Some people say Aussie hiphop is finally coming of age – I disagree. I think it’s the Australian public waking up to the fact that we have real talent here, with people able to perform well on stage as well as produce excellent studio albums, who don’t have to rely on gimmicks such as being shot or hating your mother, people who have more than proven their worth over the years in live performance time and time again.

‘The Calling’ by the Hilltop Hoods is proof that Aussie hiphop is mature, intelligent and a damn sight better than a lot of the puss that is coming out of the US under the guise of “hiphop”. With superbly witty rhymes delivered cunningly well, splendid use of scratches and samples, and a production so tight you can bounce off it, this is easily the best Australian hiphop release of this year, if not the best hiphop album full stop.

The very first thing about this album to strike the listener is the production. It is superb. It is like Suffa, the main producer on many of the tracks, has gone through and tweaked each and every individual sound to perfection, and what’s even more amazing it was done in a home studio. The vocals are clean and crisp and completely understandable; no half-dollar, half-arsed mumbling excuse for rhyming here! Like hiphop back in the day, the rhyming has a message, whether it’s as important as the state of the world in Walk On, about being born to perform in the Calling, or as stupid enough to step up to battle the Hoods as in Dumb Enough?

DJ Debris scratching and sampling is superb, and the Nosebleed Section, easily one of the best tracks on the album, is a brilliant example of how the old can become new again through hiphop. The almost forgotten Melanie Safka is resurrected in a bouncy testament to all those who squeeze down the front row at the Hoody’s gigs. Suffa and Presha’s rhyming and lyricism ranges from clever to down right hilarious, with rhymes such as “Suffa you can’t sing/ yeah, I can’t even hum a tune/ but I make this crowd bounce like bedsprings on a honeymoon” being truly inspired. Add to this rhymes and beats from Hyjak and Bones, DJ Next and the whole Certified Wise crew, and you have one incredible bunch of talent on an album that will be a benchmark of perfection for years to come.