Cultures combine in Darwin Festival hip-hop wonderland

RAPPERS from trailblazing indigenous-owned music labels in Canada and Australia will unite on stage for an epic night of mad rhymes, thick beats and searing First Nations politics

Rap bands, RPM and The Bad Apples rehearsing at Skinny Fish studios ahead of their rap battle for the Darwin Festival. Picture Patrina Malone

RAPPERS from trailblazing indigenous-owned music labels in Canada and Australia will unite on stage for an epic night of mad rhymes, thick beats and searing First Nations politics at the Darwin Festival tonight.

NT-raised rapper Nathan Bird, aka “Birdz”, will be putting on a powerful performance with Bad Apples label-mate Corey Webster or “Nooky” at The Lighthouse from 9pm.

They’ll be joined by RPM’s “Snotty Nose Rez Kids”, a hip-hop duo from the Haisla Nation in Canada and DJ Kookum.

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After arriving in Darwin on Tuesday the group of five have been in the studio, cooking up some tasty “collabs” before they hit the stage together for their hip-hop mega show.

“We’re all indigenous, so it’s pretty easy for us to connect naturally, we also write the same and like the same beats,” Snotty Nose Rez Kids rapper Quinton Nyce said.

“I feel at home here, our culture, practices and the love for land and self are similar.”