Member Since: 16/12/2006
Band Website: myspace.com/hungerpangzentertainment
Band Members:Rock the Bells footage by Fu Manchu
Hunger Pains "Dirty Aloha"
The Run-Off Groove
By: John BookI originally wrote a long ass essay, about three paragraphs worth, about me. Yeah I know, it's always an ego fest, but I realized that I have all the time in the world for things to be about me. Instead, I'm reducing the essay to a sentence or two to say this. As a Hawaiian, I have been looking for hip-hop music that would make it possible for me to say "I'm proud of this". There have been many instances of this in the past, and I have not hesitated to say it. I want it because it's all about home, and I can say that I represent the people, the places, the music, all of it. Then came this album, and it has been the album from Hawai'i I have been awaiting. It's very much "a local t'ing", but it also represents what rap music has become, or perhaps has always been about. These are the kind of guys I probably would have hung out with during high school, but they represent today's generation, and while that does set me apart as the old man, what I hear is a group who creates music that is much more than just their locale. It's hip-hop that touches on that feeling that millions of people around the world can appreciate. Those fans will be able to appreciate what makes home "home", but this group also understands what rap music is all about. This is the Hawaiian equivalent of some of the best hip-hop albums in its history, and it does so by looking beyond its boundaries without being eccentric or weird. The proof of the pepper can be found in their name: Hunger Pains. The name of the album represents them and much of what Hawaiian hip-hop is all about: Dirty Aloha (Siq).Readers might thing I'm being bias, and rightfully so. But this is what I hear. What I hear is an accumulation of influences and styles, fine tuned to create something that is uniquely their own. Seph I, Risup are the MC's behind this crew, with Risup and Big Steve handling the bulk of the beats, and from the beginning ("No Bluffs") they show that they have the skills and intellect to bring to the mic, at a time when it might be easy to just deliver a barrage of crap and deposit it at the bank the next day. Seph and Risup are not like that, instead what you hear is only the music from a Hawaiian perspective, but the outlook of the world from being in Hawai'i, meaning that when it comes to struggling and looking for better, it's the same wherever you go.What I like the most about the album is the interaction between their lyrics and the instrumentals, it doesn't sound like they dialed it in, downloaded a track, and decided to rhyme Old McDonald over it. They both talk about how other people's "pen game" is just lazy, and they prove this by talking about the dark alleys where you don't want to be after 3am, where local people will pick a fight in an instant, where tourists know to find their high, and that it's the same shit in a different place surrounded by the sea/Only difference is that police are waving hi to me. When you hear Risup rhyme, he's telling his story but with the sampled vocal harmonies you are also hearing the stories of his uncles, his dad, perhaps his grandfather, going through the same issues and motions, carrying on with that love of something, anything on a higher level. "Make A List", with beats and samples that are a cross between Art Of Noise and Mountain, has them speaking about ones credentials in order to take care of business. It isn't a secret that crystal meth/batu has caused a lot of damage in the 50th state, and they get into this with, "Rock Ice", where Risup, Seph I, and special guest Creed Chameleon talk about what people do for the sake of getting that high, from the outside and inside. Risup has a verse where he talks about how things are packaged and what the money will go towards, how things begin at public school and despite how smart people think they are, they somehow end up at A'ala Park. The reference will go over the head for most, but in Honolulu, A'ala Park was once a skateboard park made in downtown Honolulu in the late 70's when people like Tony Alva inspired local boys to grow their hair and go over the lip. When the skateboarding trend ended, the park was all but abandoned, and like a lot of local parks became the place where bums and drug addicts would hang out as they looked at Chinatown's entrance. When crack hit Honolulu, A'ala Park would become an unfortunate crack heaven. In time, batu became the killer and all of the batu heads would eventually make the park the place to live/die and simply gather. What was meant as recreation has become an eyesore. In the last few years, it was also one of Dog The Bounty Hunter's hot spots, and if they were ever looking for people downtown, they always found their way within the vicinity of the park. Hunger Pains cover this in a way that sounds like they've been personally affected by the drug game, and not for the better, and what they say in "Rock Ice" and a few other songs is that there is something better, and with a bit of strength and determination they can make it out, even though that void seems to be getting deeper by the second.The downtempo vibe, complete with eerie, cathedral-like vocals with a hint of dub, is in full effect in "Kings Come Home", teaming them up again with Creed Chameleon and Jonah The Whale. In Honolulu, these guys were all a part of Direct Descendants, who were in many ways the Hawaiian equivalent of some of the best collectives in hip-hop, be it Freestyle Fellowship, Quannum, or Hieroglyphics. Hearing this song sounds a bit like when you hear one of those Dungeon Family posse tracks, where everyone is at the top of their game, the competition is fierce, and yet they're doing this for the love of hip-hop. Each line only keeps getting better, and as a whole you can't believe you're listening to something this great.The flows are sick, the rhymes are tight, and these guys have definitely checked their egos at the door. There's something about them which demands concentrated listening, and while them coming from my homeland does have a small part in me saying this, it's something else. It's the fact that these guys are doing something this good, something that is very on the edge to where it sounds like a carbuncle about to make its stench known, and that this is the kind of hip-hop a lot of people should be hearing at this very moment. It's intense, powerful, moving, and inspiring, and it happens to come equipped with faces that some may not be used to. This is only a minor flaw to the mentality of some. What Hunger Pains are is the hunger fans have had for far too long, and as Raekwon once said 15 years ago, they're simply making the kind of music they have been wanting to hear. Without waiting around for the next best thing, they are making music to fill the void, and in the process have made a place in independent/underground hip-hop that should bring them to a wider and bigger audience. No one wants to struggle in this life, but when one does, one tends to express themselves best through music. Dirty Aloha is the spirit of something that still lives through the muck and mud, and the brightness of the light, and in time that light will be diverted into creating an energy that will no doubt grow in the coming years.
Influences:
Sounds Like:listen to this little girl talk about my favorite movie
one of the coolest things i ever seen
Record Label: SIQ Records, Hunger Pains Entertainment, StudyHall
Type of Label: Indie