I don’t get the opportunity to check out much Australian hip hop, but I breezed through a Hilltop Hoods album in 2003 (The Calling) and came across their new release, The Hard Road, a few weeks ago. From Adelaide, Southern Australia, they generally have a distinct jazz-influenced style which I can really appreciate, finding myself in the middle of the Crunk Era or whatever XXL probably calls it. Finding new hip hop that I can get into has become increasingly difficult since about 2000 for me, but while I rate the new Blue Carpet album from Snoop fairly high, Hilltop Hoods seems to more suit my tastes. Check out a track from their latest album, titled Conversations From a Speakeasy: