Rip It UP: Hilltop Hoods

Back in December to commemorate our ‘Flip It Up’ Issue of The Note, we had a chat with Johnny ‘JC’ Chalmers (Editor of Onion, Attitude and Rip It Up from 1996 -2003), about seeing the now juggernauts of Aussie Hip Hop grow throughout their career.

Johnny Chalmers | Editor – Onion, Attitude and Rip It Up 1996–2003

When did you first hear the Hilltop hoods?

Probably ’96 or when their Back Once Again EP dropped in ’97. I grew up in Mitcham playing guitar in bands and the boys were up the road in Blackwood. I’d crossed paths with Matt Lambert (Suffa)’s older brother, Chris, who played bass/sang for Capital F, who were the bomb. It was no surprise that, along with MC Pressure (Dan Smith), Debris (Baz Francis) and – back then – DJ Next (Ben Hare), the Hoods were true talent!

Did you immediately think they had something special?

Yep, I did. Not just the massive delivery but the turntablism (DJ Next) and melodic sampling choices – think ‘People in the Front Row’ and the eventual impact of ‘The Nosebleed Section’ on Aussie hip hop. And their lyrics were on point from the get-go. They connected NY borough rap with Aussie Rules and local life. Whether they were throwing light or shade, the stories connected, and that’s unusual. They’ve proved more consistently high-quality than countless less-prolific world-class acts, and that’s been there all along.

When did you know they were going to make it?

I didn’t at first – this was still an era when rap with Aussie accents was considered naff. But the Hoods literally broke through that! By ’99 and A Matter of Time, when they became a trio, they were well respected in hip hop circles and their manager PJ Murton visited Onion/Rip It Up weekly. The guys were professionals (even working their own jobs – Debris would stop by in his courier van) and always backed themselves with promotion (from a grant, initially) right up until they got incredible lift-off in 2003 with ‘Dumb Enough’ and ‘Nosebleed’ off The Calling LP. But in 2001, with ‘Left Foot Right Foot’ and the incredible wordsmithing in ‘What The Seasons Change’, you knew the ball was in their court – even if you didn’t know how much they would change the entire landscape. Legends!

Any short anecdotes you can recall?

Two quickies. Quro from Fuglemen (ex-Sia) wrote a hip hop column for Onion and, from memory, had a verse on 'Back Once Again'. But at times, there was no love lost between his crew and The Hoods – this was in the ’90s when Adelaide was quite tribal with new forms of music. The other was when the Hoods came by my place in Mitcham for a game of sticks and a beer. They played me some new tracks on a cassette tape, right from their car. I feel freakin’ lucky to have been part of it! Go Hoodies!