Spit Syndicate - Towards The Light (Album)
MC Pegz may have the best ear for hip hop in this country; ask anyone to name an Aussie hip hop band they’re aware of and more than likely they’ll be on his Obese Records roster. Spit Syndicate are his most recent addition and it won’t be long before it is them who everyone spits when asked what they know of local hip hop. Their album cover heralds them as the future of Australian hip hop and after listening to the album this is no exaggeration. The two rookies, Nick Lupi and Just Enuf, a mere 19 and 20 years old respectively, have created a confident, intelligent and authoritative debut LP. Hilltop Hoods’ Suffa crowned them as the next big thing in the scene and this man obviously knows what he is talking about.
This will be the Aussie hip hop album of the year, with its all important production being handled by some of the best in the business at their absolute best. Throwing names like M Phazes, Jase from Beathedz, Fame and Ro Blvd. (LA producer who has remixed the likes of Nas, Common and Jay Z) into the production mix, the album was always going to be in rock solid hands. However it is not the production which makes the album, it is the skill and finesse of the two MCs. Aussie flow does not get much better than this and while local rhymes are often predictable and senseless, the Sydney lads lyricism is astute and sharp-witted. Their songs sound inspired by the East Coast rap of the US with hints of Midwest style emanating through, which is most likely why they pay so much attention to flow and lyricism. In fact they have done a far superior job to the Midwest’s Kanye West’s lyrical effort with Graduation and he is one of the biggest in the game. There are not many hip hop acts in Oz with lines like: “Talk with an avant-garde touch you can’t fathom/ But you can trust that we be back on par/ Hard work saw the baton passed down to masters/Too advanced for chance like Picasso and Braque”
The album remains true to the trade mark Aussie accent which makes it all the more exceptional. It would have been easy for them to adopt an American accent to put over the top of the particularly US sounding production, but they put a proud Australian stamp on their music and the social themes they discuss. They speak to the current crop of politically and socially aware young Australians with tracks like On and On and The Lucky Country which samples Paul Keating’s Redfern speech. No shortage of party tracks either with Weapon of Choice, Here Today Gone Tomorrow and Pick it Up creating a consecutive treble of good time soundtracks that any dj would froth over.
This is one of the better Oz hip hop releases ever. Watch the lads My Space page take more hits than Sean Sullivan in a fight against Danny Green in the coming months.
