Obese Records was a record label that released music from the

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 ...

genre. It was the largest Australian independent hip hop label, including performers Pegz,

Thundamentals Thundamentals are an Australian hip hop group originating from the Blue Mountains region bordering the metropolitan area of Sydney. The members are currently Tuka, Jeswon, and Morgs. They have released five studio albums. History Band origin ...

and Dialectrix. Obese Records also operated two retail stores in Melbourne, a record distribution company, a soul imprint named Plethora Records, and operates the artists' management and touring company Obese Records Artist Management.

History

Founding as OB's record store

Obese Records was founded in 1995 as a small record store called OB's by Ollie Bobbitt, in the Melbourne suburb of

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a ...

. Specialising in hip hop music, the store changed its name to "Obese Records" after Bobbitt sold the business to Shazlek One. In mid-2002 the store was bought by Melbourne-based artist Tirren Staaf (a.k.a. Pegz) who transformed it into a record label. According to Pegz, there were few other labels specializing in Australian hip hop at the time, and none putting significant funds into marketing. Pegz claims that he "saw the opening and went for it. It was about giving the people around me the opportunity they deserved." Pegz used the label to create a distribution network, and also purchased the Zenith Records vinyl pressing plant, one of only two companies then still pressing vinyl records in Australia. The pressing plant was subsequently sold in November 2007.

Expansion

The first artist released on the label was MC Reason's EP ''Solid'' in 2000, produced by Jolz with appearances from Brad Strut, Bias B and Pac D. Other early releases included compilation albums, ''Culture of Kings'' (which included songs by

Koolism ''Koolism'' is an Australian hip hop duo originating from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The members are lyricist Hau Latukefu (born Langomi-e-Hau Latukefu, 1976, Queanbeyan, Australia) and producer/DJ/musician Danielsan Ichiban (bo ...

Hilltop Hoods Hilltop Hoods is an Australian hip hop group that formed in 1996 in Blackwood, Adelaide, South Australia. They are regarded as pioneers of the "larrikin-like" style of Australian hip hop. The group was founded by Suffa (Matthew David Lambert) ...

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

, Terra Firma, Lyrical Commission and

Downsyde Downsyde are an Australian hip hop group from Perth, Western Australia. The group is composed of three members, Optamus, Dazastah and Dyna-Mikes. The group has performed alongside groups including Jurassic 5, Cypress Hill, Grandmaster Flash, ...

) and ''Obesecity'', which Pegz describes as "key networking tools" for the growing Australian hip hop scene, as well as formative releases from

Bliss n Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gud ...

, Bias B, DJ Bonez, Downsyde, Brad Strut and Layla. The two-disc ''Culture of Kings Volume Two'' included tracks by Hilltop Hoods,

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

, Layla, TZU, Hospice, Brothers Stoney,

and

Funkoars The Funkoars are an Australian hip hop act from Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The group is part of the Certified Wise crew of hip hop artists from South Australia (including the Hilltop Hoods, and Vents), who also collaborated on various ...

. It was the first Australian hip hop album to be selected for the Triple J feature album spot on local radio. In 2006 the Hilltop Hoods were nominated and won awards for Best Performing Independent Album (''

The Hard Road ''The Hard Road'' is the fourth studio album by Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods. Released on 1 April 2006 by Obese Records, it debuted at number one on the Australia ARIA Albums Chart, and was the first album by Australian artists ...

'') and Best Independent Artist at that year's Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) Chart Awards. Two artists associated with the label were nominated for four AIR Chart Awards in 2007 (three for Hilltop Hoods and one for

Muph & Plutonic Muph & Plutonic is an Australian hip hop group. It is composed of MC Muphin (Dan Young, also known as "Muph") and DJ–drummer–producer Plutonic Lab (Leigh Ryan), both of whom released several solo albums before joining together to form a com ...

). At the 2007 ARIA Awards, the Hilltop Hoods won 'Best Urban Release' for their album '' The Hard Road: Restrung''. The Hilltop Hoods DVD, ''The City of Light'', released by Obese Records in 2007, has also been classified gold. In 2008, two artists on the Obese label,

and Spit Syndicate, received nominations for 'Best Urban Album' at the

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...

