''Koolism'' is an

Australian hip hop Australian hip hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and is largely inspired by hip hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of music which i ...

duo originating from

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

. The members are lyricist

Hau Latukefu Langomi-e-Hau Latukefu (born 1976), better known as Hau Latukefu, or sometimes MC Hau or simply Hau, is an Australian hip hop musician and radio host. He is best known as half of the duo Koolism (with Danielsan) and as the host of Triple J's hi ...

(born Langomi-e-Hau Latukefu, 1976,

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) and producer/DJ/musician Danielsan Ichiban (born Daniel Elleson, 1975,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

''Koolism'' started out in 1992 when Elleson (aka DJ Rampage) joined a group by the name Tribe Ledda L (L for Latukefu), which comprised Hau and his cousins Hounga and Sione. By 1995 only DJ Danielsan and Hau remained and they changed the name to Koolism, from a song with that name which they recorded the previous year. Their first appearance using that name is on the ''Homebrews Volume 1'' compilation. Their first official release, ''Bedroom Shit'' came out in 1996 on cassette and was passed around the country from one person to the next – the inspiration for the track "Tapes" on their 2006 album, ''

New Old Ground ''New Old Ground'' is the third studio album by Australian hip hop act Koolism, released in February 2006 by Invada Records. DJ Danielsan reflects that the album was "about returning to the original raw elements that Koolism was built on and payi ...

''. The tape caught the attention of Blaze and Dr Phibes, who offered to put out their next release on vinyl on their recently formed 'Parallax View' label and in 1998 ''Lift Ya Game'' was released. This was followed two years later by the ''Blue Notes'' EP and in 2002 they released ''The Season'' EP. These last 2 were part of a 4-part series of EPs forming a collage when put together – unfortunately the last two in this series, ''Butcher Shop'' and ''The Epic'' have never been released as most of the material was stolen during a car break-in while touring in 2004. 2002 saw the duo release the highly anticipated ''Part 1'', their first album on CD, which contained fresh tracks alongside those previously only released on vinyl. This CD release allowed Koolism to expand on their loyal and hugely supportive underground following to cater to a wider, ever-growing fan base. Koolism's commercial existence has also been enhanced by Australia's leading music program, rage, airing the film clip to "The Season", the title track to their 2002 EP. 2002 also saw Koolism nominated in two categories (Best Hip Hop and Best Video) at that year's Australian Dance Music Awards. In 2003 the group toured the county relentlessly scoring high praise for their live show. 'These lads have a strong reputation for putting on great live gigs.' JUICE (July 2003) Koolism again received nominations at the 2003 Australian Dance Music Awards, this time in three categories (Best Hip Hop Act, Turntabalist and Remix). They also managed to find time during their touring schedule to record their third album '' Part 3 - Random Thoughts'' (Part 2 was meant to be the EPs). The album features guest appearances by

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop group ...

(UK), Nfamas (

1200 Techniques 1200 Techniques are an Australian hip hop group formed in 1997 in Melbourne, Australia, consisting of DJ Peril (Jason Foretti) as producer, percussionist, DJ; N'fa Forster-Jones as lead vocalist (under the name Nfamas) and Kemstar (DJ Peril's ...

), and Mnemonic Ascent and was released in early 2004. In 2004 Koolism won an ARIA Award for ' Best Urban Release', for their album out on Invada Records, '' Part 3 - Random Thoughts''. The pair subsequently leaving Canberra with Hau moving north to Sydney and Danielsan heading to Melbourne. In February 2006 Koolism released their third album, ''

'' on Invada records. Koolism were one of the Australian hip hop artists featured in the documentary ''Words from the City'', which aired on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

in late 2007. In 2008, Koolism signed to

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...

. On 14 April 2008 Hau took over from

Maya Jupiter Melissha Martinez (born 21 December 1978), better known by her stage name Maya Jupiter, is a Mexican-born Australian rapper, songwriter, MC and radio personality. She released her debut album, ''Today'', in 2003. She was a member of hip-hop group ...

as the host of

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's weekly

Hip Hop Show ''Hip Hop Show'' is Triple J's show dedicated to hip hop. Broadcast Thursday nights 9 pm - 11 pm it is hosted by Hau Latukefu. Latukefu replaced Maya Jupiter on 14 April 2008. The show usually features new and upcoming albums and artists as we ...

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

*''Bedroom Shit'' - Independent (1996) *''Lift Ya Game'' - Paralex View (1998) *''Blue Notes'' - Paralex View (2000) *''The Season'' - Paralex View (2002) *''Diverse'' - Hydrofunk Records (2002) *''"Tapes"'' - Invada Records (2006)

References

External links

Official website

Invada Records website
{{Authority control Australian hip hop groups Australian Capital Territory musical groups ARIA Award winners Australian musical duos Musical groups established in 1992