The Hard Road


The Hard Road is the fourth studio album by Australian hip hop group, Hilltop Hoods. The album was released on the first of April 2006 by Obese Records and debuted at number one on the Australia ARIA Albums Chart. The album contains the top 20 single, "Clown Prince". The album achieved Gold status on 8 April 2006, a week after release and has now surpassed Platinum status.
The album won the Triple J J Award in 2006. The award was announced on 1 December. The album was also nominated for four awards at the ARIA Music Awards of 2006, winning Best Independent Release and Best Urban Release.
Five songs from the album placed on the annual Triple J Hottest 100 chart announced on 26 January 2007. Songs "Recapturing the Vibe", "Stopping All Stations", "What a Great Night", "Clown Prince" and "The Hard Road" placed No. 77, No. 56, No. 41, No. 23, and No. 3 respectively. "An Audience with the Devil" samples the spoken parts from the Millennium episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me".

Background

On 1 April 2006 Australian hip hop group, Hilltop Hoods, released their fourth album, The Hard Road, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was the first hip hop album by an Australian artist to do so. It was certified gold within a week of being released. Its lead single, "Clown Prince", reached the top 30 on the related ARIA Singles Chart. This featured guest verses from New York rapper, Omni, and British MCs, Mystro and Braintax. Hilltop Hoods received the inaugural Australian Independent Record Award for Independent Artist of the Year and Best Performing Independent Album for The Hard Road in 2006. The track, "The Blue Blooded", is a collaboration with Australian MCs: Funkoars, Hau from Koolism, Mortar, Vents, Drapht, Muph & Plutonic, Pegz and Robby Balboa. On 27 April of the same year, Hilltop Hoods performed at the Bass in the Grass music festival in Darwin alongside fellow hip hop group, The Herd. That same day they issued a second single, the title track from the album. Its music video includes fellow members from the Certified Wise Crew – Cross Bred Mongrels, Terrafirma and Funkoars.
Following the success of The Hard Road Tour in early 2006, the Hilltop Hoods began their second national tour for the year, The Stopping All Stations Tour, which visited more regional areas of Australia as well as the capital cities. They were supported by Koolism and Mystro. Late that year, Hilltop Hoods released their third single from the album, "What a Great Night". The video shows the group at a club with camera shots panning up and down to reveal a new location. It used special effects and is one of the most expensive video clips for an Australian hip hop group, mirroring the group's rise in success and popularity. Also late in the year the band won the J Award for best album of the year from Triple J. They performed the Homebake Festival and Falls Festival before the end of the year. The Hard Road received the AIR Award for Best Independent Hip Hop/Urban Release in 2007.

Reception

Track listing

Secret track and extra material

  1. Video clip of the first single "Clown Prince" is available for viewing on the CD.
  2. Untitled secret track - to access this track, start on track 1, "Recapturing the Vibe", and scan backwards. The song is about Hilltop Hoods' rise to fame and the struggles they endured because of this rise.

    Singles

  3. "Clown Prince"
  4. "The Hard Road"
  5. "What a Great Night"
  6. "Recapturing the Vibe"

    Song credits

Due to the MCs Suffa and Pressure performing different verses and choruses of varying songs, the sections done by DJ Debris and the large number of guest artists featured on the album, what follows is an extensive list of song credits.
  1. "Recapturing The Vibe" - 3:26
  2. *Produced by Suffa
  3. *Verse 1: Pressure
  4. *Verse 2: Suffa
  5. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  6. "Clown Prince" - 3:52
  7. *Produced by Debris
  8. *Verse 1: Suffa
  9. *Verse 2: Pressure & ct
  10. *Verse 3: Suffa & Pressure
  11. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  12. *Contains samples of "Laying Pipe" by Pornosonic, "Excursions" by A Tribe Called Quest and "Things Done Changed" by Notorious B.I.G.
  13. "The Hard Road" - 4:06
  14. *Produced by Suffa
  15. *Verse 1: Suffa
  16. *Verse 2: Pressure
  17. *Verse 3: Suffa
  18. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  19. *Contains a sample of "Out in the Woods" by Leon Russell
  20. "Stopping All Stations" - 3:52
  21. *Produced by Suffa
  22. *Performed by Pressure
  23. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  24. *Contains samples of "Ego Trippin' " by De La Soul and "1-800 Suicide" by Gravediggaz
  25. "Conversations from a Speakeasy" featuring Omni - 3:28
  26. *
  27. *Produced by Suffa
  28. *Verse 1: Pressure
  29. *Verse 2: Omni
  30. *Verse 3: Suffa
  31. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  32. *Contains a sample of "You Gots to Chill" by EPMD
  33. "What a Great Intro" - 0:24
  34. "What a Great Night DNR" - 3:06
  35. *Produced & performed by Suffa
  36. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  37. *Contains a sample of "For Pete's Sake" by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
  38. "City of Light" - 3:40
  39. *Produced by Suffa
  40. *Verse 1: Suffa
  41. *Verse 2: Pressure
  42. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  43. *Bass guitar by Chris Lambert
  44. *Electric guitar by Nick Lambert
  45. "Obese Lowlifes" featuring Mystro and Braintax - 2:24
  46. *
  47. *Produced by Suffa
  48. *Verse 1: Mystro
  49. *Verse 2: Pressure
  50. *Verse 3: Braintax
  51. *Verse 4: Suffa
  52. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  53. *Contains samples of "These Walls Don't Lie" by Promoe
  54. "Circuit Breaker" 3:29
  55. *
  56. *Produced by Trials
  57. *Verse 1: Suffa
  58. *Verse 2: Pressure
  59. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  60. *Contains samples of "Professor Booty" by Beastie Boys and "Buddy" by De La Soul
  61. "Breathe" - 3:15
  62. *Produced by Suffa
  63. *Performed by Pressure
  64. *Scratches by DJ Debris
  65. *Bass Guitar by Chris Lambert
  66. *Trumpet by Phil Ingram
  67. *Contains a sample of "Unbelieveable" by Notorious B.I.G.
  68. "The Blue Blooded" featuring Blue Blooded Allstars - 4:47
  69. *
  70. *Produced by Suffa
  71. *Introduction: Trials
  72. *Verse 1: Suffa
  73. *Verse 2: Mortar
  74. *Verse 3: Trials and Sesta
  75. *Verse 4: Hau
  76. *Verse 5: Drapht
  77. *Verse 6: Vents
  78. *Verse 7: Muphin and Pegz
  79. *Verse 8: Robby Balboa
  80. *Verse 9: Honz
  81. *Verse 10: Pressure
  82. "Monsters Ball" - 4:19
  83. *
  84. *Produced by Simplex
  85. *Verse 1: Suffa
  86. *Verse 2: Pressure
  87. "An Audience with the Devil" - 4:06
  88. *
  89. *Produced by Trials
  90. *Performed by Suffa
  91. *Contains samples from an episode of Millennium entitled "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me"
  92. "The Captured Vibe" featuring DJ Reflux - 2:12
  93. *
  94. *Produced by Suffa
  95. *Scratches by DJ Reflux
  96. "I Can't Take It"
  97. *
  98. *Produced by Trials
  99. *Verse 1: Suffa
  100. *Verse 2: Pressure

    Chart positions