He may not be a household name quite yet, but Melbourne's 360 could be Australia's most innovative name in hip-hop in 2011, writes Jesse Kuch

If the summer hip-hop anthem The Festival Song means anything to you, the name 360 will need no introduction.

A bona fide smash for 360 and fellow Melbournite and long‑term collaborator Pez, The Festival Song notched up an impressive No.7 in the 2009 Triple J Hottest 100 and helped establish the boys as two of the most exciting names in Australian hip-hop music.

While Pez has had most of the limelight until now, 2011 promises to be 360’s year with his long anticipated album Flying & Falling set for release on EMI Records in the next few months.

Catching up with timeOUT this week ahead of headlining the timeOUT Awards Night at Gilligan’s on Saturday, Matt Colwell, aka 360, said Cairns will be one of the first places to get a full taste of the album.

“It’s nearly finished,” he says. “I’ve just got to re-do the vocals on one track because a lot of the backing music has changed since we started the album.

“I’m going to do that this week, then we’ve just got to get the mixing and mastering finished and everything is done.”
Flying & Falling promises to be a breath of fresh air for Australian hip-hop.

Admitting he is tiring of the “generic” Aussie hip-hop sound, 360 says he and producer Stylez Fuego have integrated a wide variety of genres in the album without losing its core hip-hop focus.

“I didn’t want to do another Australian rap album that sounded like it was made in early ’90s New York,” he says.

“There is nothing wrong with it, but I’ve been tiring of that s--- for a while now. I want my album to be more with the times.

“When we started doing it, we were experimenting a lot. Stylez would find a sample and we’d just let it go wherever it took us.

“We didn’t want to do a specific sound and we ended up with lots of different songs. Some were sort of hard, dancy ones, some were hard and glitchy electro, dubstep and s--- like that and even some random things that sounded like Thom Yorke with rap over it.

“However, the tracks we’ve got now have come back more to rap and hip-hop now, but it’s not a typical hip-hop sound.”

360 says he and Pez look forward to taking to the stage in Cairns for the first time for the timeOUT Awards.

“It’s going to be pretty epic,” he says.

“I’m going to do a full set by myself, then Pez will do a full set by himself and then we will get together for something really big at the end. We can’t wait.”

>> The timeOUT Awards 2010 are this Saturday at Gilligan’s, starting at 8pm sharp. Get in early and get snapped on the red carpet on your way in. Entry is free before 10pm, $10 after. Donations to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal at the door.

Share this article