Hilltop Hoods in Concert
When Eminem and Lil Wayne toured Australia in late 2011, they picked Aussie hip-hop group Hilltop Hoods to support them. For two of the biggest rappers in the world, it must've been an easy choice to tab Hilltop Hoods, because the beloved multiplatinum Adelaide group is the most successful Australian hip-hop act of all time, with five No. 1 albums plus tours to support each of their releases.
Not only that, but Hilltop Hoods — comprised of MCs Suffa, Pressure, and DJ Debris — have put together tours backed by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to coincide with their two Restrung albums. In these performances, songs off of The Hard Road and Drinking From the Sun, Walking Under Stars are reimagined and backed by strings.
Suffice it to say, a Hilltop Hoods concert is not your typical hip-hop show, as they're generally backed by a live band with horns, even when not playing a Restrung show. "They've got the best live show in the country," fellow Aussie rapper Briggs told The Guardian. With more than 20 years under their belt, the group is still going strong as they welcome the release of their eighth album, The Great Expanse, in 2019 and an ensuing elaborate tour.
Hilltop Hoods Background
Born and raised in the Southern Australian city of Adelaide, Matthew David Lambert (Suffa) and Daniel Howe Smith (Pressure) met as teenagers at Blackwood High School. In 1994, they formed Hilltop Hoods with their friend Ben John Hare (DJ Next).
The group released their debut in 1997, but truly hit their stride when DJ Next left the group and Barry John M. Francis (DJ Debris) took over the beats. They released their first ARIA platinum record, The Calling, in 2003, sparking an illustrious career that has seen four subsequent platinum albums, all of which reached the No. 1 spot on the Australian charts.
Hit songs are the norm, including "I Love It" featuring Sia and the smash hit "1955," which boasts more than 50 million Spotify streams. They founded the influential Golden Era Records label, but left ahead of their eighth album, The Great Expanse, released in 2019 on Universal Music Australia.
