Welcome to DERT 2009

To celebrate 100 years of rapper in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Newcastle Kingsmen and Sallyport Sword Dancers invite the rapper community to return in 2009 to the home of the tradition.

This is a special opportunity to perform rapper where it truly belongs – on the wooden floors of Tyneside pubs, in front of a knowing audience. Never does rapper get more real or become more challenging!

The year 2009 is also an important anniversary for competitive rapper itself, as first formal rapper competitions at the North of England Musical Tournament began in 1919. The first of these competitions allowed Tyneside communities, shattered by the effect of the Great War, to stand proud and celebrate their very own tradition. As the same mining communities defied the depression and industrial strife of the 1920s in these competitions, rapper evolved into the spectacle we know and love today.

Take this chance to follow in the footsteps of Winlaton, Westerhope, Earsdon and High Spen by competing in traditional pubs in the ever more rapidly changing city of Newcastle upon Tyne!