The Herd is an Australian hip hop group formed in Sydney. The group employs a "full band" format and is recognised for its live shows. The Herd is composed of Ozi Batla, Urthboy, Berzerkatron (MCs), Unkle Ho (beats), Traksewt, Sulo, Toe-Fu (guitar), Rok Poshtya (bass) and singer Jane Tyrrell. The band's songs often feature politically oriented lyrics. The group has been largely inactive since 2013, reuniting for select performances.
Australian hip hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and was initially largely inspired by hip hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of music that is no longer restricted to the creative underground, with artists such as The Kid Laroi, Manu Crooks, Onefour, Iggy Azalea, Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso and Youngn Lipz, having achieved notable fame. Australian hip hop is still primarily released through independent record labels, which are often owned and operated by the artists themselves. Despite its genesis as an offshoot of American hip-hop, Australian hip hop has developed a distinct personality that reflects its evolution as an Australian musical style.
Elefant Traks is a record label based in Sydney, Australia, that predominantly releases Australian hip hop music. The label is distributed in Australia by Inertia Distribution.
Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning hip hop into a form of political activism. Political hip-hop generally uses the medium of hip hop music to comment on sociopolitical issues and send political messages to inspire action, create social change, or to convince the listener of a particular worldview. It was inspired partially by politically-focused 1970s artists such as The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron, as well as the Black Power movement and revolutionary politics of the 1960s and 1970s. Various hip hop artists emerged in the 1980s espousing political messages and providing social and political commentary, with the American group Public Enemy in particular establishing themselves as one of the first predominantly political hip-hop groups. The genre has helped to create a new form of social expression for subordinate groups to speak about their exclusions, injustices and lack of power.
Tim Levinson, better known by the stage name Urthboy, is an Australian hip hop MC and producer from New South Wales. He is widely known for his solo music under the moniker Urthboy, as a founding member of the hip-hop group The Herd, and for co-founding and managing the Elefant Traks record label. Levinson has released five solo albums: Distant Sense of Random Menace (2004), The Signal (2007), Spitshine (2009), Smokey's Haunt (2012) and The Past Beats Inside Me Like a Second Heartbeat (2016); as well as five studio albums with The Herd.
Joelistics is an Australian MC, producer and multi-instrumentalist, who is a member of the Melbourne-based Australian hip hop group TZU and a solo artist on the Elefant Traks music label.
Hermitude is an Australian electronic-hip hop duo, originating from the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
Horrorshow is an Australian hip-hop music duo from the Inner West region of Sydney that consists of producer Adit and rapper MC Solo. Horrorshow, together with Spit Syndicate, Jackie Onassis and Joyride, are members of One Day collective. Horrorshow are recognised as pioneers of the sub genre known as "Aussie hip-hop," alongside Illy, Drapht, Bliss n Eso, and Hilltop Hoods.
The Last Kinection is an Indigenous hip-hop group from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The band was formed in 2006 by Joel Wenitong, DJ Jay Tee and Naomi Wenitong (Shakaya). The Last Kinection first came to attention with its reworking of the Peter Allen song, "I Still Call Australia Home".
Combat Wombat is an Australian hip-hop group from Melbourne. The group comprises Monkey Marc, DJ Wasabi, Elf Tranzporter and MC Izzy.
State of the Art is the fifth studio album released by Australian hip hop trio, Hilltop Hoods, on 12 June 2009.
Xannon Shirley, better known by the stage name The Tongue, is an Australian rapper and high school teacher from Sydney, New South Wales. He released two EPs, four albums and three mixtapes. He also released "Bloodwork: The Best of The Tongue" in 2022.
Leigh Ryan, better known by the stage name Plutonic Lab or sometimes as Pluto is an Australian music producer, engineer, artist & performer.
Adam Briggs, who performs as Briggs and self-describes as Senator Briggs, is an Indigenous Australian rapper, record label owner, comedy writer, actor, and author. Briggs became well known as a "solo rapper", signing with Golden Era Records in 2009, before co-founding the hip hop duo A.B. Original in 2016.
Smokey's Haunt is the fourth studio album by Australian hip hop artist and member of The Herd, Urthboy. It was released on 12 October 2012.
Sukhdeep Singh Bhogal, better known as L-FRESH The LION is a hip hop artist and producer from Sydney, Australia. The acronym F.R.E.S.H. stands for Forever Rising Exceeding Sudden Hardships, while the L and LION refer to his middle name, Singh, which is given to Sikh men. He has been described as one of Australia's most important rappers. Born in the city of Liverpool in Sydney's South West, L-FRESH The LION caught the attention of his peers and the Australian music scene when he supported Nas during the hip hop icon's first headline tour of Australia in 2009. He released his debut album, One, in 2014, before signing a record deal with one of Australia's leading independent record labels, Elefant Traks, in early 2015. His follow up album, Become (2016), earned him wider industry accolades including an ARIA nomination for Best Urban Album.
Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga, known professionally as Mo'Ju and previously as Mojo Juju, is an Australian musician, best known for their 2018 album Native Tongue and the lead single of the same title. The single won the Best Independent Single category in the 2019 AIR Awards. They play guitar and piano, write songs and sing, and have created music in a number of genres.
Jacob Paulson, known professionally as JK-47, is an Indigenous Australian rapper, musician, and activist from Tweed Heads South, New South Wales.
Ziggy Ramo Burrmuruk Fatnowna, known professionally as Ziggy Ramo, is an Australian singer.
