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Hilltop Hoods

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Hilltop Hoods

The Hilltop Hoods are an ARIA Award winning Australian hip hop group, originating from Adelaide, South Australia. Their members (April 2009) are MCs Suffa (Matt Lambert), Pressure (Daniel Smith), DJ Debris (Barry Francis) and formerly DJ Next.

History

The group formed in 1991 when MCs Suffa and Pressure met at Blackwood High School. They joined up with DJ Debris through a mutual friend and formed the basis for the group. Early on in the history of the Hilltop Hoods DJ Next did all of the scratches and regularly competed in the local DMC tournaments. In the late 1990s DJ Next chose to pursue a different career path after the release of A Matter of Time and moved to Sydney. DJ Debris who was previously producer became the main DJ. DJ Next remains in contact with the Hilltop Hoods. Prior to the release of Back Once Again, the Hilltop Hoods put together a demo entitled "Highlanders".

Influences include American hip hop artists such as Notorious B.I.G., KRS-One, Gang Starr and Public Enemy, although the Hilltop Hoods rap with their native Australian accents.

Their name comes from a suburb in south-eastern Adelaide known by the local youth as the Hilltop, where Suffa and Pressure were raised.

Hilltop Hoods are one of Australia's original and most renowned hip hop groups. After over five years of limited exposure in Adelaide, where there was practically no hip hop scene, the Hilltop Hoods and others began to draw attention. The group received two nominations for the Hip Hop Act of the Year Award at The Australian Dance Music Awards and again at the 3D World Music Awards in 2001 and 2002.[1] Today, Hilltop Hoods continue to enjoy their success, and even have their own shoe design sponsored by DC Shoes.[2]

Recordings and collaborations

The Hilltop Hoods have released many recordings including:

And many others.

Aside from their own instalments, the Hilltop Hoods have featured on a number of compilation albums, including Obesecity and Culture of Kings Vol. 1 & 2, and have collaborated with Australian hip hop scene musicians including Koolism, Mass MC, Pegz, Muph, Funkoars, MC Layla, Hyjak and DJ Bonez.

The group released their fourth album The Hard Road on 1 April 2006, featuring the single Clown Prince and guest verses from New York rapper Omni and British MC's Mystro and Braintax. The album debuted at number one on the ARIA charts, and was the first Australian hip hop album to do so. The track The Blue Blooded is a collaboration of Australian MC's featuring the Funkoars, Hau from Koolism, Mortar, Drapht, Muph & Plutonic, Pegz and Robby Balboa.

On April 27 of the same year, the Hilltop Hoods performed at the Bass in the Grass music festival in Darwin alongside fellow hip hop group, The Herd. This was also the day in which the Hilltop Hoods released their second single from their new album The Hard Road. The video clip features members from the Certified Wise crew, of which the Hilltop Hoods are members.

Following the success of The Hard Road tour in early 2006, the Hilltop Hoods have begun their second national tour for 2006 called The Stopping All Stations tour which will travel to more regional areas as well as the capital cities. Their support acts are Koolism & UK MC Mystro.

In late 2006, the Hilltop Hoods released their third single from The Hard Road, the track "What a Great Night" the videoclip for the song shows the group at a club with camera shots panning up and down to reveal a new location. It used advanced special effects and is one of the most expensive videoclips for an Australian hip hop group, mirroring the groups rise in success and popularity.

They performed the Homebake Festival in late 2006.

On 12 May 2007, the Hoods released their new album The Hard Road Restrung which is a remix of their previous album The Hard Road featuring the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Okwerdz. It also includes an unheard bonus track. Over the Easter Weekend of 2007, they performed several of their hits at The Great Escape at Newington Armory in Sydney. In May 2007 they toured the United Kingdom with a Sydney based string quartet.

The first single released from The Hard Road Restrung is "Recapturing the Vibe" as well as a video clip that is currently on rotation on rage & jtv.

Furthermore, it was announced during a Channel (V) interview published that the Hilltop Hoods were getting ready to start writing for their new album due to be released sometime in 2008 or 2009. The Hilltop Hoods have subsequently left their long time home of Obese Records to start their own label, Golden Era Records, which will release the group's future albums. In November, 2008 they announced on Triple J's breakfast program that the new album would be called State of the Art.[3]

We realised with this one after doing Restrung and having an orchestra that we were a bit less limited. So we're going to have some session musos come in on this one and stuff like that. -Pressure[3]

The Hilltop Hoods stated on their myspace site that State of the Art' has been given the tentative release date of the 23rd of May 2009.

