Ho99o9 Say Their Brand Of Hip Hop/PunK Isn't 'A Pose' Or 'A Trend'

"It's more than a band. It's more than music. It's an understanding. It's a message. It's art. It's the world. It's you, it's me, it's us," furthers Eaddy. "It's more than what you see. You have to take it in brighter horizons and you know, open your mind and look at it with your third eye."

The LA-based pairing — who were heavily influenced by hip hop's boom bap era going back to the early inceptions within rap collective Jersey Klan — have released a slew of mixtapes coloured across all palettes outside of traditional rap lines. But as to whether they ever felt removed from the state of hip hop, they remain adamant as to their position staying true to the fundamentals.

"Essentially, some of of the sounds are different to what people in hip hop are used to but we're still hip hop," claims Jean. "To me, hip hop is always something that pushed boundaries and that's what we're about — pushing boundaries and not sticking to the same sound as boom bap. You can add whatever you like, rap is rap and I can relate to this shit."

"It's not a pose, it's not a trend, it's what we make so we're bringin' it back for you motherfuckers."

A mind's eye view to their debut album United States Of Horror sees them mutating their soundscape into the deeper elements of punk and death metal distortion. "We're both of them shits, man," declares Eaddy. "We like that heavy-ass rap and the attitude of real rock'n'roll, like the attitude of that is what's so fresh.

When asked if Ho99o9 is connecting punk and hip hop back together 30 years later, Eaddy stamped their ambition all over it. "Absolutely! We are. There's a lot of posers out there. A lot of people fakin' the funk. That's what we are born to get into. It's all real for us. It's not a pose, it's not a trend, it's what we make so we're bringin' it back for you motherfuckers."

Through sentiment found on the anti-police Hated in Amerika and off the new LP War Is Hell, the weight of the message delivered will leave you "Slippin' in your Jesus slippers" as their lyrics suggest. Despite saying they're not a political act, they still sharpen their weapon on what's happening now in society and, according to Eaddy, this is important.

"When we first came out we were rappin' about gory-type shit, and now there's real horrors in the world and in our community. Now it's important for us to stand up for our community," stresses Eaddy. "There's so much violence and racism out there and sometimes we get caught up in the party life and we wanna steer clear of flash cars and big gold chains. And I could be rapping about that shit but I don't really got none of that stuff so we're out to talk about what we know."

The energy felt on the new album is undeniable. Live, their reputation precedes them. Just how they summon up such fervour into their album, Eaddy was not short on explaining. "The main energy comes from my balls. You've gotta have big elephant, titanium, big fuckin' balls."