ARTISTS
Meet the 2026 Lab Artists who successfully completed our inaugural 10 day songwriting and production lab in Goroka.
Artist: MXV aka Michael Vaki, 26, is a Hip Hop artist from Bouganville and Gembogl, Chimbu, based in Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands Province. His music is raw and unflinching, drawing from the realities of life around him — including the graphic realities of tribal warfare that continue to affect communities in Kainantu.
But Michael isn't simply reporting what he sees. There's a sharpness and insight to his writing, examining the people, tensions and circumstances that sit beneath the violence. His lyrics confronted even his mentor Arik, opening up conversations about realities that can be difficult to comprehend from outside PNG.
In many ways, Michael's writing sits in a lineage similar to gangster rap — music born from proximity to violence, conflict and survival, using Hip Hop to document a world that is often misunderstood from the outside. Rather than looking away or sanitising it, Michael puts the listener directly inside that reality.
Mentor: Arik Blum
Track: ‘War’
MXV
TINA KARA
Artist: Tina Kara, 21, from Yule Island/Kairuku, is a singer-songwriter and poet with a remarkable ability to move between worlds — equally at home writing within the traditions of PNG pop as she is crafting intimate contemporary songs that could sit alongside artists like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo.
Musik Blok marked Tina's first time away from home, and as the youngest of the group, watching her grow in confidence across the program was inspiring. Through her sessions with Ant, she explored themes of home, change and becoming — a fitting soundtrack to her own transformation over the ten days.
Mentor: Ant Enoch
Tracks: ‘Gave You Everything’ + ‘Holding On’
LAMOA OF TORA
Artist: Port Moresby-based Lamoa of Tora, 29, aka Oliver Bangkoma, is a rapper, singer-songwriter and illustrator with roots in Patti Potts Doi’s Manam Island and Kainantu. A true creative across disciplines, Oliver is eclectic in his approach to music, moving easily between styles, rap and melody while carving out his own take on Island Afro-Pop and R&B. Writing in both Tok Pisin and English, his songs can be direct and sultry one moment, introspective and unexpected the next.
Mentor: SETWUN
Tracks: ‘Saitim’ + ‘Not Basic’
ROZ
Artist: Roz, aka Roslyn Koisen, 46, is one half of Port Moresby duo Jay & Roz. No stranger to the music industry, the Milne Bay artist arrived at Musik Blok with more than a decade of experience — but still found new ground to break.
Roz is a true singer-songwriter whose songs are driven by guitar, melody and story. Across the lab, she pushed through her own creative glass ceiling, growing into an even more self-assured artist and learning to wield the full emotional force of her voice — painting with harmony, range and feeling.
With a deep love for old-school classics, her music carries echoes of artists like Tracy Chapman and The Cranberries: timeless, emotive and anchored by a voice that knows how to tell a story.
Mentor: Nai Palm + Cazeaux O.S.L.O.
Tracks: ‘Tattoo’ + ‘Another World’
BRENDAN LAHUI
Artist: Barakau boy Brendan Lahui, from Central Province, has music in his blood, with PNG music royalty Steve Lahui as his uncle. But Brendan is carving out a sound entirely his own — a natural reggae vocalist with a voice that’s unmistakably his.
Reminiscent of Fat Freddy’s Drop frontman Dallas Tamaira, Brendan’s voice carries an effortless warmth and soul that feels instantly familiar. His songs have an ease to them — rich with island rhythm, tenderness and a sense of nostalgia that can make a new song somehow feel like you’ve known it for years.
There’s no posturing with Brendan. What you hear is what you get — music made with an open heart that feels like coming home.
Mentor: Arik Blum
Tracks: ‘Keep This Up’
KAZIBUDA
Artist: Kazibuda, aka Buda Baby, is a 24-year-old Hip Hop artist from Milne Bay who puts his language and culture unapologetically front and centre. His relationship with Hip Hop goes back to watching Gym Class Heroes on the Australian music video show Rage — an early glimpse of where music could take him, and the beginning of a dream he’s been pursuing ever since.
Buda is a true showman. He carries the swagger of the streets of Port Moresby alongside a fierce pride in where he comes from, bringing contemporary Hip Hop into conversation with the language, humour and cultural inheritance of his ancestors.
There’s a fearlessness to the way Buda creates. He’s playful, charismatic and willing to follow an idea wherever it takes him — whether that means switching languages, bending genres or completely changing the energy in a room.
For Buda Baby, culture isn’t something to preserve behind glass. It’s alive, loud and ready to move.
Mentor: Nai Palm + Cazeaux O.S.L.O.
Tracks: ‘Salau’ + ‘Built Different’
MR. WHOO
Artist: Hip Hop artist Mr. Whoo arrived at Musik Blok with a bit of heat already behind him, turning heads with verses dropped on TikTok and Instagram. Known as Davincey Rodgers when he’s back home in Kokopo, the 23-year-old artist with roots in Misima Island, Milne Bay, has one of the most exciting flows emerging from Oceania.
Quiet and unassuming off mic, Whoo completely transforms when behind the mic — sharp, dexterous and commanding, with a natural instinct for rhythm and language. His work with Setwun during the Blok only confirmed that Whoo is not here to play around.
There’s a fire and precision to the way he raps that makes it feel like we’re watching the early stages of a distinctly PNG voice with serious potential.
Mentor: SETWUN
Tracks: ‘Aint the Same’ + ‘Right Here, Right Now’