Jun Tzu at the RetroBar

Jun Tzu is a rap artist who comes from Belfast but is currently living in Manchester.

He is also a very controversial and fearless lyricist, who is not afraid to tackle any subject. This includes politics and religion, and he is well known for his uncompromising delivery during freestyle sessions. His music is inspired from his own roots of growing up in Belfast and the “troubles” that the Irish people have faced throughout their history.

Jun produced his first mixtape, “Forbidden Knowledge,” with a ‘little help’ from Raw Fish Records - a City College record label. He sold over 2000 copies of his first and went onto release Manchester’s most controversial CD ever. “Exposure: The Documentary Mixtape”, which features his friend and fellow hip hop artist Chronicle.

Already rubbing shoulders with some of the industry’s big named talent, in 2007 Jun toured the country with MTV Base as part of the ‘I Luv Live’ tour.

He said: “It was inspiring to take my music on road and perform for different crowds. It gave me a buzz to see how much people liked my music and listened to what I had to say.”

While on tour, he met one of Britain’s most respected Hip Hop producers, Baby J, who partly produced Skinnyman’s album “Council Estate of Mind” and made the official remix of the Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson hit “Valerie”.

Baby J was so impressed by Jun that he put him on his new album, “Baby Food”, which gave Jun Tzu global exposure.

The gig begins at 9.30pm with support from Gerard I2 and Mr Mills.

Admission £4/£3 students.

Mean Mistreaters at Retro

THE Mean Mistreaters are a newly formed Mississippi Delta Blues Band hailing from Co Derry.

Featuring a combination of melodic Chicago-style harmonica from lead singer Shane Boylan; Mississippi Delta picking from Guitarist Shane McAteer; the rock-solid bass playing of bassist Tommy McAleer and drumming from Eunan McLaughlin with a jazz sensibility, The Mean Mistreaters provide a juke-joint style blues experience drawing influences from the entire spectrum of blues history.

You can see this fantastic new band at the Retro Bar in Portrush on Saturday, July 23rd.