:: Reason - The Tides Are Turning

Reason

Reason has to be the forgotten man of Australian Hip-Hop. Ask most people who was the first signing of Obese Records and most people will say, The Hilltop Hoods. In fact the answer is Reason, this icon of Australian Hip-Hop has been slaving away for twenty years receiving very little recognition for the great talent he possesses. On the first listen to ‘The Tides Are Turning’ you get a feeling that the sound of the album is dated, but why should that be a bad thing. On the second listen I completely fell in love with this album; which to be blunt is one of the better Hip-Hop albums I have heard this year. One of my biggest gripes with Australian Hip-Hop is that so many of the performers seem to forget they are Aussies and soon it sounds like you are listening to the latest American release… that never happens with Reason. This is very much an album for the Australian Hip-Hop fans out there; hearing names like Sam Newman, Ben Cousins and Jamie Durie mentioned in ‘BRD’ makes you feel at home while Melbournians will most likely look past the great guest vocals of Airees, Briggs & Benny Kidd on ‘No-One Walks Behind Me’ and gush at the mention of Little Collins Street. You realise that Reason has pulled off a good album when you notice the diversity found here. ‘The Tides Are Turning’ is a track you can chill to while ‘100%’ uses some great samples and sees Reason pull off a ghetto sound very well. In a lot of ways this is an album that Australia’s youth can identify to. ‘Cloud Surfing’ is a smooth hip-hop track that tells the tale of a jet-setting Aussie, while the very jazzy ’24 To 1’ talks about growing up in this great land. By far the best track on this album is ‘Us Versus Them’ which is a youth call out that touches on topics such as Islam with some great vocal stylings by Miss Brown. And for the historians out there; the very groovy ‘Grounded’ may well be the first song to feature Kevin Rudd’s name it. If you can look past what some may call a dated sound that is found on ‘The Tides Are Turning’ you well find that this Aussie legend has released a classic album that is a sheer joy to listen to simply because of it’s easy sound and well-crafted lyrics.