Choose One by 1200 Techniques

Choose One, the 2002 debut from Melbourne's 1200 Techniques, is the sound of Australian hip-hop kicking at the mainstream's front door. DJ Peril, who started the group, produced every track himself, and he doesn't stop at breakbeats: rock guitar from his brother Kemstar, electro squelch and funk grooves all get thrown into the pot, with N'fa riding on top with serious swagger.

"Karma (What Goes Around)", the single, is built on a sample of Hot Chocolate's "Brother Louie" and turned up on a "World Instruments" segment of John Safran's Music Jamboree, while "Battlemaster" borrows a much-used line from the hip-hop film Beat Street. The album climbed to No. 20 on the ARIA chart, and the group became one of the acts that finally got the local rap scene a hearing beyond the underground.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.