Andrew Montell, the man behind Out4Fame, Acclaim Magazine and Solid State Recordings is mad as hell, and he isn’t going to take it any more. The problem is that Triple J has refused to add the new single from Justice & Kaos, “Turn It On”, and Montell has put JJJ music director Richard Kingsmill on blast in his MySpace blog.

The problem is the attitude of the programming manager who seems to add hip hop music based on a completely ignorant knowledge or taste for the genre. Or perhaps its the Triple J art-fag mentality of supporting the “underdog”. From where i stand you have to make hip hop that sounds like it was produced twenty years ago to get Triple J love. Make a record of an international standard and god forbid have an affiliation with a major label and you can almost certainly count yourself out of high rotation airplay.

Triple J’s playlisting of hip hop is certainly patchy and picky, but is Montell bashing his head against a brick wall? Justice and Kaos’ sound would fit better amidst the nighttime playlists on Nova (in some cities, at least), Sydney’s The Edge 96.1 and Perth’s Groove FM. Triple J clearly favours a specific sound, and it’s possible that Montell is overestimating the national youth broadcaster’s ability to influence sales anyway. Sure, the national exposure of a medium rotation slot on the Js isn’t going to hurt an artist, but it’s far from a free pass to mad loot.

Sydney’s 13th Son (of December) is set to release his second full length through Central Station’s newish hip-hop imprint Grindin’ in mid-June. Guests on Our Lives include the Gold Coast’s Trace Elements, Fame (Overproof MC/producer), Sereck of Def Wish Cast/Celsius and sin city young guns Spit Syndicate. No specifics on the production line-up yet, but 13th himself and Fame were the primary producers behind his previous effort, 2006’s The Hero The Trickster, and the presence of Trace Elements suggests there’ll be at least one M-Phazes beat in there.

13th’s other work includes a beautiful 12″ release on Basic Equipment in 2001 and contributions to numerous compilations, including 2002’s landmark Culture of Kings 2 on Obese.

Groundup broke the news and has the tracklist exclusively.

13th Son on MySpace
Grindin’ on MySpace

Australian independent distributor Inertia have just announced the addition of once-respected hip hop label Rawkus to its roster, where it should sit comfortably next to Antidote, BBE, Big Dada and, uhh, Def Jux, which is run by Rawkus’ biggest fan. The announcement is understandably keen to talk up the label’s impressive history:

There is no doubt that Rawkus Records is world renowned, seminal and ground breaking, founded in1995, Rawkus cultivated and captured a culture on the eve of its commercial boom, it was a very exciting time for hip hop indeed. They were responsible for introducing to the world luminaries Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Company Flow and were one of the first labels to put to record a beat by then the relatively unknown producer Kayne West. Rawkus also released the now classic compilation series ‘Soundbombing’ and ‘Lyricist Lounge’ in which showcased the talents of Big L, Common and the then underground rapper Eminem.

Can the label return to those Olympian heights? We’ll see. Rawkus’ resurrection was heralded by last year’s Procussions LP 5 Sparrow for 2 Cents (which Inertia handled for Oz). The once-mighty imprint’s next release will be a production album from Canada-via-NY beatsmith Marco Polo.

Obese’s annual showcase of its artists is going national, hitting all state capitals in April and May. Starting in melbourne on 20 April, the roadshow hits Hobart on 21 April, Adeladie on the 27th, Perth on the 28th, then Sydney on 5 May and Brisbane on the 6th.

According to the press release:

The Obese Block Party has been a sold out event for the past 3 years in Melbourne and now because of high demand and repeated requests from interstate, Obese Records have decided to take this legendary showcase national.

Obese artists are renowned for their charismatic stage presence and energetic, skilful sets and a number of acts have been enlisted on this national tour to bring the finest home grown talent to your city, making each night an unforgettable experience.

No word yet on which artists will join the tour. Bias B seems a likely choice, with his new album hitting shelves this week. Muph n Plutnoic and Funkoars may have toured in the last few months, but surely haven’t worn out their welcome. Stay tuned for line-up revelations as they happen.

