D'Opus & Roshambo

Don’t be fooled by the smooth rhyming or fierce cuts, D’Opus & Roshambo don’t do hip hop like everyone else – it’s more. Maybe it’s something in Canberra’s water or the pair’s continuing desire to bash down musical boundaries, but one thing’s for sure – Kevin Rudd isn’t the only one setting the agenda in the nation’s capital.

Ross Garrett (D’Opus) and Rowan Thomson (Roshambo) met in 2003; the former already an established DJ having supported everyone from the Jungle Brothers, DJ Q-Bert, Mr Thing and De La Soul, while emcee Roshambo had built up an impressive reputation for spreading the hip hop gospel through his long-running radio show on 2XX FM.

An insatiable appetite for new beats lead Roshambo to approach the one man he knew had the goods. With a mutual respect based purely on reputation, a musical synergy was immediately formed. After continuing to work as individual artists, the pair realised that their combined interests, strong work ethic and a desire to turn their hobby into a vocation could form the basis of an amazing partnership.

Coming from Canberra’s tight hip hop community, local legend’s Koolism played a pivotal role in mentoring the pair, inspiring them to strive towards one simple goal – to make great music. Taking inspiration from the golden era of hip hop, classic funk and contemporary drum ‘n’ bass, what D’Opus & Roshambo came up with was a unique blend of story driven hip hop.

Having worked together for only a few months the lads released a promotional single The Question which received national airplay on triple j’s Hip Hop show. From then on D’O and Ro have enjoyed a meteoric rise up the ranks. The duo’s highly anticipated first EP The Question was released in 2006 and distributed through legendary local imprint Obese Records. With guest tracks from Hau (Koolism), Axe Aklins and Minky Faber, the EP's standout tune Hey You gained heavy rotation on both national and local radio spending 4 weeks on Melbourne’s KISS FM Top Ten chart and receiving airplay play on triple j.

In June 2008, the duo released their much acclaimed full length album The Switch (Mercury Switch/Shogun) which received rave reviews across the country for its daringly new and original sounds, gaining them extensive media attention, including the front cover of Canberra's BMA Magazine, a spot on national radio triple'js 'Next Crop' of acts to watch in '09, and a feature article in the Home & Hosed Section of J-Mag.

The album's first single Million Dollar Bill was a runaway success spending close to a year in high rotation on triple j, with the video screening on J-TV, Rage and Channel V.  The follow up single and certified dance-floor stormer The Basement featuring indie wiz-kids (and triple j darlings) Hancock Basement also received extensive airplay across the nation, with the Canberra Short Film Festival-winning video receiving several plays on Rage. 

With the success of both their EP and LP the group’s live-on-stage history has began to read like a who’s who of international and local hip hop supports – Cut Chemist, Blackalicious, Z-Trip, Supastition, The Herd and Muph & Plutonic just to name a few. As their own entity, D’Opus & Roshambo have also played headline shows country wide including the Soundscape Festival 2008 in Tasmania, Trackside 2008, Stonefest Festival 2007, the Trinity Bar Block Party in 2007 and 2009 and the Corinbank Festival in 2008.

2009 is shaping up to be a massive one for D’Opus & Roshambo. Having been locked away in the studio, the boys are primed to release their long-awaited followed up album to The Switch which is set to feature guest slots from the creme-de-la-creme of Oz hip hop personalities.  Whilst thoroughly ingrained in traditional hip hop, D’Opus & Roshambo are firm believers in messing with the status quo and their latest offering is set to challenge conventions, subvert what you know and totally blow your mind

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