American rapper and 90s star Bow Wow is finishing the last leg of his 2018 Australian tour in none other than Katherine, next Thursday.
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To most of us he’s better known as Lil’ Bow Wow.
Famous for that catchy little tune: Mr bow wow wow yippy yo yippy yay and his role in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Ringing any bells?
Well he’s all grown up now, and thanks to one NT music promotion business, Urban Xclusive – intent on bringing big name international acts to regional towns – the rapper is set to take on Katherine.
“There is a niche in Katherine that reacts really well to RnB acts,” event organiser DJ Vella said.
“I found that every time big acts were touring Australia, regional towns were missing out and I thought, ‘why couldn’t these smaller towns get the things that big cities get?’”
Urban Xclusive have already brought a handful of well-known hip hop and RnB acts to Katherine, including Sean Kingston and Pleasure P.
DJ Vella said Urban Xclusive is striving to build an influx of successful international acts to map through and promote the Territory as a great music destination for touring artists.
“What is so good about these shows in regional towns is that they are intimate. People are hands distance from the artist, you don’t get that in big cities,” Mr Vella said.
Deep in Katherine’s music scene, DJ KC said Katherine, as a tourism hub, had the capacity to become a mainstay stopover for big musicians like Bow Wow.
“RnB is the bread and butter of this town,” DJ KC said.
“Anyone between 25 and 35 will be taken back to their school days, it’s going to be a good rewind.
“There was a massive amount of hype around Sean Kingston and Bow Wow has a big enough name to create some hype as well.”
Katherine is starved of good live international acts, DJ KC said.
Last year, Katherine fans went nuts for Sean Kingston, when he performed at the YMCA.
And earlier in the year, Australian pop duo The Veronicas dropped by for a cracker of a night on Territory Day.
Both acts had the town talking for days.
“It is exciting to have international talent visit Katherine and through social media hashtags it means that people from around the world will see the NT, it is really positive for the town,” DJ KC said.
Bow Wow is dedicating three days to the Top End, performing in Kununurra, Katherine and Darwin.
Mr Vella said while this is Bow Wow’s first trip to the Top End, he is looking forward to meeting the people of Katherine.
“He loves the energy he gets from the crowd and the community,” Mr Vella said.
“Katherine is a small town, there is every chance you’ll bump into him in Woolworths,” he said.
Katherine Indigenous hip hop group Nothing Like The Rest is set to open for Bow Wow with support acts DJ Vella (UK) and DJ KC Bishop (NT).
Bow Wow is expected to hit the stage at 8pm at Mahogany Bar and Grill next Thursday October 4.
Tickets are on sale now and can be bought here for $49.