Astronomy Class are an Australian
hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
/
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
group from Sydney. The group comprises Ozi Batla (Shannon Kennedy), Sir Robbo (Shane Roberts) and Chasm (Chris Hamer-Smith).
Kennedy is a member of
The Herd, while Roberts is a member of Frigid and prog, downtempo and Krautrock band Tooth.
Biography
The group formed when Kennedy decided to collaborate with producers Roberts and Hamer-Smith in 2006.
"The original concept for Chasm and I was to do a production album, with various MCs and singers," Roberts says. "We'd both worked separately with Batla in the past, he was our main MC, so we gave him the beats irst He was really taken with them and expressed a desire to have them all for himself. That was how it started."
The resulting album, ''
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At wors ...
'' was released in September 2006 and was selected by
Triple J
Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
as its first feature album for 2007. The album features guests such as Lotek, Hau from
Koolism,
Urthboy, Ben Ezra (ESL), Gina Mitchell (Fbi's Basslines), DJ Skoob (NSW DMC Champ), 2Buck, Murda1, Lotek and BVA (Mnemonic Ascent), as well as Jane Tyrell (
The Herd). Tracks from the album such as "A Bright Tomorrow", "Done The Sums" and "Rewind The Tape" all receiving airplay on Triple J and community radio stations across Australia. On the back of the album release Astronomy Class undertook a national tour covering five states and seventeen destinations over three months.
When asked how the name of the band came about, Kennedy advised (in an interview with Scene Magazine):
"A theme started to emerge that kind of had an astral flavour. There's a bit of a history in hip hop and also reggae of doing astral/space themes. As I kept writing, there was sort of a narrative coming out about that same theme going on – it just started to stick after a while."
This notion was confirmed in a recent interview with
Music Feeds where Ozi Batla discusses his love of sci-fi and related subject matter.
Astronomy Class were the sole support artists for
Lily Allen's Brisbane and Sydney tour dates in 2007.
Marking the
International Year of Astronomy, Astronomy Class released their second album, ''Pursuit of Happiness'', on 2 May 2009. The album features guest vocals by Vida-Sunshyne, The Tongue,
Diafrix, Kween G (KillaQueenz), and
Ash Grunwald. The group toured nationally in support of the release between May and June 2009.
Discography
Albums
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The
ARIA Music 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 Austr ...
is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of
Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
!
, -
,
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, ''Mekong Delta Sunrise''
,
Best World Music Album
,
,
[ARIA Award previous winners. ]
, -
References
External links
Official webpageElefant Traks Artist profileMyspace PageAMO artist profile
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 2006
Australian hip-hop groups
Musical groups from Sydney