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 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 album represented a new style of hip hop that incorporated stripped back funk samples, laid back beats and deeply reflective rhymes.

It proved an unbeatable combination, garnering the pair widespread critical acclaim and ensured the EP gained heavy rotation on both national and local radio spending 4 weeks on Melbourne’s KISS FM Top Ten chart and receiving extensive play on Triple J.

With the success of the album the group’s support slots began reading like a who’s who of international and local hip hop – Cut Chemist, Blackalicious, Z-Trip, The Herd and Muph & Plutonic just to name a few. As their own entity, D’Opus & Roshambo have also played shows country wide including the Stonefest Festival, the Trinity Bar Block Party in 2007 and the Corinbank Festival in 2008.

2008 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 full-length album ‘The Switch’. 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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