Last Friday night Zierholz at University of Canberra was taken over by an assortment of Aussie Hip hop’s latest and greatest MC’s: D opus & Roshambo, Sietta, Dialetrix, Mantra and Thundamentals. They made up Hip Hop Big Block and rocked the crowded bar, and proved that Australian Hip hop is still as popular with Canberrans as ever.
Canberra duo D opus & Roshambo kicked off the night, drawing a modest yet appreciative crowd to the stage. Despite the small crowd the MC gave it his all; proving his passion for performing, and rewarding some of the more enthusiastic crowd members with free t-shirts.
Next up in the night of Aussie talent was the Darwin duo Sietta. The lead singer burst on stage singing the funky tune ‘Doormat’ and pulling off some killer dance moves, a rather sizeable crowd appeared almost instantly. Sietta’s soulful vocals and funky beats proved popular with the Canberra audience and throughout her energetic set, the leading lady danced and jumped around the stage, clearly enjoying herself. She ended her performance with the popular bassy tune ‘What am I Supposed To do?’ sending the audience into a dancing frenzy.
Once Sietta had finished warming the room and the audience had quenched their thirst with some boutique beer from the bar, Dialectrix was next in line to take the stage.
Dialectrix received much love from the Canberra audience, particularly when he busted out his more recently popular tune ‘Pieces of a puzzle,’ which has been receiving quite a bit of airplay on Triple J. The bass was pumping, the audience jumping and beer was spilling. Zierholz was packed by now, and the crowd for Dialectrix was growing with each tune he belted out.
Finally, Dialectrix handed over the stage to Mantra. The Aussie MC had all hands in the room raised to the roof with his bassy set, his style differed slightly from Dialectrix, delivering tunes that had more of an old school sound which was lapped up by the enthusiastic Canberra crowd. The speakers shook the ground as each song blasted through the bar and the mood grew more and more excitable as Thundamentals’ set drew nearer.
Eventually the time came for Thundamentals to shake the room. The crowd screamed and surged forward as the MCs took to the stage and jumped right into their set with one of their bass booming tunes. The crowd went wild for the popular tune ‘Paint the Town Red’ and other catchy beats. Arms were raised and pumping, and the Thundamentals gave it their best to the energized crowd, ending the night of hip hop on a definite high.
I had no idea Canberra had such a large hip hop fan base, but the packed out Hip Hop Big Block show at Zierholz quite clearly proved that us Canberrans do appreciate a little bit of bass, beats and plenty of beer!
