Night of ‘boogieing’ at hip-hop event a hit

Are you familiar with the four elements?

Not earth, water, fire and air, but the four elements of hip-hop: dance, DJing, rap and graffiti.

They all worked in harmony at the Otepoti Hip-Hop Hustle on Saturday, which was held as part of the Dunedin Arts Festival.

The event packed a wide variety of hip-hop culture into an evening, featuring musicians, dance numbers and a graffiti tournament.

Producer Jonny Waters said people were "boogieing throughout the night" at the family-friendly event.

It was the fourth time the hustle had been held.

Previously, the event had been held in bars around the city, but this year it took place in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery car park, which really added to the "gritty" and "grungy" atmosphere.

The show was put together by a small team, which made wrangling the 60 performers a bit of a struggle.

Despite that, the show ran smoothly and everything happened perfectly according to schedule, he said.

Although the Dunedin sound did not feature a lot of hip-hop, it was popular in the early 2000s when Dunedin DJ Shannon Dirks, better known as DJ Shan, was on the local airwaves.

DJ Shan played a large part in the history of Dunedin hip-hop and influenced many of the performers at the event, Mr Waters said.