Relentless Entertainment have your 90s hip-hop nostalgia covered with their This Is Hip-Hop tour this May. It will feature four legendary hip-hop acts: Cleveland’s finest Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, West Coast icon DJ Quik, rap super group Tha Dogg Pound, and, recently added to the line-up, ‘Queensbridge murderers’ Mobb Deep – a lineup causing the hip-hop heads of Australia to practically explode.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are one of the most popular rap groups of all time. They are the only group to have collaborated with all four deceased legends – Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Eazy-E, and Big Pun.
Unfortunately, not all five members of the group have graced our shores at the same time. Last year we were treated to Bizzy Bone’s presence, but Flesh-n-Bone was unable to get a working visa. It seems that it is the same case this time round, as only four members are billed to appear. Nevertheless, Bone Thugs never disappoint; they have sold out more than 45 shows in Australia over the last 5 years– they even played two shows in Melbourne on the same night last year.
Krayzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, and Layzie Bone will come together to perform their Grammy Winning album, E. 1999 Eternal, in full. The album features two of their biggest hits, Crossroads and 1st of tha month.
Joining Bone Thugs is legendary Compton rapper and producer DJ Quik, who is one of the biggest names in the genre. Quik has produced for many West Coast rappers including 2Pac, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Jay-Z, Snoop, and Dr. Dre. DJ Quik will forever be identified with the West Coast for creating an instantly recognisable sound that fuses funk, R&B, and soul with everything in between, and setting the ground work for the G-funk era with songs like Tonite.
Kurupt and Daz Dillinger make up the West Coast rap group Tha Dogg Pound, also playing at the show. They were signed to Death Row records and were the keys to the label’s early success. The two first made their appearance on Dr. Dre’s highly acclaimed debut album The Chronic and on Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle. With both of these albums going on to have immense success, it was only a matter of time before Tha Dogg Pound also found their success; their first album, Dogg Food, went 3x platinum.
Interestingly, the opening track of their first album contains a diss towards Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, as Kurupt raps, “Ain’t got no love for no hoes in harmony;” so 11-years on it’s good to see the two groups performing in the same venue on the same night.
Recently added to the line up for May’s show are the infamous Mobb Deep, the duo comprised of New York rappers Havoc and Prodigy. Every rap fan in history (and possibly just every person who’s ever heard any music) knows two of their songs– they all know Survival Of The Fittest and Shook Ones Part II.
The Mobb Deep duo are returning to Australia following their Infamous 20 year anniversary tour last year, and are now celebrating their 20 year anniversary for their third album, Hell on Earth. Prodigy has also recently teamed up with BitTorrent to release a new series called R.I.P., a collection of 45 collaboration tracks which features hip-hop acts including Action Bronson, Childish Gambino, Ghostface Killah, DJ Premier, Killer Mike, and Bun B among others. The first 15-track installment, R.I.P. 1, is available for download here.
Don’t miss the chance to catch all four of these legendary acts. Tickets are on sale now, and with more acts set to be added to the line-up, it will only be a matter of time before they sell out.
Saturday May 21st – MELBOURNE, Festival Hall. Tickets here.
Sunday May 22nd – PERTH, Metro City. Car Park. Tickets here.
Friday May 27th – SYDNEY, Hordern Pavilion. Tickets here.
Saturday May 28th – BRISBANE, Eatons Hill Outdoors. Tickets here.
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