- Winners of the NSW leg of Triple J's Unearthed competition are the 6-strong Down Under Beats (D-U-B) crew. Based in the serene Blue Mountains region of Sydney, the group features four MC's - Joe New, Dialectrix, Immune and Sydney hip hop veteran 13th Son Of December - backed up by two turntablists/producers Codeks and Platterpush. It's a formula that seems to work well for LA's underground kings, Jurassic 5. Hiphoperation is the resulting debut album from the crew featuring 13 tracks of straight up sample based hip hop beats, 2 of which are dedicated to the art of turntablism.
The opening track, Misty Mountains is the only joint on the album which features all four MCs giving listeners an inside look into each of their respective rhyme styles with Dialectrix spitting out his beatboxing skills. Cloud Number Seven was the winning entry to the Unearthed competition and features a jazzy piano riff, occasional funk guitar licks and a turntablist cut and scratch session which is used as the bridge between verses.
As implied by the title, Irie I is the dub/reggae joint on the album with a reggae vocal sample scratched and cut up throughout the track. As stated by MCs Joe New and Dialectrix, they're "mixing reggae inflection with a bboy connection". Dialectrix provides a few solo tracks, Step Up To The Plate sees him providing MC vocals as well as beatboxing and on Rapid Fire we hear him firing off lyrics at supersonic pace, in a similar fashion to Young MC's Fastest Rhyme.
Codeks and Platterpush take control of the two DJ-based, non-MC tracks, showing off the turntablist side to the group. Get'n Out Of It features old skool funk breaks and vocal samples including some taken from spoken word documentary records. For More Than Two Ears begins with a Spanish vocal introduction and latin influenced beatdown. The latin influence is heavy on the track as it features plenty of latin style horns, samba-esque beats with ample use of conga and bongo percussion.
In true old skool hip hop style, Hiphoperation revolves heavily around the sample based production styles of DJ's Codeks and Platterpush as they take it back to the early days of hip hop where the DJ was the focus. All 13 tracks feature very clever and creative beats and an instrumental version of the album would work well for those who like to hear hip hop sans vocals. Lyrically, the four MCs work well with the beats and each other as a team, perhaps the inclusion of catchy and clever hooks in their choruses would be the icing on the cake.