True Vibenation

True Vibenation

True Vibenation is a Sydney hip-hop group on Big Village. The group consists of Klue, Native Wit and Verbaleyes. It blends hip-hop with earth-shaking bass, brass and African rhythms, and it draws on the members’ African heritage as well as their upbringing in Australia’s migrant communities.

Style and influences

The group’s sound combines elements associated with Afrobeat and contemporary hip-hop, along with live brass and heavy low-end production. Its influences include Fela Kuti, Hugh Masekela and The Daptone Horns, alongside Outkast, Ta-Ku and Hermitude. The group describes one strand of its work as “Afro Bounce”, reflecting a mix of electronic music, live instrumentation, Latin beats, house music, synths and hip-hop.

Live work and releases

True Vibenation builds a reputation for an energetic live show and appears at festivals including Glastonbury, HIFA in Zimbabwe, Bushfire Festival in Swaziland, Azgo Festival in Mozambique, Woodford Folk Festival, Sydney Festival and Subsonic Festival. It also supports acts such as Ozomatli and Theivery Corporation on Australian tours.

Its single “Heaps Good (Samuel L Jackson)” reaches number 2 on the iTunes World Music chart, following “The World Is Ours”, which reaches number 1 on Spotify’s Viral chart in the UK and number 4 globally.