The Tongue is a young Sydney MC recently signed to Elefant Traks, one of the two premier hip-hop labels in Australia. He got signed on his freestyle talent, apparently, but you can’t really tell what an MC’s freestyle talent is like on record. Well, not on Bad Education, the artist’s debut EP, at any rate. It’s a result of the limited Aussie hip-hop community that an unknown like the Tongue can pull in guests as high profile as Urthboy (and indie songstress Bertie Blackman) and a range of top-shelf (for A-hop, at least) producers. The downside of this is that each producer brings their own style, swallowing most of the Tongue’s individuality in the process. From the heavy electro backing of “Bad Education” and “Counterfeit Cheques Remix” to the ‘70s happy-jam of “The Punch”, the music careens this way and that. The Tongue’s Aussie-accented delivery isn’t the speediest, but it’s heartfelt, and he’s inherited some of the Herd’s political outrage: “Don’t think when you vote? Then you’re not like me”. The Sex Pistols rip is a little blatant, but let’s chalk it up to inexperience. Take this young talent into the fold, Elefant Traks, and one day he may find the spark to ignite a larger audience.

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