FACE OF: HILLTOP HOODS - PART 1
The guys from Adelaide
FACE OF: HILLTOP HOODS - PART 1 The guys from Adelaide Let's be honest everybody has that one favourite singer, mc or band/group that can listen to over and over again and each time you hear their songs your heart starts racing, your blood starts rushing, you have that awkward smile on your face and you feel as excited as when you first heard of them. Am I right? Well, Hilltop Hoods is one of my favourite hip hop bands that at least for me don't have one bad song on any of their albums! You can almost get to know them through their lyrics which are complemented by amazing instrumentals. Their music touch your soul and heart with ease, and it's practically impossible not to recognise yourself at least in a couple of their songs. And as a bonus, Matthew aka MC Suffa and Daniel aka MC Pressure are energetic, positive and very down to earth fellas who not only have a strong presence on the stage but have a massive influence on the Australian Hip Hop scene and on top of that they stay close to their followers and fan base.
Like this can not get any better but they also support and help other upcoming Australian hip-hop artist and bands to achieve their dream. And after all of that, you will expect Hilltop Hoods to be unreachable like most celebrities who are at the top, but those guys do not fit those criteria. Throughout their career Hilltop Hoods have stayed ahead of the game with ever-evolving sounds on each record, creating groundbreaking remixes as well as starting new musical partnerships with artists from all different genres from all over the world. The group have sold a staggering 1.6 million singles and nearly 1 million albums including the 5 x Platinum ‘Cosby Sweater’ and ‘1955’ Feat. Montaigne & Tom Thum, with sales of almost 1 million albums including the double-platinum ‘State Of The Art’, ‘Drinking From The Sun’ and ‘Walking Under Stars’. They’ve garnered enormous industry accolades with 8 x Aria’s, a J Award, 6 x songs in the Top 10 of the JJJ’s Hottest 100, 5 x Top 10 ARIA Singles, and 5 x #1 ARIA Albums to their name. On the live front, the 2016 ‘Restrung tour’ (featuring Australia’s best orchestras and choirs) saw over 50,000 fans attend the sold-out Arena, and Hilltop Hoods achieved their biggest national tour to date. With more than half of a million followers on Facebook and about 70,000+ Twitter followers, Hilltop Hoods are slowly taking over the world which is not surprising as I said they are fantastic!
I first heard of Hilltop Hoods 2006 while watching a BMX flatland video the song was called "The Nosebleed Section" which instantly made me want to dig deep and get more familiar with Hilltop Hoods I was hooked, and since then it has been pure love. I moved to England in 2014, and not long after that, I was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 so apart from the medical treatment I was healing my soul with music. At that time one of their songs was reaching deep in my heart the song was called Through the dark, and it was about Daniel aka Pressure's son and his battle to cancer. Like I said if you listen to Hilltop Hoods songs you will quickly realise they are rapping about life, growing up, appreciating and loving. Their music almost feels like is growing with us and every album gets more mature and refined but still have that raw honest and positive vibe that I fell in love. Believe it or not, I sneaked out of the hospital on the 20th of August 2015 which a year later became the most important date in my life because my son was born what a coincidence hey? But let me get back to the story, so I lied to my clinical nurse and said I was going out of the ward for dinner with my boyfriend. Don't get me wrong It was tough to get the permission to leave my hospital room I was in terrible shape because of the harsh chemo-radiation treatment I had no hair, burned mouth, thought and swollen face I was so weak I could barely walk, but nothing was stopping me of going to Electric Ballroom to see Hilltop Hoods.
It was my mission, and as some of you know being hospitalised for a month ain't fun, so I desperately need it a change of the scenery. I need it some positive vibes to lift my spirit. My boyfriend brought me clothes I changed quickly in the restroom, and we got an uber once we entered the club, a security lady gave me a chair and positioned it right next to the light technician so I can see and be comfortable. Without my knowledge, she had approached the manager of the band and explained that there is a sick girl that sneaked out of the hospital ward to come and see the group so for my surprise just when I was making my way out at the end of the gig magic happened. I was invited to meet the band this after of course giving birth to my son was and still is one of the most amazing moments of my life. I was starstruck those people made me forget about the pain, the struggle and the fact I was fighting cancer with a little chance of survival. Those wonderful guys made one sick girl believe in miracles! And this was the one of many more to come! Every year they were touring in the UK after that I was there, and for me, they have an exceptional place in my heart.April 2018 I had once again booked my tickets to go and see them on 7th of August again at the Electric Ballroom I thought this would be my 3rd year cleared from cancer and a great way to celebrate that fact.
Unfortunately, I entered the club in slightly better physical shape than 2015 but caring a lot harder diagnosis and prognosis. This time I have explained to the security lady that its terminal and I have only a few months to live and I really would like to see the band and take a photo for my son's memory box I am creating. I have told her the story, and she broke down I could see she understood how important it was for me to meet them. Right after the gig and me crying on a couple of songs, they were there right in front of me just like three years ago same compassionate, down to earth and positive people who made one night three years ago the best night of my life! Music does heal, believe it or not! So you probably are wondering why I am writing all of this well, first of all, I would like to introduce Hilltop Hoods to all you who love hip-hop but have never heard of them. Second I want to give hope to those of you who stop believing in miracles, and third I think nothing is impossible so never stop believing! At the end of the day we are all connected, and little gestures of kindness mean so much and if you ever had the chance to get close to Matthew, Daniel and Barry you will understand that those are lovely and talented people who never forgot who they are and how did they started. They did not allow the fame to blind them in a matter of fact when I mentioned that they are not typical celebrities Daniel response was:
"Well for me the word celebrity is offending after all we are all just people.�
Yes, you probably by now realised that all of the above is to warm you up for the upcoming interview with the guys which we will be posted in the next few days until then explore Hilltop Hoods, and here are my top 10 favourite tracks. 1. Through the dark 2. I love it Feat. Sia 3. Chase that Feeling 4. Hard Road 5. Nosebleed Section 6. Won't let you down Feat. Maverick Sabre 7. Live and Let Go Feat. Maverick Sabre & Brother Ali 8. Speaking in Tongues Feat. Chali 2na 9. Recapturing the vibe 10. Clark Griswold Don’t forget to check their new single Leave me Lonely http://hilltophoods.com Article by Ornella Sole
M USIC T HA T MA K ES YOU HA P PY!