Nine High - Nine High (Album)
I have to be honest here – I didn’t expect to like Nine High. When I put the CD into my stereo, I cringed as I pressed “play” and had already started planning clever ways of saying “cliché” and “piss poor”. I’d read the words “hip hop”, “Oz” and “UK” in the same sentence and I’d made up my mind.
Everybody knows that only on the rare occasion does good hip hop come from anywhere but the US, and sometimes, rarely, the Brits create something worth listening to in that genre, and as for Australia, well we’re still treading that “well it’s not making my ears bleed, so that’s good” line. But Nine High, they’ve managed to prove me wrong. Their self-titled debut album is an impressive offering which is sure to launch them into the mainstream. It’s not phenomenal and it’s not likely to have any sort of significant impact on the music scene, but it’s most definitely a good record which will make a few people happy to realise that not all hip hop nowadays is not actually hip hop but gangsta rap which actually isn’t gangsta rap but either a series of incomprehensible noises (think, Lil' Jon, Soulja Boy...) or egomaniacal, capitalist obsessive wankery (Kanye West, etc).
Nine High divide their time between Australia and the UK but they’re all British and the accents add a nice touch to the songs. The beats don’t stand out particularly but the lyrics are fantastic and delivered really well by three skilful and captivating MCs. They rap about everything from the music industry and all its imperfections to ethics within the hip hop scene/community to laws restricting the growing of hydroponic to growing up troubled. Their lyrical style is clever and very amusing at times so you won’t be tuning out halfway through – they’ll hold your attention right through the 15 tracks on the album.
This is an at times serious and intense album but it’s overall fun and witty and I would recommend any hip hop, rap or grime fans to give it a listen. If you don’t like any of it, you’ll surely at least be amused by the opening track – Fugs Need Hugs.
