Starting off with an intro in which ol’ KRudd tells us “Australia has turned a new page”, Home Grown Volume 1 launches into a cornucopia of great Aussie hiphop from the nation’s best MCs, brilliantly mixed by Melbourne’s DJ Flagrant.

Flagrant’s selection of old and new shows just how diverse Aussie hiphop can be. The Homegrown Anthem that begins the CD is one of the newer tunes, and features Phrase, Nfa, Illy, M-Phazes and Flagrant, and showcases the new school of production. The production is tight, comparable to the USA hiphop masters, and the rhymes are delivered well by all the MCs.

Katalyst provides a re-edited version of All That You’ve Got featuring new verse from Hau, Nfa and RU.CL, whilst Foreign Heights’ Get Yours and 2 Dogs team up with BVA for Fire In The Belly are as funky as all hell. 13th Son, The Optimen and Axe Aklins provide deeper, more contemplative angles to Aussie hiphop. There’s even a bit of hardcore, with Def Wish Cast’s A.U.S.T and Autism’s Make Room.

But my favourite hiphop is about beats and bbqs and getting rowdy, and to my mind represents the true Aussie spirit. Funkoars’ You Know It, Downside’s El Questro, Reason’s A Good Sport and Mass MC’s BBQ Song featuring Thorn all have that great Aussie party vibe. The lyrics are spat with tongue planted firmly in the cheek, and the dope production makes you wanna jump up and shake your ass.

Flagrant doesn’t sit back and let the records just play, either. He gets down to business, scratching and beat juggling throughout, giving you a sense of him as a DJ beyond the track selection. The album is a great snapshot of Aussie Hiphop, and for those who don’t know too much about it to those who are absolute hiphop nuts, this album is a “must buy”.