12am.com.au : Mixing Music Media


	.: Hilltop Hoods

date: 11 September, 2003
columnist: Margaux Carlos

"Call Me!" Emerging from the street-savvy core of Adelaide in the early nineties, Hilltop Hoods are perhaps best known for their live shows and openings for respected international acts like DJ Cash Money this Friday, The Allies, Rodney P & Skitz, Bukue 1, Living Legends, Company Flow, Foreign Legion and Shortee Blitz to name a few. After literally hundreds of performances criss-crossing the nation, it is easy to see why the band's reputation has swelled upon the strength of these gigs.

Comprising of MC Suffa, Pressure & DJ Debris, Hilltop Hoods formed around the shared intention of creating the hip hop that Australia seemed to be missing. Based on the principle of "speak what you would like to hear" (an artistic take on the Golden Rule), they have spent the last decade exploring the various twisting and branching of hip-hop and laying down some roadwork of their own. Straight right to the Spanish Inquisition…

You boys rocked the Aussie Finals for the DMC World Technics World DJ Championships at the Metro last month. What can the crowd expect at your upcoming national tour?
A whole lot more than they got at the DMC. A much longer set, almost every track of out new LP “The Calling” and some older ones that probably aint been heard in a while.

The DMC’s was the first time you’ve performed an entire live set for almost a year. What has kept you from the limelight?
Mostly what has kept us from performing live was the recording of our album. We felt that if we tried to squeeze it into a schedule of putting together live sets and touring it would have become a background project. We wanted the new LP to receive 100% priority and the results have been rewarding. Unfortunately we did in the process turn down many shows that otherwise would have been sick to play at.

Hilltop Hoods are renowned for wicked live sets. Is it hard to translate that energy from stage to the studios?
Not really, if your hearts in the music and you’ve been doing it long enough the translation from stage to studio comes naturally.

You probably are over this question but how did the tag “Hilltop Hoods” come about?
We where labelled Hilltop Hoods by a fellow MC who was a bit older than us in about ‘92. We used to hang out with him a lot, drinking and freestyling in parks, being from the Adelaide hills and being young hoodlums he branded us with it and it stuck. It stuck for much longer than we intended it to and we woke up one day and realised it was far too late to change such a tragic name.

How did you become involve in hip hop?
I started listening to hip hop in the late eighties and my passion was instant. In high school I hooked up with Suffa and we started writing joke raps about our teachers amongst other things. A local MC named Flak that I knew who was older was doing shows around ‘93-‘94 and asked us to get up on stage with him one night. We never looked back.

Who are your main influences?
I think I was probably influenced when I was younger by artists such as Organised Confusion, Eric B & Rakim, Common Sense, Public Enemy and the list goes on. These days we try and keep it very original so I wouldn’t say I’m directly influenced by anyone.

What was Adelaide’s initial reaction when your band first started?
Initially nothing, we spent our first 5 years as teenagers making bedroom demo tapes and really bad music. Once we did hit the live scene we where received very well, even though we were only about 16 years old. Our following has only grown since then.

How does South Australia compare to other states in local support for Aussie hip hop?
For our population we shape up very well, Adelaide has a good scene and better yet minimal bickering. Everyone here supports each other and we get good regular turn outs to events, there are also a lot of crews making quality hip hop. I’d say we are very productive; perhaps it’s the fact that there ain’t much else to do in Adelaide. In comparison to other states I’d say we have a very strong scene.

Why do you think hip hop has taken so long to become established here?
Cause rock’n’roll will never die….haha….

Describe the Aussie hip hop scene now:
An infant, healthy and growing steadily.

“Left foot, Right Foot” earned a four star review in the UK mag Hip Hop Connection. As I quote “When Australian hip hop breaks out, these chaps will be spearheading the campaign. No silly gimmicks, no wack beats, no nonsense hip hop.” Is international success a facet of your ultimate goal? Ultimately no, though recognition from any respected source is always a good thing.

You have also been nominated twice for the Hip Hop Act of the Year Award at the 3D World Dance Music Awards, as well as Triple J’s Hottest 100 in 2001 and 2002. Are you also considering conquering the local mainstream or would that be a sell out?
As long as you are still making music for yourself and not to trying to fit into to what ever the flavour of the month may happen to be, you haven’t sold out. If we get more nominations this year, all the better. What ever happens we will still be here doing our thing and not anyone else’s.

Quickie: Old school or new school?
No schooling needed here.

What have you got in store for Hilltop Hoods fans this year?
Our best product to date, 50 mins of slamming hip-hop…’The Calling’.

Complete this sentence: Hilltop Hoods…
Coming Soon.

Hilltop Hoods. Adelaide’s answer to homegrown hip hop is due to release their latest album on the 22nd of September 2003 through Obese Records. ‘The Calling’ is a very strong musical accomplishment, and certainly the most richly complex of The Hilltop Hoods career to date. Lyrically, the band goes from the personal to the universal, the comic to the incomprehensible. DJ Debris’ musical constructions make use of everything that is best about technologies like sampling and sequencing. Approaching old records more as raw sonic materials than as groovy treasures to be plundered, The Calling reshapes, retexturises and finally recontextualises the sounds before it into something uniquely from the Hilltops. Keep your ear on the down low for their upcoming national tour to witness for yourself the fusion of jazz influenced beats with their trademark tight flow that is the catalyst to their success from underground to the United Kingdom...

Tracklisting:
01 : Incoming
02 : Testimonial Year
03 : The Calling
04 : Dumb Enough?
05 : Illusionary Lines
06 : Tommorrow will do
07 : Laying Blame
08 : Simmy and the Gravyspitter
09 : The Nosebleed Section
10 : Down for the Cause
11 : Mic Felon
12 : Walk On
13 : The Certificate
14 : Hilltop Hoods
15 : Working the Mic
16 : Outgoing
17 : The Sentinel

www.hilltophoods.com.au

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