Audio Cuts:
Full Effect
Underrated
Digital Criminals

Cross Bred Mongrels are a duo from Adelaide, Australia consisting of MC Flak (aka Fatface) & DJ Debris (who is also the producer for Hilltop Hoods). Neither of whom could be considered as new to hip hop by any stretch of the imagination. With that it mind, it becomes obvious why their debut LP 'Overgrown Town' has a slightly old school feel to it (not that that’s a bad thing). If you are one of those people who drives around your city in an expensive car with an expensive stereo playing music as loud as possible, don’t do that with this album. Flaks voice WILL blow up your 15" subs (and probably cause you to lose bowel control - which can't be good for those genuine imitation leather seats).

This 15 track album has about 6 or 7 tracks I personally love, about 6 or 7 tracks I don’t like so much, and 2 or 3 tracks which are good, but aren’t particularly outstanding. ‘Clones,’ ‘KnowAlls,’ ‘Overgrown Town’ (the title track, obviously) and ‘Frustration’ are just too slow for me. All of those tracks have something to say, and would probably be dope to listen to if you were in a relaxed mood, but for my money, it's on the more up-tempo tracks where Flak really comes off.

The production is as dope as we’ve come to expect from Debris, there's also some very jazzy production by Suffa from Hilltop Hoods on the tracks ‘Underated (featuring Hilltop Hoods)’ and ‘Two Fat...(featuring Mass MC)’. DJ Bonez from the Dominion also displays some dope production skills on ‘Full Effect (featuring Hilltop Hoods & Mass MC).’ There’s a good mix of faster & slower beats, & also some very funky beatboxing on ‘Halftime (featuring Simplex),’ which adds to the old school feel I mentioned.

Overseas (ie. All you non-Australians) people probably won't understand a large percentage of this album (unless they have taken a big interest in Australia over the past 20 years). Flak uses a lot of Australian colloquialisms & ockerisms, makes a lot of references to Australian sportsmen, political figures & otherwise socially typa things to get his point across. ‘Point to Prove’ is a perfect example of that, it’s a 3 and a half minute breakdown of the past 20 years in Australia. ‘Political Football’ is one of my favorite tracks on this album. Flak gives a few examples of how the Australian government has acted in the past, and still is right now, and then states what most young Australians are currently thinking " - FUCK YA’LL!"

The MC guest appearances on this album are also dope, Hilltop Hoods insert their usual amount of dopeness on ‘Full Effect’ along with Mass MC & ‘Underated.’ Mass MC returns (megaphone in tow) for ‘Two Fat...’ (insert 'Cunts' where the ... is), this is one of those light hearted tracks that’s just perfect for keeping the variety in an album. In summary, Flak & Debris have released a nice album, I understand they’ve dropped some of the slower tracks off the vinyl (they’re all there on the CD though), so go ahead and give the vinyl release a higher score than this, it’d deserve it. As is the case with all dope Australian hip hop, this album is available at Benson's Basement