While Melbourne is renown for its vast and diverse culture, there are still some certain qualities that seem underrated. For example, the revolutionary hip hop scene and incredibly talented artists.

Australian hip hop in the past was critiqued for its apparent lack of identity and unoriginality. However there has been a clear shift over the years, (in my opinion) Melbourne has started coming through with some absolute quality artists.

The standard is continually rising and boundaries are being pushed just like the global level. The genre alone has been redefined and now incorporates all kinds of elements from various styles of music.

The prime reference of this ‘revolution’ stems from creative collective, 90’s Raw DiverCity. An extremely talented group who are “the result of being forward thinking in a backwards nation.” (READ MORE ABOUT 90’s RD here)

One artist in particular, Sol’ MANIC, who is a member of both 90’s RD, and another group called The High Commission (THC), is one of our favourites for his ability to combine soul with rap.

In August 2015 he released his debut project titled, LOS|SOL which is simply a 15 track masterpiece. Sol’ even gained attention from Acclaim Magazine and Hip Hop Melbourne for his steezy flows, conscious bars and colourful lyrics.

If you’re not familiar with young Sol’ MANIC it’s definitely about time you do yourself a favour and check him out.

The young artist has also dropped some killer visuals for his songs GEEZ and UHM (Ft. Baro) check them out below:

As it has been two years since the release of Sol’ MANIC’s debut, we can hopefully expect to see something fresh announced soon!

In the meantime connect with Sol’ and give him some love on his socials here:

Facebook: @amanicsol
SoundCloud: @sol-manic
Twitter: @aMANICsol

Written by,
Timothy Thorpe
@timothythorpe47