Hell Hath No Fury like Helen
In a scene that’s dominated by the patriarchy and saturated with male artists, it is always exciting to hear of a female rapper coming up. Helen Earth is an emcee from Brisbane, a state not particularly known for a wealth of Hip Hop artists but a region that is having more pop up in recent times.
They say a picture paints a thousand words so let me try for you, the album cover art is reminiscent of Hades, and consists of, I’m assuming, Helen Earth, surrounded by the burning heat of the sun, powerfully electrifying a dark orb with the fires of hell beneath her. Couple that with the album title Hell Hath No Fury and a track listing including tracks such as Nuke Em With The Nucleus, Rappers Suck and Fuck This & Up Yours, I knew I was in for a ferocious listen.
I often wonder sometimes whether because Hip Hop is such a male dominated industry whether female emcees feel that to stand out they need to be more belligerent, but as an artist who sees “aggression is expression”, I know where I stand with Helen Earth and I respect it.
With a dark, doom and gloom Intro, the rapper wastes no time telling the listener “ain’t no box in the world that can contain my brutal visions” on Sun Tzu. A fitting title as she spits fighting words.
Sydney-born, now Brisbane-based rapper Shadz is one of only two features on the album and provides an energetic verse on Nothing’s Kosher but is left for dead with the verbal contortion by Helen. Another male rapper, Breath, offers support on Petty Fucks but again cannot touch Helen’s slightly more subdued performance on the track. After all this is her album and she won’t be outshined.
They say a picture paints a thousand words so let me try for you, the album cover art is reminiscent of Hades, and consists of, I’m assuming, Helen Earth, surrounded by the burning heat of the sun, powerfully electrifying a dark orb with the fires of hell beneath her. Couple that with the album title Hell Hath No Fury and a track listing including tracks such as Nuke Em With The Nucleus, Rappers Suck and Fuck This & Up Yours, I knew I was in for a ferocious listen.
I often wonder sometimes whether because Hip Hop is such a male dominated industry whether female emcees feel that to stand out they need to be more belligerent, but as an artist who sees “aggression is expression”, I know where I stand with Helen Earth and I respect it.
With a dark, doom and gloom Intro, the rapper wastes no time telling the listener “ain’t no box in the world that can contain my brutal visions” on Sun Tzu. A fitting title as she spits fighting words.
Sydney-born, now Brisbane-based rapper Shadz is one of only two features on the album and provides an energetic verse on Nothing’s Kosher but is left for dead with the verbal contortion by Helen. Another male rapper, Breath, offers support on Petty Fucks but again cannot touch Helen’s slightly more subdued performance on the track. After all this is her album and she won’t be outshined.
Helen Earth.
Photo from BRL.
Helen has got serious lyrics and her style reminds me of early Hip Hop when it was braggadocios, all skill and less money, cars, bitches. And Helen has skills. Whilst her rhymes schemes aren’t overly complex, her cadence, clever wordplay and similes get her direct points across.
Stating “emcees are fuckin’ marginal, I’ll march them off this joint” on Voyager, she rolls with the disses on Rappers Suck “emcees will stare at a blank page, a damn waste, expression is expressionless…” and finishes it on Fuck This & Up Yours “if you ain’t know for closing shows, you stay keeping that bench warm”.
Despite her now Queensland base, Helen harked back to her roots with a solid Western Australian offering on this album, with beats from a slew of Perth producers, such Rob Shaker, Mat Rafle and Uncle Sam, as well as the album cover artwork illustrated by local artist Paul Deej. The producers providing the murky soundscapes for Helen’s frank and fierce rhymes and the artwork showing the fire in her belly.
Through this album, Helen has shown she is unashamedly a fighting spirit for herself and her gender. She has bravely stepped into a ring that only few women, especially in Australia, have before her and is openly herself, ironically something quite rare for her male counterparts. Hell Hath No Fury shows that there is no one stronger than a woman, and a woman that is confident in her skills.
Purchase the album from Bandcamp here!
Stating “emcees are fuckin’ marginal, I’ll march them off this joint” on Voyager, she rolls with the disses on Rappers Suck “emcees will stare at a blank page, a damn waste, expression is expressionless…” and finishes it on Fuck This & Up Yours “if you ain’t know for closing shows, you stay keeping that bench warm”.
Despite her now Queensland base, Helen harked back to her roots with a solid Western Australian offering on this album, with beats from a slew of Perth producers, such Rob Shaker, Mat Rafle and Uncle Sam, as well as the album cover artwork illustrated by local artist Paul Deej. The producers providing the murky soundscapes for Helen’s frank and fierce rhymes and the artwork showing the fire in her belly.
Through this album, Helen has shown she is unashamedly a fighting spirit for herself and her gender. She has bravely stepped into a ring that only few women, especially in Australia, have before her and is openly herself, ironically something quite rare for her male counterparts. Hell Hath No Fury shows that there is no one stronger than a woman, and a woman that is confident in her skills.
Purchase the album from Bandcamp here!