Hip Hop Don’t Stop 6 featuring Bobby D.

Event Details

This event took place at Lô 49, 8/13 Đường Số 49B, Thảo Điền, Quận 2, Ho Chi Minh City, from 9 PM on 18 February 2022 until 3 AM on 19 February 2022, with the original location retained for archive accuracy even though the venue has since closed. After a long interruption connected with the COVID-19 pandemic, Scientific Sound Asia brought Hip Hop Don’t Stop back for its sixth edition and a new chapter at Lô 49.

The event marked the return of a series that had previously moved between venues in District 1 and Thảo Điền. Old Skool beats, New Skool flavours and turntable-led Hip Hop remained at the centre, preserving the musical identity established across the earlier editions.

Lô 49 was a new venue in the heart of Thảo Điền at the time and gave the series another setting after its previous rooftop sessions at Sky 9 Bar. The move kept Hip Hop Don’t Stop connected with District 2 while introducing the event to a different room and audience.

Entry was priced at 50,000 VND, keeping the night relatively accessible while moving away from the free-entry model used at several earlier editions. The six-hour session ran from 9 PM until 3 AM and featured Bobby D alongside DJ Psycho-UK, also known as Bearhead.

As usual, Scientific Sound Asia placed Technics SL-1200 turntables at the centre of the DJ set-up. These decks became deeply associated with Hip Hop, scratching, beat mixing and club DJ culture, making them a natural choice for a series built around physical DJ technique and record selection.

The turntables also connected the sixth edition with the earlier history of Hip Hop rather than presenting the music only through contemporary digital equipment. Old School records and newer selections could therefore share the same format while maintaining the series’ emphasis on the DJ as an active part of the performance.

Bobby D brought a strong local connection to the line-up and had already been a regular presence at events around Saigon for several years. His sets reflected both his Vietnamese roots and the Hip Hop culture he encountered while growing up in France.

Raised in Paris by Vietnamese parents, Bobby D was exposed to Hip Hop from an early age. The French capital had developed a substantial rap, DJ and street-culture scene, giving him first-hand experience of a European interpretation of a culture that had begun in the United States.

That background gave his selections a different perspective from DJs whose musical development had taken place primarily in Britain or Vietnam. French Hip Hop culture, American influence and his Vietnamese family background all contributed to the musical identity he later brought into Saigon clubs.

By the time of Hip Hop Don’t Stop 6, Bobby D had built recognition through appearances at clubs and independent events around Ho Chi Minh City. His inclusion gave the returning series a selector already familiar to local audiences rather than relying entirely on an overseas guest.

His role also fitted the broader idea behind Hip Hop Don’t Stop, which was to place different periods and interpretations of Hip Hop alongside one another. Bobby D could draw on records shaped by his Paris upbringing while contributing to a night taking place within Vietnam’s own developing club culture.

DJ Psycho-UK, also known as Bearhead, brought the longer historical connection with Hip Hop and underground British music. He began DJing at the age of fourteen in East London using a pair of Soundlab DLP1 turntables and a four-track mixer.

Hip Hop was one of the first styles to shape his musical interests before House, Acid House, Hardcore, Jungle and Drum and Bass entered his collection. That progression gave him direct experience of several underground scenes as they developed through clubs, pirate radio, warehouse parties and independent events.

His early DJ years coincided with a period when Hip Hop culture was becoming increasingly visible in Britain while imported House records were beginning to reshape underground nightlife. Rather than abandoning one style for another, his record collection expanded across them and eventually connected several generations of UK dance music.

DJ Psycho-UK later became involved with London pirate radio stations including AXE FM and Fantasy FM. Those stations provided underground DJs with an outlet for music that received limited exposure through mainstream broadcasting and helped connect local scenes through regular transmissions.

He was also active around warehouse and squat-party networks associated with Outcry Syndicate, OTT and London Overground. These environments placed DJs, sound systems and independent organisation at the centre of nightlife and helped maintain underground culture outside conventional commercial venues.

Hip Hop nevertheless remained an important foundation even as his sets moved through rave, Jungle, Drum and Bass and House. The Hip Hop Don’t Stop series gave him a dedicated format where those original influences could come back to the foreground.

For the sixth edition, DJ Psycho-UK was entering his thirty-third year behind the decks. His selections were described as raw Hip Hop, drawing directly on decades of record collecting and a style of DJing originally developed long before digital software became standard.

The Bearhead identity also remained closely associated with this side of his musical background. At Hip Hop Don’t Stop, the focus was less on the House, Techno or Drum and Bass heard at other Scientific Sound Asia events and more on beats, breaks and rap records.

The contrast between Bobby D and DJ Psycho-UK gave the night a useful cross-generational and cross-cultural balance. Parisian Hip Hop experience met East London roots inside a Thảo Điền venue, creating a line-up shaped by different cities but united by the same musical foundation.

That diversity was one of the strengths of the returning edition because the series had never been designed as a single-era nostalgia night. Old Skool selections could sit beside New Skool production while different DJs interpreted Hip Hop according to their own histories.

The sixth edition also carried more weight because of the long pause that preceded it. COVID-related disruption had interrupted nightlife, travel and regular event schedules, leaving Hip Hop Don’t Stop absent for considerably longer than originally expected.

Returning in February 2022 therefore meant more than simply scheduling another numbered edition. It reconnected Scientific Sound Asia, the DJs and the audience with a recurring event concept that had last been active before the pandemic changed nightlife across the region.

The new venue reinforced that sense of a restart rather than a simple continuation. Lô 49 provided a fresh home for the series while keeping it in Thảo Điền, an area that had already hosted previous Hip Hop Don’t Stop events.

Scientific Sound Asia had continued developing its wider underground music activity through radio, artist representation and online programming during the disruption. Bringing the series back into a physical venue restored the social and dancefloor element that broadcasting alone could not replace.

The organisation’s broader programme has always extended beyond Hip Hop into House, Techno, Jungle, Drum and Bass and other areas of underground electronic music. Hip Hop Don’t Stop provided a dedicated space where rap and turntable culture could remain the main focus rather than one component of a mixed-genre event.

That history can now be followed through the current Scientific Sound Asia events, DJ agency, radio and music news sections. The recurring Hip Hop series sits alongside international bookings, radio programmes and other club concepts developed by the organisation in Vietnam.

Earlier editions had taken place at The Lab - Shots & More and Sky 9 Bar before the pandemic interruption. Moving into Lô 49 allowed the sixth event to begin another phase while keeping familiar elements such as Technics turntables, Old Skool records and New Skool selections intact.

The venue has since closed, making the address at 8/13 Đường Số 49B another part of Ho Chi Minh City’s changing nightlife history. Preserving the location, running time, entry price and artists helps maintain an accurate record of the scene’s return after one of its longest enforced interruptions.

Hip Hop Don’t Stop – 6th Edition therefore represented both a continuation and a restart. Bobby D brought Paris-influenced Hip Hop with Vietnamese roots, DJ Psycho-UK returned with raw selections in his thirty-third year behind the decks, and Scientific Sound Asia brought Technics-led Hip Hop back to Thảo Điền after the long COVID break.