"Dan the Underdog is the most criminally underrated rhymer in Australia"
- SkankMC
Dan the Underdog is an award winning Northern Territory based
MC/producer. He has been pivotal in establishing the Northern Territory Hip
Hop scene. Since his humble beginnings with Teknikal Onslaught in Darwin to
taking the nation by storm with Catch The Fly, to starting Bring It ON NT Battle
league with Northern Versifiers Firm, he has always been about dope beats
and a live stage show.
"Dan the Underdog has always had an incredible stage presence, we used to
just stand there and rap, when he came along, he was so animated on stage,
he made us want to get into it and move around too"
- Threat3, Northern Versifiers
Dan the Underdog was born in Adelaide, SA; but raised in Buffalo, NY. He
started making beats from an early age, and by the time he finished High
School, had already started gigging at pubs & parties and releasing albums, he
used to burn them and sell them everywhere he went. Many of his friends and
family fell victim to vicious cycles of drugs, violence, unemployment and the
criminal justice system, much of which runs rampant in Buffalo, America’s 3rd
poorest city. He decided to take another route and branch out on his own,
using his dual citizenship to return to his country of origin, Australia.
Dan the Underdog has always spread his production talent across the board,
working with bands, crews, solo artists and workshop participants to help
them get that sound they want. His production work on TASK’s “Out of the
Darkness” got him notoriety in 2006 when TASK won NT’s emerging artist
award at the Indigenous Music Awards. His production has also been featured
on releases from SkankMC, Northern Versifiers, Kaotik, UnderBellee,
Eskatology & NTSA, just to name a few. His day job is working with youth in
indigenous communities, schools, and drop in centres to develop tracks for
various workshops & projects, helping countless numbers of youth
organisations win competitions and get funding, but more importantly, build
up the self esteem of the young people involved. He also produced and cowrote "Off The Brackets", The NT Song Of The Year 2012 in the Urban
category. In 2013, his production skills shone through again, taking out the
Urban & People's choice Categories with Skank MC's "Northern Terror Story".
In 2012, he branched out and released a solo album "Tha Rawlest" which was
met with rave reviews.
"Tha Rawlest has a huge sound, rapid lyrical flows, excellent samples, humour
and a balance of "get-up-and-go" and "kick-back-and-relax" tunes. It's a
complete album in every sense of the word, Dan's massive 18-track project is a
solid listen with a polished sound"
- Cameron Boon, Centralian Advocate
His first single and probably most popular song to date is “Hypocrite”, which
can still be seen getting regular plays on youtube. The video’s director, Samuel
Chen, received a Bronze Australian Cinematographer’s Award for all his hard
work.
In 2014, Dan the Underdog released "Classical Soul" a concept album that
fuses Hip Hop and Classical Music. With the bulk of the production being
handled by Dan the Underdog, the classical samples chosen perfectly set the
tone for this deeply personal album and gave him the platform to discuss
many aspects of his life; growing up between Australia and the US, the fall out
with his former band Catch The Fly, his current place in the Hip Hop scene, his
family life and becoming a father.
Fans are already calling 2015's "Breakfast of Champions" Dan the Underdog's
best effort to date, it's a real look into his day to day life, songs about his wife
and kids, songs about growing up, deep tracks, party tracks and
braggadocious lyrical tracks. Dan the Underdog's flow is always immaculate
without compromising the message, his stories are told well and never lack
humour. As always, the bulk of the production is handled by Dan the
Underdog, the sample driven beats are soulful and compliment his style
perfectly. Features include NT Heavyweights Threat3, TASK & SkankMC,
Queensland's Big K.O.Z., International Feature TheVerce (Atlanta), even Dan's
1 Year old son lays down some vocals for "Matty & Daddy".