Drapht and WASO: How The West Was Won is hitting the stage of Perth Concert Hall, Friday 18 & Saturday 19 November 2022.
From a breakout mixtape to Australian festival circuits, Drapht is 20 years into the hip-hop game and is about to take on his most ambitious project to date.
Teaming up with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Drapht is about to join the ranks of other local superstars that have collaborated with WA’s State orchestra, including Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe and The Panics.
Drapht has been a consistent innovator in the Perth hip-hop landscape, first breaking onto the scene in 2003 with his debut track ‘Misunderstood’ that was featured on mixtape Culture of Kings – Volume 3. Following it up with his debut album Pale Rider then Who Am I, Drapht’s third album, Brothers Grimm launched the MC to national fame with hit song ‘Jimmy Recard’.
Citing the album as “a personal and truthful account with what I stand for moralistically”, the introspective yet swaggering album went ARIA Gold, but was only setting the scene for future successes to come, with Drapht dropping his next album, The Life of Riley in 2011.
The album soared to the top of the Australian charts, went Platinum, won ‘Best Urban Album’ at the ARIAs and was nominated for Triple J’s J Award for ‘Album of the Year’. The album also catapulted the MC onto the festival scene, with Drapht touring nationally for Groovin’ the Moo and the Big Day Out.
With three more albums under his belt to date, Drapht has continued to innovate, collaborating with the likes of Spacey Jane, Bitter Belief and Eli Greeneyes, launching his own record label, starting a business and experimenting across genres in his ever-evolving discography.
Now, Drapht is adding another notch to his belt with a full orchestral show, in celebration of 20 years behind the mic.
“We have 20 years worth of back-catalogue we'll be walking through. Lots of highs and lots of lows, obviously a lot of the fan favourites, but also a lot of album songs that I am yet to play live myself until this point. It's shaping up to be a really exciting one.“ - Drapht
The Perth local’s biggest hits have been given the full orchestra treatment – with over 50 musicians backing the MC live on stage, Drapht’s iconic tracks are given a new twist and turned up a level. The show has never been done before, making this an unmissable world premiere experience.
Cementing his status as one of Perth’s most predominant artists, experience the King of the Bar for yourself when WASO perform with Drapht in November.
You won't want to miss this: get your tickets here.
See more music and performances in Perth here.