Belle
Brooks - better known by her pseudonym Dirt Child - is a sculptor, aquascapist
and rapper from Mudgee, Australia. Between hoarding rats, caressing powertools
and sculpting life-sized plasticine giraffes copulating, Dirt Child recorded her
debut EP, RATKING, to be released in October as a joint venture between the artist-run
Climbing Hills Records and BEAT NO BEAT, a new imprint through Fuse Music.
Though
only turning to rap in recent years, Dirt Child is already becoming known for
her prodigious flow, sleazy yet frenetic delivery, acerbic subject matter and
intricate strings of contextual multi-syllable rhymes.
Dirt Child spent
the first eighteen years of her life in Mudgee, the land of "wine, honey
and yobbos." For some, a small country town can be stifling, but Dirt Child
was born into somewhat of an artistic oasis, sheltered from the mundanity of a
BI-LO job and pig shootin' Sundays by her eccentric parents.
Growing up
in a house obscured by what was essentially a large bush with a red teapot full
of pansies on the front gate, and a mega-kookaburra made of cutlery guarding the
driveway, Dirt Child "lost any sense of embarrassment pretty early on."
Whilst other fathers were revving their Commodores, "I was dropped to school
in a black and yellow striped bumblebee truck with a bright red nose borrowed
from the BBQ, the factory horn replaced with a homemade roaring klaxton."
A
keen sculptor, Dirt Child moved to Sydney to pursue art, studying Sculpture, Performance
and Installation at Sydney College Of The Arts. Her most recent work is a pair
of anatomically accurate, near life sized, multicoloured plasticine, fibreglass
and steel giraffes depicted mid-sex. They have been exhibited at the Perth Institute
of Contempory Art and at the Newcastle Art School.
Somewhere amongst all
this, rap happened. Like many rappers, it all began with some terrible freestyles
over dodgy beats for a bit of a laugh. However it wasn't until an impromptu freestyle
(whilst high on resin fumes in her workshop one night) with friend and fellow
rap enthusiast James Woods that it became serious. Recognising her skills, James
quit his major label desk job to produce and release her debut EP, RATKING.
What
resulted is somewhat of an anomaly. Although rooted firmly in Aussie Hip-Hop,
RATKING strays from the typical formula. "It's not really happy 'flute sample
rap', it isn't serious 'petrol prices/h8 da guvment rap', nor is it 'youf on da
streetz' or 'young money hobitchbling' rap. I'd say it's kinda dorky, kinda crass,
tongue in cheek, hokey, frenetic dickhead Australiana rap on gamey beats."
"Filthy!
A thinking person's Lady Sovereign mixed with Peaches, from Australia, or something.
I like it." - 4ZZZ
"There aren't a whole lot of big name females
in Australian hip hop right now... Maybe Dirt Child can fill this gap with her
tracks that are more like Peaches and less like what you would expect from Aussie
Hip Hop." - soundstheyleftbehind.blogspot.com.
TRACKLISTING:
1.
Golden Tooth
2. Slugmite Millionaire
3. Anthem Feat. Jimmy Suit
4. SIC
101 Feat. Jimmy Suit
5. Cremaster
RATKING is available now
on Beat No Beat/Climbing Hills Records, through Fuse Music. To accompany the release,
Dirt Child will be embarking on a run of live shows - stay tuned for details.
