It’s hard to remember an album this bitter and paranoid since Tricky’s Pre-Millenial Tension. The result of plenty of red-eyed nights, it’s redeemed by real insights and tough, raw production. Better known to his mum as Shane Wasley, Realistix has been on Sydney’s hip hop fringe for a while now. Starting out with Blue Mountains hip hop crew Explanetary in the mid ’90s, it’s taken a while for him to get a solo release out. Along the way he’s kept up a pretty constant stream of output – notably producing a 7” inch for Brass Knuckles’ of Celcius fame – but he hasn’t been happy enough to release anything solo ‘til now. The lyrical subject matter swings between bitterness at bands ‘selling out’ with their ‘pop lyrics’ while hordes of speakers are wasted ‘on pop shit’, and black observations about the life of a Marrickville gangster ‘Pimpin’ ain’t easy with GST / All the paperwork just confuses a mack like me’. There are a handful of great guest MCs on the album – Ozi Batla and Urthboy turn in typically acerbic rhymes, check Batla on the promise of policy change from successive governments, “I won’t believe a word / ‘til I see red, black and gold up a flagpole”. Macross and 13th Son also contribute guest rhymes, and ex-Explanetary MC Disco Rossco delivers the hilarious ‘I write it down / So I don’t have to think about it.” Despite some well-executed vocals, it’s the production that stands out here. Wasley’s time DJing rough and raw mixes of New York hip hop, old school funk and tough industrial Bloody Fist techno informs the sound. The result is a dark, moody atmosphere that’s by turns tough distorted industrial or sparse electronic hip hop beats. At times let down by the vocals, it’s the interludes, intros and other instrumental tracks that show the potential talent on show here – they’re moody, electronic sketches that I’d love to see extended into a full project. Turf Wars isn’t perfect. At 20 tracks it could do with some pruning. But Realistix conveys real, raw emotion. There’s something really honest and engaging about this album and it’s worth tracking down for that reason.
Matt Levinson |
