Legendary Australian hip hop radio show Hardcore Classic was established in 1996 by Sydney hip hop fiend Thomas Rock and has proven through the test of time to be one of the staples of hip hop in the broader Pacific region. Hardcore Classic has been on air across a number of stations in Sydney throughout the years, and now calls 2SER 107.3 home going live to air every Friday night from 8pm and serving as a benchmark for hip hop radio shows throughout Australia and beyond.
Hardcore Classic was one of the first radio shows to program 100% Australian Hip Hop content and went off the air in 2001, so that Tommy Rock could help produce the first nationally broadcast hip hop radio show in Australia in Triple J’s Hip-Hop Show. Tommy Rock helped to develop the petition with many others to create this then ground-breaking nationally broadcast hip hop show when there was no such platform for hip hop in Australia and the music itself was only beginning to gain increased wider commercial interest.
Hardcore Classic has had a who’s who of guests over the years including Dead Prez, Run The Jewelz, Hilltop Hoods, Big Daddy Kane, Apollo Brown, DJ Total Eclipse, Tha Alkaholiks, Rodney P, Lock Smith amongst a wealth of others. In addition to Tommy Rock, Hardcore Classic has benefited from numerous co-hosts / DJs / producers throughout the decades including DJ Kraft, Direct, Raine Supreme, Ran-Dee, Sleeping Monk, Jojo, Jimmy The Hand, Danny Chiefley, Banga and Kid Tsunami.
Tommy Rock is himself formerly of the local group Planet Crushers, a DJ, Vocoder guru and an affiliate of legendary Australian hip hop group Def Wish Cast. Hip hop in Australia owes a lot of gratitude to Tommy Rock himself and the broader Hardcore Classic team for their decades of work in radio and beyond. Hip hop in Australia would arguably not be the major musical force that it is today without them.
