- Hip hop thats heavy on the Aussie accents is omnipresent on Culture Of Kings 3 - the latest Obese Records' compilation which flaunts the latest unreleased joints and new collabos from all parts of the country.
Downsyde's Optamus lays down some moody strings and keys for Misunderstood while MC Drapht laments about wack hip hop MC's spitting out weak rhymes. During the chorus, a whiny voice repeats the word "misunderstood" giving the track a real melancholy feel.
Bias B, who has just released a new album, represents with Kings & Toys, his tribute track to Culture Of Kings. Bias' lyrical content is not dissimilar to Drapht's Misunderstood as he raps about how much he embraces the art while spitting out diss rhymes to all the fakers in the scene.
The first to step up to the plate for female MC's is MC Que and she shows us that it's not only the males who can deliver the diss rhymes, but the females are well adept at putting down their fellow human beings. On More Front Than Myers she narrates a story about sexual harrassment in the workplace while sticking up a middle finger to those who partake in it and those who let it slide. Sydney's MC Trey gets melodic on My ABC where she sings and raps about her hip hop history while incorporating the melody we've all learnt since kids while reciting the alphabet.
After an hour of neck snapping I can basically conclude that the quality of Australian has definitely improved and diversified since the release of the Home Brewz compilations back in the mid-90's. The majority of the lyrical content on Culture Of Kings 3 sticks to the theme of how much each individual embraces the art while the major labels still choose to push the mainstream commerical sound. It's an issue that each underground hip hopper seems to face to gain recognition. It's understandable, however Culture Of Kings could definitely be spiced up with more party tracks such as Downsyde's El Questro - hands in the air style hip hop while they rhyme about the "B-Boys breaking, B-Girls shaking".
Now in its third incarnation, Culture Of Kings has represented the some of the best in underground Australian since the first release back in 2000. Obese Records have put in a lot of effort in each release to ensure high quality in a burgeoning underground scene. If you like hip hop and support your local scene, this is definitely one compilation for you, and since Obese's Obesecity won 2003's DMA's for best compilation, one can be sure that Culture Of Kings is choc full of quality acts and tracks.