One of Australia’s most acclaimed hip-hop exports, The Funkoars, are delighted to announce their forthcoming their national Below Average headline tour, which is kicking off this weekend.
After some time formulating their next move, The Funkoars have finally returned to bring hard ’80s street justice back into fashion, which their fifth full-length album, In Case of Emergency, is guaranteed to do.
To celebrate the tour the Aussie hip hop stalwarts have curated a compilation of the ’15 Aussie Hip Hop Tracks You Should Know All The Lyrics To’ which went so well we’re now doing part #2 check it out below before you catch them on the road this month.
PROWLA – ‘MONEY WALKS’
One of the crown jewels in any serious vinyl collectors collection and for a million good reasons. I heard a bunch of earlier tapes by Prowla at house parties but never owned one so forking out for this wax was easy. The delivery/production still miles ahead of it’s time and an instant trip to the rainy Melbourne city scape.
THE TONGUE – ‘BAD EDUCATION’
Produced by what im pretty sure went on to become The Bag Raiders this beat is just a top to bottom banger. Tongue is in his element riding this beat start to finish and fuck me does it bang on a club stereo. One of the most played 12”s in my crate since it made its way in there.
The Avalanches – ‘FRONTIER PSYCHIATRIST / DJ DEXTA 1999 DMC Routine’
Something slightly different but definitely one of the most pinnacle moments in Aus music production for me. Dexta’s 99 DMC routine still to this day stands out as a masterpiece. You’ll notice around 1 minute in a lot of your favourite elements from Dexta’s group “The Avalanches” and their massive debut single that dropped a year later. One of the best djs/crews/tunes of its time and today.
1200 TECHNIQUES – ‘KARMA’
Now this was well ahead of its time and still wouldn’t be out of place is somebody dropped it today which is always a good sign. These dudes were definitely a part of the very first wave of Rap music being made in this country being taken seriously on radio stations and festival stages. Peril is one of the essential building blocks in this scene for a bunch of reasons but this tune and the doors it helped open for the rest of us is pretty slick accolade.
DOWNSYDE – ‘EL QUESTRO’
Another tune responsible for the early wave of Aus rap being played on the radios for all the right reasons. Dazastah is easily my favourite producer on the planet and all the work he’s done with Opt, Armee and Shahbaz has always been top tier. These guys have a new record coming out this year and I can’t even imagine how ridiculous it sounds.
DELTA – ‘MAYDAY’
As far as anthems go this is pretty fkn hard to top. The B-Boy theme for Jaws was produced by the legendary UK beatsmith Mark B. I was a huge fan of Mark B’s records with Blade so when one of Adelaide’s most notorious nasty motherfkrs on the mic released a record full of his bangers it was always going to be something large. From the first drop to the most classic chorus this tune is definitely timeless. BAILOUTBAILOUT!
FINGER LICKIN GOOD – ‘AS THE RECORD TURNS’
If you don’t know about this crew i’ll let you do the required history but needless to say it is full of familiar faces responsible for a lot of the early and most important ground work in Adelaides music scene. This gem is the “DJ/Instrumental” track by a young lad by the name of GROOVE TERMINATOR. GT went on to have a shit ton of success internationally spanning a few genres but this tune has always kept a special place in my crate – production, cuts, samples, just perfect.
JIMBLAH – ‘CAPITOL CITY’
Jim’s BEEN consistently dope behind the boards and and on the microphone. I’ve known the homie for a long time now and to see how far his music has come and still continues to go has been just beautiful. I don’t know many other heads who bleed through their music as much as the brother Blah, do yourself a favour and get real familiar
HAU – ‘KILL.I.AM’
Very easy to bomb this whole list with a gang of Koolism joints like “blue notes” “cant stand it” “all city” etc. But I thought i’d put in the latest tune/video for the brother Hau produced by the lords Sensible J & Dutch. Hau’s easily one of our favourite mc’s not only responsible for paving the early ‘Aus HipHop’ sound but developing and progressing it.
MUPH & PLUTONIC – ‘HEAPS GOOD’
Vintage Pluto production and one of my favourite local rap video clips. Muph was one of the first heavy conscious rappers in our scene i was listening to when he was rhyming with his brother Draino / Puah Hedz and this record was a such a fun refreshing uptempo version of Muphs style that really jumped out at me. I slammed this record start to finish weekly and it still bangs, also Pluto playing covered in all the post it notes = classic.
AFTER HOURS – ‘EYES OF A CHILD’
CLASSIC tune from an unbelievably influential crew on us from Adelaide. The beat produced by Kris/Jugular is just phenomenal from top to bottom – drums/sample/arrange/topic just 15/10 nuts.
BONEY STONEY (lazy grey/bias b/len wun) – ‘LYRICAN LUNCH’N’
oh man this fkn BEAT. just forever insane shit right here. Lazys ‘alright here’s the mic i bet there’s nothing you could show me’ one of the loudest lines screamed at every party I rocked too only to be outdone by the Len 1/Bias cut/chorus. one of the earliest examples we had of cross country connections that we adopted pretty heavily with our Hospice homies.
THE HERD – ‘77%’
These guys were one of the first groups making really poignant political joints that struck a chord with the growing scene and this tune in particular was definitely responsible for that. Classic bassline and lyrics that are just as applicable today as they ever were. WAKEUP!
THE HOSPICE – ‘TYPE CAST’
we haven’t known anyone in this scene longer than Newsense & Ciecmate so thankfully this crew have always been very familiar to us. Some of the most descriptive and skilful mc’s in the country, The Hospice have always had a way of wrapping you up in each members individual naritive and on this joint Ciecas/Newsense & Diem go to work over a classic gritty banger by Ciecas.
BIAS B – ‘THE RIPPER / RAINY DAYS’
So hard to pick a favourite from Bias’s ground breaking Beezwax LP. The entire record was an anthem to my area but these two were easily my most played joints. Both insane in their own right – The Ripper was a staple on the stereo before we’d head out for a night of nuisance and the Rainy Days break sold me from the first second I heard it – another instant teleport to Melbourne.
AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
w/DJ Total Eclipse, MC Mathas, Eloji
Friday, 8th May 2015
The Tbc Club, Fortitude Valley
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 9th May 2015
Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta
Tickets: Funkoars
Wednesday, 13th May 2015
Transit Bar, Canberra
Tickets: Funkoars
Thursday, 14th May 2015
Workers Club, Melbourne
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 15th May 2015
Workers Club, Melbourne
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 16th May 2015
Republic Bar, Hobart
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 22nd May 2015
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 23rd May 2015
Basement, Sydney
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 29th May 2015
Prince Of Wales, Bunbury
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 30th May 2015
Amplifier Bar, Perth
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 12th June 2015
The Gov, Adelaide (AA)
Tickets: Funkoars
