One of Australia’s most acclaimed hip-hop exports, The Funkoars, are delighted to announce their forthcoming their national Below Average headline tour, which is slated to kick off this May.
After some time formulating their next move, The Funkoars have finally returned to bring hard ’80s street justice back into fashion, which their fifth full-length album, In Case of Emergency, is guaranteed to do.
The first offering from the forthcoming album is the brand new single ‘Below Average’, which certainly belies its title. The above average track is a wake-up call to fans and newcomers alike that it’s okay to fail when you try .The crew will celebrate the release of this little teaser single with their new tour.
To celebrate the tour the Aussie hip hop stalwarts have curated a compilation of the ’15 Aussie Hip Hop Tracks You Should Know All The Lyrics To’ – check it out below and be sure to catch the guys on the road this May and June.
Tracklist
Hilltop Hoods – ‘The Anthem’
The definition of a classic for us. Production, cutsm and rhymes light years ahead of their time. Hearing records like this coming out of my back yard is the reason I started taking our bullshit a little more seriously.
Def Wish Cast – ‘A.U.S.T.’
From Celcius to Killawattz everything these guys have ever touched screams of intensity. Def Wish were one of the first live shows we walked away from going ‘ahhh fuck’. These dudes were not only producing their own beats but all monsters on the mic AND threw the fuck down on the floor. Watching the whole squad pause for a couple of bars and start breaking doing headspins and shit made us reassess the whole live thing.
Hunter – ‘Jam Roll’
We spent a lot of our 20’s on Centrelink in a small outside wading pool passing a boogie board of local beer and BBQ chicken to each other. This song was pretty much the soundtrack to our lives and the daily routine of putting our forms in. Also Hunter is an all time OG forever ever.
Trem – ‘I Can See Clearly Now’
One of the best ‘slick rick-esque’ story style tracks from Australia, if not the best. The moody jazzy/bluesy break captures the feel of the Melbourne scene for me perfectly in that era and Trem goes to work as well has he has consistently for wayyyy over 20 years.
Crossbred Mongrels And Lyrical Commmision – ‘Lyrical Mongrels’
(produced by DJ Debris – cuts by DJ J-Red)
Crossbred were one of the biggest influences on our crew coming up on all areas. Flak was easily the most commanding MC we’d ever seen on stage and Debris beats were world class. I thoroughly bit Debris production technique from this album in particular because I loved it so much from the reverb right down to the tape delay echos. Likewise L.C. were a crew we checked for constantly and when we saw they linked up we couldn’t have been more stoked.
Dedlee – ’32 Lines’
Dedlee, the kid from the pines I got 32 lines to demonstrate I wreck minds with my rhymes!
PEGZ – ‘Fatter’ (feat Reason)
(produced by Lazy Grey)
Easily still one of the hardest beats to ever come out of the country produced by the boss LAZY GREY. Reason was already a legend at this point with the classic Solid EP under his belt and a bunch of other records across Australia, but we were all still relatively new to Pegz. When we saw who was on production and guesting we knew it had to be a burner but never expected to hear such a phenomenal verse. Pegz was and still remains once of the best MCs content and delivery bar for bar.
Clandestien – ‘My Enemy And I’
Another left of centre narrative tune written by three of the most creative MCs in the country. Mortar, Graphic and Tommohawk take you directly from you front door step to the front lines of WW1 and back. Also special mention to Tommo writing in so much detail at one point you’re introduced to one of the central characters new GI Joe, Snake Eyes.
Lazy Grey & Ken Oath – ‘Have A Beer’
This is just so many areas of classic I’m not sure where to begin. Lazy/Ken and the whole 750 squad were also very influential on our crew coming up. If it wasn’t for 750 and the songs they were releasing we would definitely have saved ourselves a few hangovers and probably a lot of money on booze.
Layla – ‘Maverick’
Dazza at it again on the boards with those blasting drums that became a staple in the early 2000s for our whole scene. Layla was one of the first MCs in heard in Australia that REEEEEALLY showed you what delivery was on the mic AND on the stage. One of the best rappers in Australia by a long stretch.
Billy Bunks – ‘Devils Clay’
You can write as much middle class introspective hug me music as you want but occasionally someone is going to write a song about throwing shit at people off a roof and make you look just as simple as you unfortunately are. Emotional wank for five minutes = easy. Catapulting turds into couplets = SKILLZZZZ
Terra Firma – ‘The Night The Heavens Cried’
Hard to name many other rap songs that have resonated with people like this one. Just simply a beautiful piece of work.
Remi – ‘Livin’
I first met Rem after an award ceremony where neither of us won anything besides each others hearts. Remi is easily one of the most exciting dudes to come out of this country in the last couple of years and he’s easily one of the most handsome.
Briggs – ‘Bad Apples’
The brother Briggs has constantly been a voice for me and my peoples so to see him getting that voice out in the mainstream world has been a beautiful thing to watch. Produced by the lo-fi lo-pan master DJ Jaytee this tune has the exact right kind of knock to break necks and take you directly to that rural Australian reality.
Mass MC – ‘BBQ Song feat MC Thorn’
(produced by Suffa, Flak & DEBRIS)
A bunch of people I know had to change their 5110 ring tones because of this joint. Mass has always been that dude from Sydney to kick a ruthless rhyme and then bust into a well tuned Biz Markie style chorus but this tune (and jazzy freestyle) have to be the best cases of it. Thorn provides dope contrast to Mass’s erratic story of fuckery and the beat is just 100%
Australian Tour Dates
w/DJ Total Eclipse, MC Mathas, Eloji
Friday, 8th May 2015
The Tbc Club, Fortitude Valley
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 9th May 2015
Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta
Tickets: Funkoars
Wednesday, 13th May 2015
Transit Bar, Canberra
Tickets: Funkoars
Thursday, 14th May 2015
Workers Club, Melbourne
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 15th May 2015
Workers Club, Melbourne
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 16th May 2015
Republic Bar, Hobart
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 22nd May 2015
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 23rd May 2015
Basement, Sydney
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 29th May 2015
Prince Of Wales, Bunbury
Tickets: Funkoars
Saturday, 30th May 2015
Amplifier Bar, Perth
Tickets: Funkoars
Friday, 12th June 2015
The Gov, Adelaide (AA)
Tickets: Funkoars