Obese Records

Young rapper 360 has made a lot of noise in his short career – from a stint as Trem’s protege to various fiery battle appearances to his place as one half of Forthwrite with Pez. Now, it looks like he’s inked an independent deal for at least one album. Groundup has the scoop on his signing with burgeoning label Soulmate Records, who also have an album by Boltz waiting in the wings.

Melbourne rap phenomenon 360 has been confirmed as the latest signing to Soulmate Records.

360, best known as one half of controversial hip-hop duo Forthwrite, will release his long-awaited debut solo album What You See Is What You Get through Soulmate in 2007.

Although renowned by hip-hop audiences for his hilarious put-downs and reckless attitude, the gifted 20-year-old emcee claims his debut long-player will reveal many as-yet-unseen sides to his personality.

360 was the subject of much net chatter when he switched from the Trem/LC camp to rhyming over Weapon X beats. Regardless of his affiliation, his abilities are undeniable and this will be one of the most talked about albums of 2007. At this stage, it’s set for a mid-year release.

360 on MySpace
Soulmate Records website

Who is the webmaster over at Obese? The label has premium banner space on the Ozhiphop.com forums where it advertises its forthcoming releases, but a click through to the company website for more info frequently disappoints – no updates for months, nary even a mention of the advertised product. Why? It’s not like they don’t have the resources.

But I digress. Having visited said forums today, I noticed an ad for the new Bias B record (and Obese’s 50th release) Been There Done That. Is it out? If not, when is it coming out? Who knows? All the info we have at this stage is that Bias has been in the lab with not only the usual suspects (Bigfoot, Ciecmate, Optamus) but also some exciting new collaborators (Brisbane soulstress Miss Brown, Art Of War producer Burna) to craft his latest endeavour.

Now I’m not a huge fan of Mr B’s nasal (and arguably simplistic) flow, but his status as an early pioneer of the Australian hip-hop scene (at least in the sense of recording and releasing music on disc) can not be denied, so I’m looking forward to this record all the same. Will he be able to come correct over a synth-laden Burna club banger though? Only time will tell.

Let me get my Ralph Wiggum on for a second and freeze-frame the exact moment the Hilltop Hoods graduated from underground phenomenon to certified mainstream commodity: it had to be their unexpected ninth placing in Triple J’s Hottest 100 for 2003 with the skip-hop-meets-chipmunk-soul classic ‘The Nosebleed Section’. (For the trainspotters out there, the equally dope but slightly less catchy ‘Dumb Enough’ also fared well at number 44, as the meat in a Strokes/Perfect Circle sandwich.) From there on in, it was all champagne and caviar for the boys from Blackwood.

 It’s therefore no surprise that the Hoods’ parent label, Obese, are keen to maintain their standing in the national broadcaster’s influential countdown. To this end, they are offering fans who vote for at least three Obese-affiliated tracks in this year’s Hottest 100 the chance to win a CD prize pack – including a signed advance copy of local rap legend Bias B’s new disc Been There Done That, no less. One winner will be chosen from each state. To enter the draw, peep the news section on the Obese homepage.

 My vote for best Obese track of the year? It’s probably the Jase-Trace Elements collaboration ‘Runnin’ This Sh*t’, which was criminally left off the Melbourne beatsmith’s Jase Connection Volume 1 CD. However, you can peep this classic funk throwdown (featuring a rare verse from super-producer M-Phazes) on Trace Elements’ recently released Elevator Muzak mixtape, which is available for download here.

The first signing to upstart label Soulmate Records, Boltz of A-Diction, is expanding his debut EP into an LP for release in the first quarter of 07. Still titled The Wishlist, the revised full-length features a guest shot from locked-up Detroit spitter Royce Da 5′9” and beats from M-Phazes (Bliss n Eso, Supastition, Kenn Starr), Muneshine (Canada), Weapon X, Trials of Funkoars, Stylaz Fuego and Mules. An early listen to the EP revealed crisp beats and thoroughly developed writing. Particularly notable was a politically charged A-Diction reunion track.

Soulmate is Melbourne based, and The Wishlist will be distributed by Inertia. Also on the Soulmate roster is Brisbane-based producer Stat D, who has hustled his beats onto upcoming releases from 13th Son, NFa and freestyle wunderkind 360.

Soulmate Records
Boltz on MySpace