Australia is located in the southern hemisphere and surrounded by water. Hip Hop in Australia has had mainstream appeal, but is still an underground phenomenon. When Hip Hop first entered Australian shores during the 1980s, it was largely influenced by Hip Hop's American version. Rapping in American English accents became contentious and emcees have rhymed in Australian English with more far more frequency in recent years.

In addition to finding their accent, Australian emcees focus their lyrical content on local culture and have discovered unique sounds. The Hilltop Hoods (Myspace page, Wikipedia), from Adelaide, have had success with their varied beats and hardcore delivery. 1200 Techniques (Wikipedia) have also realized commercial success. Made up of DJ Danielsan and MC Hau, Koolism (Myspace page, Wikipedia), from Canberra, won the first ever Australian Record Industry Association award in the cateogry of Best Urban Release in 2004. Maya Jupiter (her page on Triple J, Myspace page) is an emcee who hosts the Hip Hop Show on the Triple J radio station.

Other sites:

Wikipedia's entry on Aussie Hip Hop.

Oz Hip Hop.com, Australia's Hip-Hop Central.

A brief overview of Aussie Hip Hop (here).

Other artists:

Bliss n Eso (Myspace page, Wikipedia) are from Sydney.

The Herd (Wikipedia) is a Hip Hop band from the suburbs of Sydney.