There’s Hope For Them Yet: Hilltop Hoods’ “State of the Art”

August1

Hilltop Hoods have matured something shocking. It began in 2006 with The Hard Road, an album that underscored the standard Hilltop hedonism with genuine ideological passions, and this was stylistically emphasised the following year, when the group rereleased the album with remixed symphonic orchestral backing. Their ambition, however, is only crystallized with 2009’s State of the Art, which is a record altogether more comfortable with its own seriousness than The Hard Road is, and yet a good deal more serious than A Matter of Time or The Calling. State of the Art feels like the real deal, where the prior four releases were varyingly insufficient drafts (no pun intended, although it’s worth noting that the album, particularly “Last Confession”, is very Drapht-esque).

In fact, Hilltop Hoods have achieved an artistic status that puts them squarely between Drapht and Bliss n Eso – they share the former’s personalized, vaguely spiritual, maudlin contemplation and the latter’s larger-than-life, self-aggrandizing, double-MC theatricality. What nonetheless makes them a unique Australian hip-hop experience is the integrity and cohesion they lend to these two elements. State of the Art represents a mastering of duplicitous tone – celebratory and furious, silly and serious, introspective and anthemic. And if I tend to focus on nuances like this rather than lyrical intricacy, exciting musicality and lavish production, it’s only because Hilltop have always been technically infallible. The subtle character changes and tonal sophistication on State of the Art, however, are new, and they’re very interesting.

For starters, MC Pressure has calmed down. We’ve already seen some of the potential benefits of this on The Hard Road, where he humbly sat out of ”An Audience with the Devil” and let MC Suffa tell the epic tale of conversing with the Prince of Darkness. The song is a moving high point of the album. This is not to say that Pressure’s performative presence is wholly bad… but prior to State of the Art, there is an aggressive neediness to his serious efforts and an unnerving meanness to his comic that simply seems to have mellowed and balanced with this release. He has achieved humility and a perspective on things.

Perhaps this is most greatly reflected by “Parade of the Dead”. The song, for reasons that will become clear, is very dear to those of us at Wonderbread. It is an acerbic electronic whirlwind that facilitates the story of two characters trapped in an Adelaide Zombie apocalypse. Naturally, the premise begs to be played for comedy, but today Hilltop Hoods are smarter than that. Pressure’s verse in this song is the delightful highlight, waxing lyrical with a number of classic zombie conventions and breathing poetry into them. His gunshot bow lays the perfect stage for the socially conscientious chorus lament, “They built my city on top of a grave/and now the dead run the street like a rotting parade.” Here, Pressure’s integration of serious ambition and silly comedy is infectious; it brings the best out of DJ Debris and Suffa in the interest of a single stylistic vision. “Parade of the Dead” is probably the most cinematic Australian hip-hop song I’ve ever heard.

Still, it must be conceded that the album’s centrepiece is its final track, “Fifty in Five”, which dazzles purely on the merits of its beautiful construction, both lyrical and musical. For specifics, you need consult the album itself, because I can’t bring myself to dissect it, but the song is an exemplary text for the universal anger of our age, and it has more conviction, persuasion and relevance than anything else the group have ever done.

Meanwhile, of course, the Hilltop hedonism I mentioned is still alive and well. It finds the occasional bit of substance to adhere to, such as the pride of “Still Standing” or the sheer punchiness of “Chris Farley”, but we can catch it exposed and adolescent in “Super Official”, “The Light You Burned” and the staggeringly misogynistic “She’s So Ugly”. For many, I’m sure it’s this very uncouth sensibility that keeps Hilltop at an arm’s length: for fans, it’s an unnegotiable part of the package. And, it must be said that with all its distaste, “She’s So Ugly” is a gorgeous piece of hip-hop. Like Birth of a Nation (1915), it’s to be admired… even though it’s going to Hell.

But gosh darn it, isn’t that almost a summation of all good hip-hop – to be admired, even though it’s going to Hell? The good thing about State of the Art is that it reveals minds that know this – Suffa and Pressure are men who consistently categorize themselves as Damned. They, like the great pioneers of rap, recognize that there is almost no greater artistic commodity than the view of a soul who is only going down. Simultaneously, they recognize that there is a wide and diverse world of entertainment at the fingertips of such souls. State of the Art is a great start. I don’t think they’re the least bit done. You can pick up State of the Art from Amazon.com, or wherever good music resides.