Adelaide emcee Vents has been prominent in his local scene for many years now and is known for his solid work on several releases from the highly-regarded Certified Wise crew, namely Funkoars’ and Hilltop Hoods’ latest albums. Both acts have lent their talents to Vents’ debut LP, ‘Hard To Kill.’ An LP which, isn’t comparable to anything else in Australian hip hop at this point in time. At face value, it’s aggressive and raw but beneath the surface lies a ‘villainous political,’ provocative style which will no doubt establish Vents’ reputation in the scene.
How did the hook-up with Obese eventuate?
I hooked up with Obese I guess through the Funkoars and their manager passed on a copy of my record to Pegz and he really liked it and wanted to put it out. That was around the time we were shopping around for distro and ended up signing a deal with Obese.
Tell me about how the album came together.
It basically came together after the Funkoar’s finished The Greatest Hits and I had Trials between work so I managed to start locking him down in the studio just getting beats off him and within about 6 months we had it done. We’ve been sitting around on our fuckin’ hands waiting for it to come out ever since.
Trials handles the majority of production on the album. Considering the lyrical agendas of the Funkoars and yourself differ, how did did Trials cater his soundscapes to the themes of Hard To Kill?
Well we have really similar taste in music, we both grew up on the same stuff. We both listen to stuff like Kool G. Rap. so he’s making beats like that. The tone of their album is such that they can’t use a lot of the beats that I was using, they’ve got more of a ‘ruckus’ kind of vibe. It’s also where he’s digging aswell. If he’s digging for horror movies and shit like that, he’s gonna be making beats for Vents. If he’s looking in the John Farnham crate then he’s looking for Funkoars beats.
Hard To Kill exhibits your political consciousness. What do you see as the most significant issues in Australia currently?
The most significant issue for me is working class consciousness and building solidarity amongst working class people and I think anything else is pretty much a lifestyle choice or personal politics. My politics are things that have to do with class struggle directly and realising that this economy is not in your fuckin’ interest, by design and therefore, I think we should kill it and build something else. I mean, I heard this song the other day in which they had jammed in as many left wing, uni-student fuckin’ clichés as they could. I didn’t really wanna do that with the album.
Travelling Man is a brief biography of David Hicks. Was there anything in particular which stimulated the track?
I tried to take a pretty neutral stance on that track. I mean I do have personal feelings about that shit, I think it’s pretty foul but I just thought that it was a cool fuckin’ story. I remember when I was writing it, my girlfriend was asleep, I couldn’t sleep and I banged it out in a few hours. Went to bed and woke up in the morning to record it. There wasn’t really much politics in that track, I just thought it was a cool story to write.
“…If he’s digging for horror movies and shit like that, he’s gonna be making beats for Vents. If he’s looking in the John Farnham crate then he’s looking for Funkoars beats…”
Personally, NBC was the highlight of the LP. Can you give me an insight into the lyrical content of the track?
Yeah, that was one of the first ones we did. The title NBC is the news network obviously and it’s just a hardcore version of the news and the way I think things are. Apart from Silence Means Death, it’s probably one of the most political tracks on the album but it’s probably one of my favourites as well.
Are there any pieces of literature or film which inspire politically and in general?
Yeah man. I guess the first I book read that really fuckin’ changed my mind about things was a book called Mutual Aid by Peter Kropotkin, it’s an alternative to the Social Darwinist outlook on human nature. Basically it expands on Darwin’s theory because Darwin didn’t really have time to expand upon his theories of nature and evolution, which are pretty much used to justify capitalism. The idea that the stronger survive, I think, is applied to the argument for capitalism as a viable economic system. When it comes to films, I like all the mob flicks like Scarface, Goodfellas but they don’t necessarily influence my music. I also like Australian movies like Chopper and Romper Stomper
Which particular May 1 from history were you referring to on the track First Of May?
It refers to the Haymarket Square Riots in Chicago in 1886. It was basically a huge show of working class solidarity. But what went down was pretty crazy, I think 5 of the leaders were hung, cops were shooting people that were striking. They shut the whole city down, it started on May 1st but didn’t actually reach a climax until around the 4th when pretty much the whole city had gone on strike, it didn’t matter what trade they were. I think that shit is pretty inspirational man, and they won, you know, even with the cops there, the whole police force to shoot ‘em they still won. The track was originally called Mayday but another hip hop artist who shall remain unnamed had already claimed that title.
Which do you feel is the most powerful track on Hard To Kill?
Probably Fuck Em Up man. Probably because of it’s tonality. Apart from that, NBC I guess, it’s pretty heavy.
What do the next 6 months hold for you? A tour?
Yeah we are going on tour aren’t we, I almost forgot. We’re doing all the major cities and we’re doing Fremantle and possible Cairns. We’ve got the launch in Adelaide coming up on the 24th, the Funkoars are headlining it down at HQ so that should be fun.
dope interview.. cannot wait for this shit to drop