Hailed for their politically-charged attitude, electrifying live performances, and diverse musical stylings, The Herd is an Australian hip-hop collective from Sydney that formed in 2001 after the core members of the Elefant Traks label decided to collaborate instead of submitting individual tracks for their compilation albums. What resulted was the self-titled album that featured the triple j hit “Scallops”, a song that became “an Aussie backyard anthem.”

The group is unique in its makeup, with the original lineup consisting of MCs Urthboy (Tim Levinson), Ozi Batla (Shannon Kennedy) and Berzerkatron (Simon Fellows), along with Elefant Traks founder and producer Traksewt (Kenny Sabir), fellow producers Sulo (Richard Tamplenizza), Unkle Ho (Kaho Cheung) and Alejandro (Alex Swarbrick), guitarist Toe-Fu (Byron Williams) and bassist Rok Poshyta (Dale Harrison). The group also frequently collaborated with producers Sir Robbo (Shane Roberts), Monkfly, Snapsuit and The A.L.F. (who, along with other Elefant Traks members, helped work on DASE, a software developed by Traksewt that allowed musicians to collaborate via the internet.) Singer Jane Tyrell also collaborated with the group on their third album, The Sun Never Sets, and was later inducted into the group as a full-time member with the release of their fourth album, Summerland, in 2008.

Since their debut album, the group has dropped four albums, with numerous members also releasing solo projects. After the release of the EP Better Alive in 2012, the group went through a long period of inactivity, only reuniting a couple of times for select live performances. However, a few months after the Elefant Traks label announced it would be shutting down for good, the group reunited to release “Soul of My Soul”, a scathing criticism of Israel’s war on Palestine that featured Palestinian artists Sereen, Mo Omran and Big Rigs. All proceeds made from that song were donated to Olive Kids, an Australian foundation dedicated to financially supporting the lives of young Palestinians.