Urthboy To Star In Book Unpacking Australian Hip-Hop

Tim Levinson has long been revered for his chameleon-like career.

Best known for his solo music under the stage name Urthboy, the hip-hop MC and producer was also a founding member of the hip-hop group The Herd, as well as co-founder and manager of the Elefant Traks record label.

Under Urthboy, Levinson has released six critically acclaimed albums. It’s a storied career, and now, it’s time to unpack and reflect on it.

Behind The Lines: The Art Of Words has given the artist the perfect opportunity to do this, while contributing to a far-reaching book about Australian hip-hop alongside Fraksha, One Sixth, ViLani, Motley, Bigfoot, and many others.

The hard cover book will exhibit a nuanced conversation “steeped in reflection, honesty, and craftsmanship” in which the artist expanded on “the pressures of legacy, his writing process, masculinity in hip-hop, ageing in a ‘young man’s game,’ and navigating criticism when you don’t quite fit the mould.”

Urthboy touches in particular on his stand-out track, Cold Front.

In an interview for the book’s release, Urthboy explained, “For me, two of the rappers I most admired when I was coming up were Lazy Laze and DELTA. In my opinion, they are two of the greatest rappers, and they really developed our culture here. They had a distinctive Australian feel about them, but their style was really confident and really listenable.

“I think that was a really big thing for us in the 2000s,” he continued. “There was a bit of a struggle between holding together bars and having wordplay and just making actually listenable hip-hop music. And to me, Lazy and Delta’s flows were amazing, their flows were sick—and it’s not [that] they were always about battle rapping—it’s an energy they brought to the table. This track was me paying homage and respect in a way.”

Urthboy also appeared to tackle the topics of masculinity and ego with nuance, saying to the interviewer, “I found it amusing that many in hip-hop mistook bravado for skill. I wasn’t caught up in that; I was interested in other things.

“However, many emcees with bravado were also great songwriters who had a way with words. In male-dominated cultures, respect often goes to the biggest dog with the loudest bark. And so while it might not have been the part I was interested in, I was still aware I was part of this culture, and I’m still obsessive with the way words work and the culture of hip-hop and how it all connects.”

This hard-copy book, coming out very soon, is the “culmination of a project that saw [Behind the Lines] interviewing over 25 emcees about a track of theirs they handpicked. We dug into everything—the writing process, the technical elements of their rhymes, the story behind the track—but it went deeper. We talked life, music, and everything in between.”

Urthboy is sure to be an exciting, thoughtful addition.

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