. In 2010

M-Phazes Mark Landon (born 1 February 1983), better known by his stage name M-Phazes, is an Australian-born producer based in LA. He has produced records for Logic, Demi Lovato, Madonna, Eminem, Kehlani, Zara Larsson, Remi Wolf, Kiiara, Noah Cyrus, ...

' album, ''Good Gracious'', was nominated for 'Best Urban Album' at the

Recent years

Following Hilltops Hoods departure to start their own label with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, Obese Records continued to focus on both established artists and underground locals. Plethora Records was founded as Obese' Records subsidiary soul label in 2010. Obese was filming episodes for Obese TV, their web series, by 2012. In 2013 Obese Records signed its first management contract with emcee Kerser, at that point having divisions for sales, publicity, marketing, accounts, and A&R. The record store in Prahran at 4A Izett Street continues to sell hip-hop merchandise as of 2013, and also hosts listening parties, radio marathons, and a segment on Obese TV. Pegz expanded the company in 2013, opening a retail store in the Melbourne neighborhood of Frankston. It stocks music, merchandise, street apparel, spray paint, art supplies, DVDs, and street art magazines. Periscope Pictures announced on 19 September 2013, that Obese Records would be distributing its documentary ''Hunter: For The Record'' locally in Australia. The feature film chronicles hip hop artist Robert Hunter before his death from cancer in 2011. Hunter had released all his albums on Obese, and in conjunction with the DVD, the label is releasing his final album, ''Bring it All Back'', posthumously. In 2016 Obese Records announced that their official closing date would be 7 May and that they will no longer be releasing any music.

Staff

*Tirren StaafCEO *Fern Greig-MooreOperations Manager, Artist Management *Lindsey MartinPublicity, Communications *Lee RawlingsSales, Distribution

Distribution

Obese Records Distribution provides distribution for the following labels, in addition to Obese Records: *The Ayems *Born Fresh *Broken Tooth Entertainment *Crate Cartel *Fat Beats *Karsniogenics *Lookup *Myspherical *Nuff Said Records *Plethora Records *Uknowho Records *WordBurner Entertainment/ Bias B

Artists

* Bias B (

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...

) *

Bliss N Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gud ...

(New South Wales) * Brad Strut (Victoria) *Chasm *Coalition Crew (Queensland) * Dialectrix (New South Wales) * DJ Bonez (New South Wales) *

Drapht Paul Reid, formerly Paul Gary James Ridge, (born 4 September 1982), better known by the stage name Drapht, is an Australian hip hop artist from Perth. Drapht is a member of the Syllabolix (SBX) crew, a collective that includes fellow Perth-base ...

( Western Australia) *

(Western Australia) *

(

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

) * Gully Platoon ( Pegz, Dialectrix and Joe New) * Hyjak N Torcha ( New South Wales) *

(South Australia) *Jase (Victoria) * Kerser (Campbelltown, New South Wales) *Mantra (Victoria) *

Matty B Matthew Victor Barrett, who performed as Matty B, is a former Australian hip hop rapper and MC. Originally from Perth, he released an album, ''The Courageous LP'', in 2002 on Obese Records. He relocated to the Gold Coast in 2006 and followed ...

(Western Australia) * Layla (Western Australia) *

(Victoria) *

( Queensland) * Pegz (Victoria) *

Plutonic Lab Leigh Ryan, better known by the stage name Plutonic Lab or sometimes as Pluto is an Australian music producer, engineer, artist & performer. He is also one half of soul/pop duo “''SoundsLike FRANCO''” with vocalist Natalie Slade, one third ...

(Victoria) *Reason (Victoria) * Simplex (Adelaide) *Skryptcha (New South Wales) * Spit Syndicate (New South Wales) *

(New South Wales) * Vents (South Australia) * 7th Wu (New South Wales)

Discography

:''Source
Official Discography

References

External links

* {{coord, -37.849005, 144.9920899999996, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-IL Australian hip hop record labels Record labels established in 1995