The Optimen
The Out Of Money Experience
(Red Tape Entertainment / Inertia)
I tend to let most Australian hip-hop go through to the keeper. Not through a particular aversion to the genre, but because when I wrap my ears around a hip-hop release, I want to be inspired. Motivated. Energised. Put simply, I want to hear something great. Which is why I paid attention when I saw that The Optimen had a new release due. Their first album,
Boomtown – a term of endearment for their native city of Brisbane – was a class act. It stayed with me throughout the entirety of 2005; five years later, it remains a stellar effort. And though The Optimen did produce beats and record a couple of songs for some of their labelmates' best work on 2007's
Red Tape Renegade Vol 1, this is
Boomtown's true successor.
The quintet – MCs Sammsonite, DATS and Kristoff, DJ Damage, and MPC operator Peter Beaty – use the age-old art-versus-commerce debate as the focal point of
The Out Of Money Experience. But far from being a tired rehash of starving artist cliches, the trio of vocalists – and a revolving door of guests, including Brisbane pals Pure Product, Rainman and Lazy Grey, in addition to Jehst (UK) and Phil The Agony (USA) – underline time and again that they're in this for the love, not the money ('Drop That' unveils one contradiction:
"The only thing we won't drop is OP's performance fees"). In that same track, DATS surprises by mentioning a couple of notorious 'Boomtown' locals:
"No facade like a Deen Brothers demolition / Open your head and get a Brisbane city history lesson", while standout track 'Pay Cheques' pastes brass samples over a retro vocal sample and a killer chorus hook that sums up the (financially) battling MCs' plight:
"If it wasn't for a mic check / I wouldn't have a cheque at all". Though the group use wads of the folding stuff – or, more accurately, the lack thereof – as the song's crux, maturity and a sense of realism prevail:
"Just to keep shit in perspective / You can't buy respect or true friendship", raps DATS.
Each song follows a one-verse-per-MC formula, with few interjections. It's served them well on past releases and does again here. Though all three spit eloquently, at times they're too verbose for their own good. On occasion, Sammsonite's delivery becomes so convoluted that I'm still mentally deciphering an early verse rhyme by the time he reaches its end - a minor complaint, sure. Classy cut 'Something In The Air' is sonically redolent of old-school Bond movie themes, though background for a rap about getting high. David Wenham's memorable character from 2003's
Gettin' Square makes an appearance in the latter of two brief interludes that appear among these 16 tracks (discounting the two bonus remixes at album's end); the swinging groove in 'Number One' finds the MCs eschewing typical hip-hop braggadocio in favour of more modest ideals (
"It's being blessed to live and breathe another day / Any old excuse, crack the brown champagne").
Evolutionary life cycles provide ample lyrical fodder in 'Dust', which is among the most earnest cuts on the album. Tasteful without getting caught up in religion –
"Not sure what's before or after / but I'd rather burn in hell than join them judgmental bastards", raps DATS – it's a more grounded acknowledgement of our time on earth than, say,
Insane Clown Posse. And album closer 'Respecognise' celebrates the forms roots:
"I'll be damned if I see another black culture get raped / And music loses trueness? Soon it lacks soul, it's deadweight" offer recent Red Tape signees The Archetypes. Discounting the soul-diva samples that crop up – as in 'On The Rocks', whose alluring female subject is an extended metaphor for alcoholism; ‘Always’, which discusses the group’s commercial realities (
“Ain’t selling / Ain’t selling out”); and the videogame-nostalgic '80s Babies' – guest vocalist Kel is the sole female voice here. Her contribution to 'Respecognise' concludes another strong release from the Brisbane crew.
Despite the occasionally sober lyrical content – and don't mistake that for criticism, as I'd much rather hear hip-hop that discusses real issues, as opposed to self-aggrandising hyperbole – The Optimen's overarching optimistic attitude is the biggest take-away from
The Out Of Money Experience. As DATS questions at one point,
"Number one? Nah, who needs the pressure? / Underground, no fans, what sounds fresher?".
Andrew McMillen
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myspace.com/theoptimen