Hometown Hustle on a mission to showcase local talent across New Zealand

Hometown Hustle is set to showcase some of the region's underground talent. Image / Supplied

Hamilton's Hometown Hustle is set to showcase some of the region's local music talent as singers and songwriters look to make the most of the space left free by international acts.

On November 21 at Zeal Hamilton, the likes of Kid Rey, ATG Gucci, Dom Lowry and King Bushido will take to the stage as part of event organisers Skip The Boat's mission to showcase local talent across New Zealand.

Herman Jagpal, who is the brains behind Skip The Boat, said the shows so far have had strong turnouts and were giving underground artists the chance to showcase their work.

"These guys and girls are super talented, but they just don't have an opportunity to showcase their work to the world so we have stepped in and have tried to be the bridge to connect them to the people," Jagpal said.

"There are so many of these artists, everywhere you go across New Zealand there are so many talented artists that are just looking to break out and I think in New Zealand it's quite difficult to get your name out there as we are so reliant on sourcing our music from overseas."

Jagpal said Covid-19 had provided a small silver lining for these artists to try and break out in a market that currently has no international acts.

"Typically we would have so many international acts coming over, but we don't have that right now. Covid-19 has been terrible, but there is always something good that comes out of everything bad."

Artists for the show includes ATG GUCCI who broke onto the scene with international hit Squad Goals featuring Canadian superstar Karan Aujla. The music video for this single has accumulated well over 800,000 views on YouTube alone.

Hamiltonian Dom Lowry has discovered his emo rap-sung sound, adamant on using his art to bring attention to exposing the reality of mental health and substance abuse.

His latest song Smaller Circles releases this Friday, while King Bushido is the newest member of the ATG group and has already proven his versatility as a rapper by jumping from UK drill beats with Gucci on Pagans to Mexican summer-vibe type beats on Iceman.