Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.
This week the Australian and more specifically Perth Hip Hop community mourns the loss of Hunter of the SBX Crew. Hunter battled cancer for more than a year and managed to organise a compilation of Australian rap acts to raise money for Canteen. The disc is due out in November and you can order it here on release. Condolences to Hunter's son and family, the Syllabollix Crew and the whole Australian Hip Hop community on a great loss.
So with a heavy heart, it's on with the music. I had to have a "Skip Hop" contingent and I've chosen Bliss n Eso and the excellent Culture of Kings compilation where I first heard Hunter. Watching This Is England '86 this week has put me in the mood for The Jam. New albums from Ben Lee and Noel Gallagher; a Nina Simone anthology, Dixie Chicks - yeah Dixie Chicks. What pimp?! Come at me - plus some other gems and there you have a whole week's listening. It's actually a short week this week because of the relocated-just-for-CHOGM long weekend.
My list goes:
- Ben Lee - Deeper Into Dream
- Ray LaMontagne - Gossip In The Grain
- Bliss n Eso - Day of the Dog
- VA - Culture of Kings Vol 2
- The Jam - Greatest Hits
- VA - Retrospace : Soul Mixtape
- VA - Elizabethtown OST Vol. 2
- Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - S/T
- Nina Simone - Sugar In My Bowl : The Best of Nina Simone
- Dixie Chicks - Home
- Hilltop Hoods
- Nas
- US3
- The Pleased
- Sonic Youth
Yesterday morning, Perth rapper and long-time Syllabolix Crew member Hunter lost his battle with endocrine cancer. You can read about it at PerthNow.
This is one of the only solo tracks of his that I know. It appears on Culture of Kings Vol. II. Hunter and the SBX crew were among those who first gave Australian Hip Hop its own sound. In the early days, we had Mighty Big Crime who were Beastie Boys rip offs, plus a bunch of mostly American-style lesser lights. Even the DJs on 100FM who I listened to in the 80s would put on fake US accents to rap or to talk Hip Hop.
SBX’s uniqueness gave us a completely Ocker sound and content. They rapped about Centrelink and beer and trainlines. Hunter actually has an LP called Going Back To Yokine where he raps all about his home suburb. This track Jam Roll is about fudging Dole forms and living unemployed. I think that now Australian Hip Hop has found a happy medium between the larrikin and the serious exponent of the culture, but back when people like Huntz got started, it was still finding its way ahead. He really was a pioneer for what we have now.
As I said, I have only heard a few of his songs apart from his appearances in other people’s tracks like Drapht, Hilltop Hoods, Bias B and Matty B, but I have been following him on Twitter for the last year. It has been a little bit of a humbling journey. He ran the gamut of emotion from day to day from upbeat positivity to out and out depression. It was a sad day for the heads yesterday and a lot of us felt it. So this is me pouring a ‘forty’ on the curb for a ‘homie’ who’s gone. Except Hunter hated US rap.
RIP Hunter
Rest in peace to a rapper who helped point Australian Hip Hop in it's own direction. Without Hunter, things wouldn't be quite the same. He introduced a uniquely Australian identity to the music and elements of it still remain. That identity was the reason we managed to shake off most of the US imitation from our collective backs.
Play safe out there kids, no matter what you do. And don't forget to have fun. Hasala malakim.
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