It’s been three years since Melbourne’s Bias B laid down some rhymes on wax, but after a three year hiatus Bias is back with his new album, Been There, Done That. In between albums he has had a bit of personal time travelling overseas on a journey of self discovery and that’s apparent in the new album.

“Everyone always said you never know what you’ve got until you leave it behind, and I went overseas and realised how good it is back at home,” Bias says of his travels. “I did spend a bit of time with hiphop people, but it was more of a discovery thing to find myself and learn a lot about myself. Put myself out there and in the massive world where I don’t know anything or anyone and made the most of it. When I took myself out of the hiphop scene and became, I guess, a nobody,” he adds, “I’d meet people who took me for who I am, and I realised I needed to come back to feel more special again,” he laughs.

“I became a less stressful person,” he says of the effect travelling had on him. “I realised how hard a lot of people have it overseas in a whole lot of different countries and how much struggle is going on, and how easy we have it over here – how much our money is worth, how easy it is to get good food, how clean our air is, how wide our streets are, the trees, you know, just how we have it so good in Oz”.

This is reflected on his album, which Bias says started off as a party album, rapping about chicks and partying all night, but the trip mellowed him out and helped him re-focus his energies, both lyrically and musically. “I got engaged and I have a baby on the way now, so I had to ditch a few tracks because they didn’t make as much sense or mean anything. And I got more on a personal tip, like the track “Now You’re Gone” which is about my mum who passed away in ’91; it’s a bit of a tear jerker. Even the title of the album ‘Been There, Done That’ – I’ve done the party raps, I’ve done the graffiti thing, the drugs thing, and now it’s about me maturing and progressing on to the next thing.”

But don’t start thinking Bias has gone soft on us and is composing soulful R&B ballads. He can still dish up the vicious rhymes, as on the track “Wordem Up”. Dissing the major record industry people like Figgkidd and Joel Turner, with the major music backing and major media outlets fawning over them. “They’re just terrible!” exclaims Bias. He doesn’t like the way people associate hiphop with those people, those who have had an easy ride and haven’t paid their dues. “It’s just my opinion on the whack mainstream industry. It’s about me who’s always been part of the underground and passionate about what I do, it just gets me a little angry. People always talk about this in conversation but no one ever says it on a track and I though fuck it, I’ll just call them out. The funny thing is Joel Turner’s single dropped on the same day as the album,” he laughs. “The kid can beat box, but…” I hear him shake his head dismissively.

However, Bias isn’t so down on the guys who do the work and make a name for themselves the traditional way – DJing, battles and Open Mics. “A few years ago I felt jilted to see people who’ve come in after me and I’d be negative towards it, but the older I’ve got I’ve come to appreciate it. I love to see people succeeding and if they succeed in hiphop, whether is be from radio play or units they sell or just exposure, it’s good for everybody, including myself. People say don’t hate the player hate the game or whatever, I don’t hate the game either, I just don’t have much hate,” he chuckles.

Bias does have a lot of love for Adelaide. As well as respecting the Hilltop Hoods for all they’ve achieved, he also just loves Adelaide’s scene. “Adelaide is the merchandise capital of the world!” he laughs “I tell everyone– you go there with 40 vinyl, you take 100 t-shirts and you leave with none. There’s always a good crowd, everyone loves the lyrics and they get into it and I get response out of them. I just want to treat every show like it’s my last… If I go to Adelaide and died the next day, I’d like people to remember that Bias killed it at that show!” he chuckles again. “Adelaide is always very supportive in every way and I love coming to Adelaide”