producers: osinaka, aux one, muphin, rooks, mo manuscripts, draino, nurock

guests: a-love, nds

website: puah hedz

Freestyle of the Arsonists gave European hip hop quite a bashing in this interview, when he was just about calling all acts from this side of the big pond, copycats and a bunch of wannabes. But that's very much not the case. First of all, there is some truly original stuff being put out outside of the USA, and whilst the US has created it, it is now a truly universal music, and the world has made it its own. And what can be said about Europe, also counts for the rest of the outside, and in this record's case, Australia. The Puah Hedz, the collective that gave you the Muphin album, released an album, that is being shipped over the even bigger pond to reach our haven, for us to learn that hip hop is doing well in the down under.

The team of Osinaka, Muphin, Draino and DJ FX open the record with "How Do You Do?", that focuses on the 1210 trickery by DJ FX and the low down Osinaka beat. "Yah Not Hip Hop" is the first sign of the global accessibility this album has, with Draino and Muphin talking about something we all can relate to, so Muphin goes "now ya getting to the cool heads among the scene / so ya elevate to being too cool to be keen, / a fiend in the making / hip hop is just there as your convenience for the taking, / and as long as ya raking in the ladies / you will love it, but as soon as its popularity disappears / you'll shove it away with ya clothes in the cupboard" and Draino is seconding this with going "I used to get so much shit for being into hip hop / and wearing my pants low / though a few years later, / the haters became bandwagon, pant sagging passengers / amateurs of the scene / thinking they know it all, I'm towing ya'll". If you know any of the previous work by Osinaka, you will be used to the style he does on "Can U Feel It", that's putting layers together, accentuating a few, to only lower them after a while. He does this with an ease, that shows how much he has found his own style.

Also remarkable is, how easy it seems for the record to go into the next cut, with "You (Now It's Really Over)" featuring a inspirational piano, that has been hooked up by MO Manuscripts. Muphin is allowed to speak his heart. And it's quite obvious what he talks about. With "To Be Different", we reach the first highlight on this album. What Osinaka did with this track is incredible. The whole way how he made that El-P sample work, the deepness of the track, the details you'll discover once you sit down and truly listen. The only little flaw is, when the beat shifts at the end. A different voice sample annoys, and things only start to work again with FX scratching the way out. Draino is keeping the title meaningful when he goes "lace arms pits with that Rexona, roll on shit / use one-tel to propel my thoughts overseas / my mark of appreciation is disease / spreading with ease / so breath in what you need / and spit out what you don't / Draino is different, period, don't quote".

Aux One then does "HTSG" and has to be walking in the shadow of the previously heard track. But with the sun reaching midday, the shadows get smaller, and in the end we see the beat in full light, that is glistened upon by more lyrics by Muphin. We are still kinda looking forward to the next Osinaka beat though, that we are getting on "Sequence Of Events". This is some streets of San Francisco like car chase theme, it being instrumental and having buried a wah wah guitar as the one chasing the fleeing. The center element of the beat that Rooks hooked up for "Got Ya Hooked" is a piano that is like tears refusing to be held back in one's eyes and rolling down the cheek. The whole mood of the song is sad, also the voices of Muphin and Draino, who talk about addictions, but not necessarily the obvious ones. Still Muph' ends theoretically, saying "it's hard for people to give up shit in which they have such a firm grip on / tributes to those who beat there foes and moved on / now I'm hooked upon this particular song".

It will be "Play The Game" that has you finally add Osinaka to the list of dope producers. The mood is melancholy again, but the way he operates, with the Drum-N-Bass break for the chorus, with the way he sets the clusters, and how he got rid of the one complaint (unmatching drums) we had with the stuff he did for Muphin's album (read review here), he has truly mastered his art. But it's also the team up of the two minds that make the difference, as Muphin again shows his thinking head, when he goes "have you ever heard of an Australian MC / who could survive from this solely / now you may hold me / to my words, but shit can change, / the stars hang so high they're out of range / You may find this strange, but they can stay away / night n day I like to play my own way / cause when you're a star you've got to watch what ya say / so now I feel okay about my low status". But Draino's production on "Little Miss Perfect" is not leaving much to be desired as well, as this cut nestles in comfortably between the other tracks of the record. And showing that this crew got talent in abundance, the beat that Muphin does for "Woven Wizadry" is starting with a very dope violin sample, that then gets somewhat destroyed by the noisy other elements of the beat.

As a reviewer we are almost glad that "Some People" is not as nice as the rest, as we don't have to elaborate on it (we are running out of space), but with that hidden piano-like sound, the percussion clicks in the back, and finally the female emcee A-Love, we are again forced to mention this all. Aux continues on "Will It Catch On?", bringing along Nurock as a co-producer. Their guitary effort is again nice, and we feel Draino when he says "beneath the skin I dream of nude beats / that make me not want to speak, just listen". It's probably surprising to hear a track like "Strange Dayz" that talks about a friend that has passed on, and in the end it happens to be Muphin's grandmother. But his emotions are real when he says "while everyone around me is aiming for a hole in one / I'm struggling for a par". Should I even bother to say that the Osinaka beat is dope?

On "Temptation", Draino and Muphin are speaking their heart, facing the finger that lacks a wedding ring, thinking of days waking up by themselves, without the female companion, thinking about the interest grasp that the other sex continuously holds on us men. Osinaka does a second instrumental beat with "Dwell In Darkness", that's something a little quicker. For the second time, NDS teams up with a Puah, this time it's Muphin on "Squashed Ants". The concept seems to be a little strange at first, but once hearing Muph say "I'm at a standstill and if I proceed I run the risk / of crushing an innocent ant into a thousand little bits / but if I don't move I'll never get anywhere", it makes more sense. The Aux beat is okay, but by far can't hang with the Osinaka beat on "Viscous Kisses", or the Osinaka beat on "Swallow This Pride (2000 Remix)" for that matter. The first track that he actually steps to the mic is a completion in flavors too, things suddenly being sped up, and the energy, the manic desperateness of the strings make this just another much dope track. And finally we are going into "Losin It", where Aux does something comfortable to be abstract, and once more he manifests himself as the master of details, with much going on in the back.

If there's one thing that holds this album's accessibility back though, then it has to be the continuous moodiness and melancholic feel, that will not appeal to everyone out there. The record very much stays within the save emotions and vibes. But it does that so well, this shouldn't even be a complaint. What we have to mention now is, that each track has a meaning. There's no gibberish cut on here. That's a rare in hip hop today, where a title seems to often be just loosely connected to what the emcee is talking about and where the beat happens to be only the means to spit some shit. The Puah Hedz show the intent to create something worthwhile with taking their time to really have all aspects of a track connect and make sense, and their intentions are met.