DESCRIPTION:
Hyjak first appeared on the scene in 1998, at the age of fifteen he snuck into a pub in the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross to compete in a rap battle, which he won.[1] Torcha, hailing from Sydney's west, was an active volunteer youth worker, doing programs in youth prisons and performing at anti-war rallies. Formally part of Sydney's Eth-nik Tribe, another Australian hip hop group.[1]
Hyjak N Torcha are currently signed to Obese Records and their first album Drastik Measures[2] was released in 2004,[3] they also released a single, "Sneak", from the album. "Sneak" received airplay on Triple J[4] and the video was played on rage.[5] The album was reviewed on Triple J's website.[6] They have since performed with artists such as the Hilltop Hoods,[7] De La Soul, Xzibit, Mobb Deep, Gang Starr, Lord Finesse,[8] Swollen Members, Murs and Ice Cube.[9] The group's members are also affiliated with Dominion, an Australian hip hop crew.[1]
They've made guest appearances (together and separately) on records by artists like Hilltop Hoods (Hyjak performed on Hilltop Hoods' album The Calling[10]), Bliss n Eso (Hyjak did a guest verse on one of the tracks of Bliss n Eso's Day of the Dog album[11]) and Pegz (Hyjak and Torcha appeared on Pegz's Axis album[12]).
Hyjak has also released a mixtape Shady Characters (featuring Torcha, Kye, Ends & Means and others),[13] and performed on a track for Jase's lead single "Nutcase". They also released a videoclip for their track "A Night with Chopper", featuring Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read, from his album, Interview with a Madman,[14] which, in 2006, won the award for 'Best New Filmmaker' (Matt Chuang) at the BelowGround Music Video Fest Awards.[15] In 2011 Hyjak has released and a mixtape called "The Reminder Mixtape" featuring Kerser, Chow. P and Thorn. The track "Roll Up" and "I Remember" featuring Kerser have been majorly recognized as most popular tracks off the mixtape.
Torcha toured with his new band,[16] A Broken Silence.[17] One of their songs, "Lost Road", was performed at the Sydney Opera House by Torcha with Tim Freedman (of The Whitlams) and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The group released their second album, Unregrettable, on 19 June 2009. The album was produced by Mules and features appearances by Murs, N'fa and S.Q.Z.
A Broken Silence's debut album, All for What, was released in July 2009. The album features guests appearances from Ozi Batla (The Herd), Patriarch (USA), Tim Freedman (The Whitlams) and DJ Skizo.
Torcha released his solo L.P together with producer B-Don in February 2010. The beats on the Frozen State L.P were created without any use of samples and the instruments played are for the majority played by B-Don. The album features guest appearances from N'fa, Hyjak, S.Q.Z, 2furious and also Korean mega-star Bobby Kim with his crew Buga Kingz.