Dive into the minds of the future of Aussie hip hop…

There are countless albums released into the Aussie music scene each and every year, all bubbling with the raw hunger and drive that defines so many of our homegrown acts. Every once in a while however, an album comes along that breaks the mould in all of its restriction and pre-conceived notion. It’s usually an album that’s curated in excruciating detail, all in the hope of shifting the cultural landscape, and giving a voice to those who haven’t been heard. L’avenir C’est Nous by Perth’s Rich Valentine is one of those albums, and it’s a project that touches upon all facets of the human condition; an album that’ll stand the test of time as one of the great love-letters to art, protest and survival.

Made up of five vocalists, three visual artists and one fashion designer, the hip hop collective embodies every aspect of the creative process. They take inspiration from all corners of the culture, channeling it into honest art that pushes the bounds of hip hop and self-expression in the most graceful of fashions. They’re a multi-dimensional, ever-evolving hub of creative energy, the likes of which the Australian hip hop scene has yet to properly witness. Until now.

You must be feeling pretty damn intrigued right about now. Well, you’re in luck, as we nailed down Christian from the 9-piece to find out the ins-and-outs of L’avenir C’est Nous. The following makes for a super cool insight into one of the most diverse and complex acts in the Aussie music scene. Take our hand as we explore L’avenir C’est Nous in all of its wonder and mysticism.

Check it below.

The Conundrum of Arts

The album begins with an exert from Orson Welles film ‘F is For Fake’. His 1974 film questions the very purpose of art, its authenticity and the interaction between person and artist. The exert is Welles reading one of Rudyard Kiplings poems, ‘The Conundrum of the Workshops’.

I Just Stepped Up In It

Beginning with a fruitful display of string programming that suddenly changes to an 808 heavy beat, ‘I Just Stepped Up In It’ was my way of sonically proving the tracks name. It’s the first track people hear after our year long hiatus and it effectively leaves its mark. The beat kinda bites Who Dat Boi’s drums whilst we went for that high energy mosh pit vibe. There’s also that guitar solo toward the end that just gives you a break until another hard hitting verse.

Palm Angels

This song I made after hearing ‘Out West’ with Thug. I was studying a lot of song structure while making the whole album which is a key factor that you can identify in the music. This song loosely follows A$AP Rocky’s ‘PMW’. A cool thing about this song, which I think makes the whole pre chorus so catchy is that we follow the melody of the lead line.

Cover Vogue

With this song we tried to go as Pop as we could. When we were writing the first verse we chopped and changed Ma$e and Jay Z’s verses from Feel So Good and BBC. The whole song is a jab at classism and the inequality we’ve faced, we just broke it down to us and our experience with obnoxious rich people. It’s a little tongue in cheek. Some people really sing the lyrics with their chest oblivious to the lyrics and what we’re saying.

’06 Summertime

Pharrell. Obviously inspired by him and Chad Hugo, you can hear that four bar count in and the call and response part. This song is like a case study on pop structure, little tricks to keep songs interesting as well as clever ways to bring stuff in and back around. This was the last song we wrote for the album. I wrote the drums first, followed by the main chords and then added that vocal chop over the top.

And So They Came, Falling From The Sky.

This track was cool because I came up with the name and wrote the beat to match it. The name was inspired directly from Poalo Veronese’s masterpiece ‘Jupiter Hurling Thunderbolts at the Vices’, and the main melody was inspired by Mozart’s Lacrimosa.

The Hunger Games

I remember making his beat because BLX came to me with the start of a verse. It was that “I did a lot on my own”. He wrote it to this beat that had this chorused choir and this 808 that held its octave note before falling down to the sub register. I was like, lets use that but lemme remake the vibe of the beat you just showed me. Then we got the other boys to start their verses also with “I did a lot on my own” and turned it into the recurring motif of the song. The song doesn’t follow conventional structure, it has no hook or chorus, it just has that motif that the MC’s repeat. When we made the music video, the concept was to show what we do “on our own”.

I’m the Shit/Money Man

The hook in this is really dope lyricism. If you listen to it at face value it’s like were talking about money as wealth. In the context of RICH VALENTINE, wealth is of the mind and “all these broke mother f’ers” are people who didn’t work hard to strive for they’re dreams.

Energy

I wrote this when I got the splice Carmack sample pack. The beat is dope because it blends so many styles together; you’ve got that back and forth in the verses over the high energy drums, then you have those two dirty drops, then it goes into a choral outro that’s electronic and then pitched and time stretched.

Prince Valentine

The wind chimes you hear at the start I bit from The Cure, that’s how they started their album Disintegration. The song has that tempo that the whole crowd can just jump up and down and mosh. When we have the money we want to do an animated video of this one for sure! It’s a shame we’re broke at the moment.

Nights

This one is one of the coolest beats we have on the album. I’ve got a whole part 3 written to this that will eventually come out, in due time. The beat starts with these pop power chords over high energy drums. I guess that matches the lyrics, the style of delivery and the tone. The whole beginning two verses are overly vulgar and have auto tune saturated throughout. That first part is the boys telling this particular story through the perspective of someone who condones that life. The song has an overall metaphor that is linked to the final song in the album called Lights. Even the Shakespeare poem at the end alludes back to its meaning. I’d rather the listener analyse it themselves rather than have me break down every reference and its overarching meaning.

Loves Last Ballet

So many quotes and references to works by Shakespeare, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Homer. Besides the lyrics (which I strongly encourage you to read through and find where we have pulled them from) the beat is particularly interesting. The structure and time signature goes as follows; 7/8 verse, 3/4 bridge, 7/8 chorus, repeat, 4/4 verse then back to 7/8 for the chorus. It jumps and shifts time signatures so effortlessly you may mistake it for a ballet.

I Miss You

This song is a very special song. It’s about the pain and heartbreak we feel through our loses and the family that can’t be with us. The bridge solo thing is actually my voice being played on a midi controller so it pitches up. I distorted it and ran it through a reverb so it sounded more like a guitar. The bit in the second verse was inspired by all of the lights where the beat breaks and the melodies beat reminds you of a beating heart. The city sounds at the end are supposed to represent the ‘life’ that gets in the way sometimes.

Lights

This is that feel good song; it is perfect to end the album on a high. The drums are like ‘The Good Life’ and the chords I bit from an early early song we made.

The Future Is Not What Its Used To Be

The sample I used for this is when Steve Jobs unveiled the Macintosh in 84. I think the name sample and sound say it all.

Rich Valentine’s new album ‘L’avenir C’est Nous’ is out now. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all of their latest projects.