Australian hip hop has come a long way in the last decade or so and with their third album Hilltop Hoods have really pushed the bar even further.
More than just a localised version of a foreign art form, the Hoods with ‘State of the Art’ have introduced flawless rhythm, unique melodies and have in general made an all round brilliant 12 pieces of music.
The album isn’t dripping with guest rappers, there is just two - New York rapper Pharoahe Monch on ‘Classic Example’ and Trials on ‘The Light You Burned’.
“You spit like Bon Jovi, we spit like Bon Scott” they say in the second line of album opener ‘The Return’. While there probably won’t be a huge influx of AC/DC fans storming record stores to get this record, they do have balls and swagger dripping from their pores.
This ambition is echoed in ‘Chris Farley’ with the lyrics “I wanna party with Bon Scott on Charlie, Bob Marley non-stop/Chris Farley pissed, party on like the bomb’s dropped,” and if you’re wondering if anyone has told them these people died from their partying habits, each verse selects a party-till-you-drop legend from Elvis to Hendrix and details their last minutes in an appraising manner.
The rock ‘n’ roll metaphors continue in ‘She’s So Ugly’, when they claim to have an “appetite for destruction like Guns ‘n’ Roses” in amongst their disapproving metaphor-soaked lyrics relating tarted up pop stars. With lyrics like “Hillatoppa hilla hilla hillatoppa/Finish off a fifth of vodka/light it up and spit it on ya,” this song is hardly the strong point of the record, but musically it never misses a beat.
‘State of the Art’s strong point is the originality in the music. ‘The Light You Burned’ features a killer sample by Giant Crab’s ‘Hot Line Conversation’ and two tracks later ‘Last Confession’ features verses miraculously fitting with some epic jazz piano.
The album closes with ‘Fifty in Five’ - possibly the band’s most political song to date. The anti-violence prose is a damning message to politicians on both sides, from left wing Australian prime minsters (“Whitlam, Keatine, Hawke had a promise/Of no children in poverty, wish that could have been honest”) followed by a reference to (Tony) Abbot and (Peter) Costello, calling them “right wing overlords”.
They still manage to get their rock ‘n’ roll references in this track too too. “Elvis died, Hendrix died, Lennon died, genocide,” and later on “Metallica, kill ‘em all, let god scold ‘em all”.
The Hoods’ third album ‘State of the Art’ has taken a slowly improving genre and set the bar way up in the clouds. This is hands down the best Australian hip hop album I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.
Track listing:
The Return
Super Official
Chase That Feeling
She’s So Ugly
Still Standing
Classic Example (feat. Pharoahe Monch)
Chris Farley
The Light You Burned (feat. Trials)
Parade of the Dead
Last Confession
Hillatoppa
Fifty in Five
