedicated to memory Phrase’s friend Nathan Smith.
On ‘Clockwise’, we can name-drop a lot. Phrase has resurrected the Wendy Matthews hit ‘The Day You Went Away’, accelerated her vocal and added a beat for a very 21st century sounding ‘Day You Went Away’, about his girlfriend Jade McCrae.
Jump back to ‘Skylight’ at track 5 and you’ll find Kram making a guest appearance not long after his own solo album was released.
Illy appears on ‘Surrender’. Jackson Jackson are on ‘Paradise’.
Australia has only in recent years started to put out half-decent hip-hop albums. Acts like Hilltop Hoods, Bliss N Eso, Sneaky Sound System and Phrase have nailed it.
For Phrase, he appeared right at that moment when Aussies started to take Aussie accents in hip-hop seriously. While he had all the right ingredients on his last album ‘Talk With Force’, he was just a little bit too early.
Upping the production values, adding the diversity that was missing on the first record (The rap on ‘Spaceship’ recalls the ghost of MC Hammer), Phrase has also chosen the right people to work with and the right songs to sample for ‘Clockwork’.
‘Clockwork’ is Aussie hip-hop come of age ... and about time too.
Tracklisting:
1.àIntro
2.àBurn It Down ft Max White
3.àClockwork
4.àSpaceship
5.àSky Light Ft. Kram
6.àDay You Went Away
7.àAll Good
8.àParadise ft. Jackson Jackson
9.àStay The Same
10.àChains ft. Daniel Merriweather
11.àBack To The Street
12.àSurrender ft Illy
13.àPush Up
14.àPersistence ft Bliss N Eso
15.àTV N Radio
16.àStreet Lights
