Infusing urban culture with Indonesian music traditions and socially aware messages, Javanese collective Jogja Hip Hop Foundation take their music from the ground up with a mission to make the world a better place one word at a time. The group tackles themes such as corruption and inequality through ancient Javanese poetry and literature, looped beats and pulsating electronic and indigenous rhythms - from gamelan and dangdut to shalawatan (Javanese Muslim prayer recital) and the trance rhythms of the Jathilan horse dance.

Formed in 2003, the crew burst into Indonesia’s music scene with their unprecedented meld of hip hop and gamelan sounds, creatively weaving Javanese and Malay literary classic texts such as Serat Centhini and Gurindam Dua Belas into their music and reintroducing them to the younger generation. Today, they stand as one of the most respected hip hop movements out of Indonesia, promoting tolerance and pluralism through their brand of conscious hip hop.

Adding to the hip quotient is our very own Hip Hop Queen, Mawar Berduri from the now defunct group Ahli Fiqir.