Awards and performances

The 2003 release The Calling achieved platinum status in Australia, and two tracks ("The Nosebleed Section" and "Dumb Enough") received places in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003, at 9th and 44th, respectively. Their latest album, The Hard Road was released in Australia on 1 April 2006. Their first single release from The Hard Road, the "Clown Prince" was released in February 2006, which became their first top 40 singles hit on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart.

They have performed at many large Australian music festivals, including the Big Day Out, Southbound, The Great Escape, Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, the Perth WA based not for profit concert HYPERFEST, Make Poverty History and more recently "Rollercoaster". The Hilltop Hoods have received nominations for the 'Best Hip Hop Act' in 2001 and 2002 at the 3D World Dance Music Awards, won the APRA award for 'Best Up-coming Group' as well as receiving number one positions in independent charts all around Australia.

In 2006 the group won the prestigious J Award. They also were nominated for five ARIA Awards (the first ever for an Australian hip hop group), winning two awards; 'Best Urban Release' and 'Best Independent Release'.

In 2007 they won Best Urban Release at the ARIA awards for The Hard Road Restrung.

In 2007 they have performed at the Falls Festival (VIC & TAS), Southbound Festival (WA), The Great Escape (NSW), The Pyramid Rock Festival (VIC) and are about to embark on a UK tour with a Sydney based string quartet.

On Australia Day, 2007, the Hoods claimed five spots in Triple J's Hottest 100 with "The Hard Road" reaching 3rd place. "Clown Prince", "What a Great Night", "Stopping All Stations", and "Recapturing the Vibe" placed 23rd, 41st, 56th, and 77th respectively. The Hilltop Hoods received the most entries in the Hottest 100 that year, and were only 1 song off equalling the record, held by Wolfmother the previous year.

They performed at the 2008 Big Day Out festival.

They performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2008.

They performed at Islington Academy in London in 2008.

The DVD City of Light was nominated as 'Best Music DVD' at the 2008 ARIA awards.

Hilltop Hoods Remix Shoe

The Hilltop Hoods and DC Shoes made a limited-edition shoe together called 'The Hilltop Hoods Remix Shoe'. It was released in stores on 1 February 2008. They are the first Australian music group to have their own shoe[citation needed].

Hilltop Hoods Initiative

In 2005 the annual 'Hilltop Hoods Initiative' was established in association with Arts SA, made possible by a donation from the Hilltop Hoods.

Valued at $5000 (originally $3000), the Hilltop Hoods initiative helped young and emerging South Australian hiphop artists to manufacture and distribute a CD. The initiative also included two mentorship sessions with Hilltop Hoods' (previous)Manager, PJ Murton.

The initiative recognises the important role South Australian Government assistance played in the development of the careers of the Hilltop Hoods.

Recipients so far include

  • 2 piece General Knowledge in 2005 [1]
  • Solo artist Subsketch, also in 2006 [2]
  • Solo artist Jimblah in 2007
  • Solo artist K21 in 2008 [3]

Discography

Albums

EPs

  • Back Once Again - (1997)

Singles

Note that songs appear on the Triple J Hottest 100 chart according to what year the album they were on was released, rather than what year they were released as a single. As it is an annual listing, rather than a continuous chart. Therefore "Dumb Enough" and "The Nosebleed Section" appear on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2003, rather than 2004.

Name Album ARIA Singles Chart Triple J Hottest 100 Year Released
"Testimonial Year" The Calling - - 2003
"Dumb Enough" The Calling - 44 2003
"The Nosebleed Section" The Calling - 9 2003
"Clown Prince" The Hard Road 19 23 2006
"The Hard Road" The Hard Road - 3 2006
"What A Great Night" The Hard Road - 41 2006

DVDs

References

  1. ^ Hilltop Hoods: Pressure in the Hilltop Hood Created On July 24th, 2003 by Katie Elles. http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/11167/
  2. ^ MySpace.com - Hilltop Hoods - Adelaide, AU - Hip Hop - www.myspace.com/hilltophoods
  3. ^ a b "Hilltop Hoods go State of the Art". Triple J. 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
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