Proclaimed to be the first show on the first day of FRINGE WORLD, 2 White Guys Rapping - Whose Rhyme is it Anyway? certainly did not disappoint.

I’m not going to lie, but the chants of ‘Rabbit’ and visions of Eminem in 8 Mile battling it out in an underground Detroit club in the early 2000s came to mind, so who wouldn’t be a little intrigued by this show? Held in the Basement of The Stables in the heart of Perth CBD, the energy of this opening show was warm and inviting, with upfront access to the two white guys themselves, Stian Macshane and Daniel Delby. Figuratively and literally, it was a thousand miles away from a seedy bunker in Detroit. Skip past the underbelly of the rap world and instead insert a friendly, light-hearted, engaging and very unique rap-come-Perth-flair style of comedy.

The show promised to be interactive, and indeed it was… everyone in the room contributed something. If speaking (one word) out loud in a crowd is not your thing, this show would be one way to overcome that fear! Feeling more like ‘sitting around your best friend’s backyard table drinking beers on a Saturday (Friday) night’ rather than ‘please don’t pick me’ when it came to interaction, Macshane and Delby smoothly navigated the crowd and managed to spitball the most challenging of words delivered from the audience into rhymes. It takes a certain kind of combined comedic, poetic and musical genius for the words ‘enzymes’, ‘digestion’ and ‘yeast’ to be instantly turned into a legible rap.

It is 100% worthwhile coming to watch Macshane and Delby deliver their freestyle rap artistry. Was it fun? Yes. Was I entertained? Absolutely. Did I cry with laughter, so hard that my belly hurt? No. The rapping might not be Yeezy and the comedy not quite Matt Rife, but the cleverness, quick wit, sharp tongues and chemistry between Macshane and Delby was outstanding and I definitely left wanting to try and bust out a few rhymes myself.