Our Merdeka night was filled with smoke screens, flashing lights, drinks and best of all, music from the crème de la crème of the local hip hop scene. Presented by Stussy KL, Raising The Bar bring you Raising The Bendera, a showcase of local hip hop artistes of all races, in conjunction with the Malaysia’s 57th Merdeka. Watch the recap video of the event below : –
Straying from their usual free entry, RTB charged a fee of RM20 inclusive of a free drink or free entry for those who dressed patriotically. Pop-up stores lined the entrance of Lust KL as soon as you get past the bouncer. From art to clothing to accessories, there were loads to on sale from local brands like Alamak Co. as well as OSIXNINE. Around 8, DJ Mastermind started spinning. Hosts, Jin Hackman and Mr. Dan, started the event with a rendition of Negaraku followed by their usual ‘Raise the bar, raise the bar, raise it!’
Double Call opened the event with their Cantonese raps. Although most of the crowd couldn’t understand a word of what they were rapping, they moved along to their beat. Next up was Aathitiyanz, as mouthful as their name, they lived up to it with their fast-paced Tamil raps. ALTRBG balanced out the somewhat foreign languages with his Malay sets. In between acts, Jin and Dan gave out free tee shirts and shoe laces.
There were Smirnoff Ice promoters going around for those who were thirsty. MoBeat hit the stage next, followed by Sheezay. Both acts got the crowd jumping. The act after was Aman-RA, who gave an angry speech about how the local hip hop industry was not as recognised as it should be. His words got the crowd to cheer along to what he was expressing. The top Chinese hip hop group in Malaysia, ManHand, got everyone swaying along to their music. Balan Kashmir on the other hand made the crowd feel like they were fellow Matchas.
The final hip hop act was Arabyrd. She stepped on stage, took off her hoodie to reveal a beautiful neckpiece and crop and grooved on her chair while she performed. She did a number for her remix with DJ Mastermind as well as her favourite track of all time, Byrdkick. After three songs per act, DJ Guibo, DJ SG as well as DJ Mastermind ended the night. This was by far one of the most interesting Merdeka celebrations ever. Looking forward to more from Raising The Bar and CHING It Out!
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