Raising The Bar 4 @ Artista

The great thang about rap is its adaptability in different cultures. One of the four elements of hip hop, what started as an African-American institution has now become global. Now, we’ve got grime in the UK, South African Zef ala Die Antwoord, Cambodian chant-rap and Malaysian lawak rap (as seen at the recent Raising The Bar).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsWJs8pd2K4[/youtube]

Organised by indie rapper and JUICE Coolister Jin Hackman, Raising The Bar happens every month at Artista and pits MC against MC in front of a live audience. The result can be quite humourous as witnessed at RTB‘s latest installment.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsZ4EFRnN3I[/youtube]

The 2 dudes in the videos above are Fiq Fliq, from Keystyle Tanah Melayu/KTM, and DMent of 5Forty2. Don’t worry about the disses… it’s all in the name of fun. And it certainly beats some of the lousy standup comedy we’ve seen.

Perhaps we’re still far from seeing our own brand of Malaysian rap taking off but while we’re at our development stage, let’s not get arrested and try to have fun with it!

Raising The Bar 4 dropped at Artista on Thursday 24 March 2011. For pictures, checkout our gallery.

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