Nerve – Til Death ft Retayner & Wombat

Nerve – Til Death ft Retayner & Wombat

Sometimes the direction of Australian Hip-Hop concerns me, there’s so much ego involved in the scene, unnecessary beef and bullshit, a general lack of respect and some music reflects that. On the other hand, those doubts are quelled constantly by the younger talent in this country. The insurgence of new talent and life into the scene has been a breath of fresh air, and this track is no less.
Staccato, multisyllabic, head-nodding flows, this track seems to be coming for the “kill.” No stops are pulled on flow as the young talents of Nerve & Wombat throw down a hefty barrage of Punisher style syllables.

Joining the fresher faces repping from QLD & Tassie respectively, Melbourne vet Retayner drops a verse in the middle. Connecting the east coast, but also two different eras of Aus rap. This tracks takes you from left field with the quality, it is incredibly dope, but also one wouldn’t expect anything less from such an ill combo.
Nerve is arguably one of the dopest up and comers (that term I think should be used very loosely) along with Wombat as well. Nerve kills his verse with 90’s style, flow and delivery on some headbanger boogie shit. His voice cuts through concisely, and he controls the rhythm of the track even with a funky beat with swing drums.
In case you been under a rock, Retayner has been super busy on the music lately. Clip after clip, he’s a face that’s been seen regularly. Signature tains with his intricate wordplay and imagery, he bridges the gap between the crazy flow of the other two, with more complex lyrics and more stripped back delivery. I think it adds a great dynamic to the track. I really love his last 2 bars “so if ya got a younger brother tell em what the deal is, and never lead a man down a path where gear is”
Wombat merks his verse, crazy multies, vocal tone and general control, I think he has a lot of good things ahead of him. What I was particularly impressed with was his overall control with tone-flow-breaths etc. Extremely dope, there are little words that aren’t inside of his rhyme schemes.
Great clip by Carl Alison, another one who’s been a predominant name in the scene lately. Every shot shows them in very authoritative positions which carries that “burner” rhymer feel, it makes the track seem heavier, and as always Carls work is top notch, smoky, mysterious, with cool gimble shots.

The track is produced by Nerve, and is lifted off his upcoming album. If the rest of it is anything like this one, then you know it’s gonna be straight fire. Looking forward to the release of this one.
I think in order for the whole scene to grow, we need to give credit where due, and be more community minded when it comes to music and art. Jealousy and envy are some of the lowest forms of emotional states. Joy, happiness and unity will bring much prosperity and quality to the scene. There is an immeasurable amount of talent coming up from the young underground, scratch just beneath the surface and you will find them. Sure you have to sift through to find it, and there is a lot of half-arsed stuff out there, but the payoff of finding these dope new talents is well worth the time invested to find them. I think the future of our great culture here in Oz is going to continue to flourish, develop as long as we nurture the scene in the right way, and support dope artists on the come up, especially the ones that show strong work ethic.

Enough of my jibba jabba, Oi! Dope work!

For fans of: Syntax Junkies, multisyllable flows, underground Aus rap.

Words by Lani Milbus.