Last week saw 360 dropping ‘Impossible’, his high-profile collab with Silverchair’s Daniel Johns. The fiery team-up serving as the lead single from 360’s new studio album, Utopia.
Now the Aussie MC has released a second taste of his forthcoming album, an anthem in which the Melbourne rapper takes aim at racism Down Under, released in the timely lead-up to Australia Day this Sunday.
“Kinda felt right to drop this around Australia Day,” wrote 360 (real name Matthew Colwell) on a Facebook post linking to a music video for new track, ‘On A Planet No-One Knows’.
Against an airy production of spacey pianos and atmospheric singing, 360 spits rhymes that target Australia’s bigotry. “I don’t want to have fans that are racist pigs/we’re all humans…”
The lyrics also directly address aggressive anti-immigration mentalities in another couplet that goes: “‘Fuck off we’re full’ yeah that statement lives/ yeah we are full of you all racist dicks/uneducated basic shit/a topic I have very little patience with.”
The serious, sombre tone of 360’s anti-racist message set against a visual compendium of classic art (from artist Rino Stefano Tagliafierro’s Beauty). “‘Fuck off we’re full’ yeah that statement lives/ yeah we are full of you all racist dicks/uneducated basic shit”
‘A Planet No One Knows’ also features a spoken monologue from writer-director Joss Whedon (of Buffy, Serenity, and The Avengers fame), which says: “Equality is not a concept. It’s not something we should be striving for. It’s a necessity. Equality is like gravity… We need equality. Kinda now.”
The track was inspired by an incident where Colwell posted a photo of himself and his “mates with different shades of skin” (as the song quotes) on his Facebook, and was actually debuted live at the Sprung hip hop festival in Brisbane last September, in which 360 accompanied the anit-racism anthem with a fiery preamble.
“If you’re someone that believes in ‘Fuck off we’re full’, you’re a fucking dickhead straight up,” Colwell told the Sprung festival audience.
“No matter what colour or background we are, there are fuckheads in every single race, generalising everyone is fucking ignorant and uneducated and stupid, yeah? If you’re offended by this then you’re probably fucking racist then you should fuck off.”
‘A Planet No One Knows’ is one of a number of tracks set for 360’s Utopia album, due later this year, that tackles big-issue topics.
The grimy dubstep drops and dirty beats of ‘Impossible’, co-written with Daniel Johns and recorded in his Newcastle studio, sees 360 tackling his addictive personality and self-destructive streak.
Another track co-written with the Silverchair frontman, ‘It’s All About The End’ also sees 360 declaring war on hip hop’s inherent homophobia, saying “I think lyrically it’s the best song on the album” as the rapper proposes to use his prominent status in the Aussie hip hop scene for a force of change.
“I have put everything into Utopia, my rapping is 10 times better, my lyrics, songwriting, singing, everything,” 360 tweeted of the new record last October.
The Falling & Flying follow-up also features a star-studded list of collaborators, including The Presets’ Julian Hamilton (a mate of Daniel Johns, trainspotters), Chris Cheney from The Living End, fellow rapper (and Forthwrite Records labelmate) Pez, and another turn with ‘Boys Like You’ singer Gossling.
“Me and Gossling did a song called ‘Price of Fame’, she kills it once again,” 360 tells Triple J of Utopia’s guest stars. “We’ve got a guy called Lifted, too. He’s from L.A. and he’s signed to [Kanye West’s label] G.O.O.D Music… He produced ‘Mercy’ for Kanye last year. He’s executive producing, and Styalz Fuego is back to do the beats.”
