Live 95

Rusty brass and dusty keys. The squeak of Jordan XI’s. The click of a SNES pad. It’s hard to imagine a different soundtrack to grow up with. And in his debut LP, ‘Live ‘95’, tireless Melbourne beatsmith Royalz channels an era many of us hold close to our hearts. ‘Live ‘95’ is the culmination of more than a decade of beat making, mixtapes, live performances and ultimately the honing of a craft that has given birth to one of the most richly talented projects to emerge from the Australian Hip Hop scene. With an undoubtedly East Coast flavor, the album delivers a killer crossover of top flight Australian talent, such as Dialect, Tornts, Hau, Bigfoot & Kings Konekted, with some of New York’s finest in Roc Marciano, Conway & SmooVth. There’s no shortage of marquee names involved at every level. Mixing and mastering is rostered by local veterans Phil Gektor and Danielsan. Upcoming clips will be shot & edited by Discourse. The salary cap’s bursting. That being said, the DIY work ethic of the 90’s golden era is evident in Royalz beyond the album itself, drawing and animating film clips for the lead singles, ‘Facts’ & ‘Bundles’, as well as designing the album artwork himself. This is without question an all-star lineup, but Royalz is the court general. And it wouldn’t be a 90’s-flavoured release without vinyl, including 2 x 7” singles, on top of the standard CD and digital. True 90’s fiends can even cop a cassette version. But this isn’t simply Royalz blowing dust from an old cartridge. It’s Shaq and Hakeem, with Steph and Russ on point. It’s ’95 in 2018. And it never sounded better.