dropped this week: week 10 - mar 8th
Brisbane's Moment Is Now
It was a week defined by experimentation, nostalgia, and the undeniable rise of Brisbane. From haunting Delta blues samples to cross-generational festival anthems, the Australian hip hop scene pushed in multiple directions at once and somehow it all made sense together.
The through-line was clear. Quality. Consistency. Output. The artists making moves right now are not waiting for permission.
Retz — Blue
Heat: 6/10
Three releases in three months, each with a music video. Retz is putting his head down and grinding, and Blue might be the most accessible track he has released so far.
Built on calm, atmospheric jazz textures with boom bap drums sitting underneath like a heartbeat, the production leaves space for Retz to do what he does best. Be honest.
Lyrically this is raw. The subject matter circles emotional trauma, substance abuse, and carelessness, but what makes the writing interesting is the structural flip Retz uses throughout the track. He often splits a bar into two opposing halves, alternating meanings and alternating versions of himself. Lines like “3 years sober, 5 weeks fuck it” capture that tension perfectly. Two truths sitting next to each other, neither one winning.
Shot by Fith Studios, the video trades the rapid cuts common in Australian rap visuals for slower, more deliberate framing. The entire clip takes place in a pool. Retz in a suit, surrounded by alcohol and pill bottles. It reinforces the emotion of the track without needing to explain it.
D3TOX — NBA
Heat: 7/10
The Brisbane rap scene is no longer growing inward. It is expanding outward, and D3TOX repping Caboolture is part of that shift.
NBA is a bouncy drill anthem built around a piano-led melody, ambient tension-building strings, and bell hits that punch straight through the fast-paced trap drums.
What separates D3TOX here is the approach. He leans into an American-influenced flow, but he never loses his identity. The accent stays local, the references stay Australian, and the result feels fresh inside the drill and trap space.
The hook is layered and hits harder because of it. Faster deliveries, sharper energy, and a clear sense of confidence. It is his first official Dropped This Week appearance and a strong introduction.
Hooligan Hefs ft. Savage — Whistle
Heat: 7/10
This is the collaboration the Australian rap scene needed. Two of the most important names in Aus rap, from different generations and eras, finally sharing a record.
Produced by Open Till L8, Whistle taps directly into the Lad Rave and area party sound that defined an earlier wave of Australian rap. Deep synths, cinematic brass hits, and a festival-style drop. The type of production that can turn a backyard into a venue.
Structurally the track is tight. Hefs opens the record, builds toward the title moment, and hands it cleanly to Savage for the hook and that unmistakable voice. Savage delivers a bridge that separates the sections before Hefs returns for the final stretch.
Directed by The Jaen Collective, the video leans into the energy of the record. Two teams, one for each artist, facing off in a beach volleyball game. At one point a seagull appears wearing Hefs’ infamous “67” chain. That alone says enough.
The nostalgia lands instantly, but the track does not feel like a throwback. It feels like the blueprint being updated. More importantly, it signals that cross-generational collaborations are starting to happen more often in Australian hip hop.
Turquoise Prince — From The Start (daddy issues)
Heat: 9/10
This is the one.
Out of Turquoise Prince’s debut album, From The Start is the track where everything clicks. When it plays during a full listen of the project, the direction of the album becomes completely clear.
Produced by Prince himself and mixed by Marcos Love, the production is deceptively simple. A reverb-soaked guitar lead sits at the centre, with subtle secondary guitar melodies underneath. Occasional brass hits add depth while restrained trap drums keep the track moving without crowding the vocals.
The vocal layering is what elevates it. Harmonic ad-libs placed with intention make the record feel full without overwhelming the core performance.
Lyrically the opening line sets the tone immediately. “Don’t act like I ain’t your biggest flex.” It carries Brent Faiyaz style confidence with something softer underneath.
The track unpacks the complexity of a relationship shaped by unresolved daddy issues. One person trying to hold things together while the other struggles to see it clearly. The writing stays poetic without becoming overly delicate, constantly circling the question of blame before returning to the pain at the centre of it all.
This should already be everywhere. The response may take time to catch up to the quality, but it will.
DonDrino — Keep Praying
Heat: 10/10
We had heard about this one. We still were not ready.
The sample traces back to Robert Johnson’s 1938 Delta blues recording, filtered through Soap&Skin’s haunting reinterpretation Me and the Devil. It is some of the most unsettling source material an Australian rap track has used in a long time.
Produced by SneezySounds and BloodJuice, DonDrino steps directly into that tension and owns it.
Lyrically this is his best work to date. The themes of loss, struggle, and survival are familiar territory for Drino, but the execution here reaches another level. The wordplay is subtle, the technical ability is quietly impressive, and the final verse leans fully into the religious undertones with real weight.
The video deserves its own recognition. Directed by Ryan J Ridley from BloodJuice, it avoids flash entirely. Instead the strength comes from precision. The colour grading, shot selection, and framing are immaculate, with a storyline that mirrors the emotion of the record.
Quietly, this might be one of the best produced music videos to come out of the Australian hip hop scene in years.
Closing Thought
Brisbane is here.
Not arriving. Here.
The talent is real, the output is consistent, and the collaborations are getting bigger. With some of the scene’s most influential artists now centred in South East Queensland, we may be witnessing the early stages of a genuine new sub-scene forming inside Australian hip hop.
Pay attention.
