I’ve been listening the the new Hilltop Hoods album a lot over the last few weeks. Since the Hilltop Hoods started they’ve been making waves in the Aussie Hip Hop scene. They’ve got a unique style which has taken the scene by storm. They’ve always produced top quality beats and inventive rhymes, but this new album is another level up.
After listening to the album entitled "The Hard Road" i felt that it was about the long journey to success and the many pitfalls on the way. In particular the journey that the members of the Hilltop Hoods had in getting to the stage they are currently at and dealing with the music industry and what comes along with it.
The song, City of Light, talks about the members during their growth into what they’ve become, describing how they started off with high ambitions and realizing that only hard work would get them to the top. Monster’s Ball is another song that talks about the struggle within the music industry, when it comes to record labels and business executives looking to make some money and leaving little to the hard working performers. A quote from Monster’s Ball "So while you’re fighting over scraps and loose change and moot claims, Pressures higher up in the food chain, And small time predators rove in packs, That’s why big time executives throw them scraps", describes what the industry is like for an ambitious group getting started.
Not only is the album great, their website is also very nice. The site at www.hilltophoods.com is a flashed based site, with plenty of info about the group and some mp3s of various songs off their albums to date.
My favourite songs off the album would have to be City of Light, Circuit Breaker and Breathe. These songs stand out for me due to the beat behind the song, but in particular what the songs are about and the way the lyrics have been flowed to the instrumentals.
Overall i thoroughly enjoyed the album and the progress that the Hoods have made so far. I found the album to be inspirational and made me think a lot about how particular lyrics could relate to myself at times. I’m looking forward to what they produce in the future.
