“Yeah that was a very strange time for us back then because our music had gone from a backyard hobby to being able to quit our day jobs and put all our time and effort into the music,” explains a surprisingly bashful Daniel Smith a.k.a MC Pressure. Since 2004, when their album The Calling was released that featured the song The Nosebleed Section, Hilltop Hoods and Australian hip hop has gone from a little known act and subgenre to a chart topping success. It is now put to Smith, “what has it been like to go from the lepers of the Australian music industry to the pin-up boys?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘the pin-up boys of the Australian music industry’ I’d say more ‘pin-up lepers!’,” jokes the rich voiced Smith.
Smith is one half of The Hilltop Hoods vocal assault, with the other mic being wielded by Suffa (Matt Lambert). The beats, which the pair rap over, are controlled by DJ Debris. Smith is talking to Beat in the build-up to what is going to be a massive summer for Hilltop Hoods with their fifth Big Day Out tour early next year that also features Odd Future, Kayne West and Battles.
However, before that they play with Eminem and Lil Wayne at Etihad Stadium in December.
The reality is, however, that even though BDO 2012 is the ‘Hoods fifth Big Day Out tour and Eminem is not their first international support Smith explains that he still has to “pinch myself occasional to remind me all this is real!”
The Hilltop Hoods commitment to making music their career is further evidenced by the establishment of their own record label Golden Era Records, that features fellow Aussie hip hop heavyweights The Funkoars. Smith gives a snapshot of where Golden Era Records currently is. “This year we’ve released Vents and Funkoars with Vents’ Marked For Death being nominated for an ARIA. And Funkoars released their album only a few months ago and it made it in to the top ten of the ARIA charts, so we’re obviously super happy and really surprised that two underground acts from Adelaide could do so well!”
The Hilltop Hoods have now released five albums since 1999 with their third album, the aforementioned The Calling breaking them into the mainstream. Rumours of a sixth album due next year have since been confirmed by the band but in his own words, Smith tells Beat readers what to expect from this upcoming release. “The next record is called Drinking From The Sun and what I can say is, yeah, it’s still a work in progress. It has four or five guest producers working on it and other artists guesting on songs. Honestly, it’s shaping up to be really exciting with all three of us really happy with the lyrics,” waxes a jubilant Smith.
Internationally Aussie hip hop really doesn’t make a mark, admittedly acts like Bliss N Esso and Hilltop Hoods have had reasonably successful US tours and made some strong contacts but never really made any market impact. One obvious difference is that Australian dance producers rarely use Australian rappers on their projects unlike Scotsman Calvin Harris who used Dizzee Rascal for Bonkers and Canadians MSTRKRFT who used Nore on Bounce and John Legend on Heartbreaker. Smith discusses the omission of Aussie rappers from dance music. “It’s a good question and I don’t have the answer to it, but they’re obviously different genres. I mean I certainly don’t think there is any ill-will between the two groups – just not a close working relationship. There are some more old school Aussie hip hop groups that incorporate electro into their sound.”
One US connection that Hilltop Hoods are very proud of and demonstrates that Aussie hip hop is respected by some of the best rappers this world as ever known is their relationship with Pharoahe Monche. This US rapper is best known for his genre defying banger Simon Says (Get The Fuck Up) but he has been in the rap game for a very long time having released his first album in 1991 with the group Organised Konfusion. Smith explains how the relationship with the rap legend was developed. “We basically tracked him down because we were just massive fans of him with myself having grown up on Organised Konfusion! We were so stoked when he agreed to work with us on our song Classic Example [from the album State Of The Art].”
