Dan Rankin (aka Trials)

Dan Rankin is a Naranjeri man and a hip-hop artist who performs under the name of Trials.

Dan's from Adelaide originally, but his early years were spent in the rolling green hills of Wales, of all places, with his mum.

When Dan returned to Adelaide, he fell in with the city's raucous and dynamic hip-hop scene.

And the car crash that might have killed him instead enabled him to buy a set of turntables and a microphone.

And Dan started a group called Funk Oz, a group that is still loved and revered today.

Then Dan met Briggs, another Indigenous rapper, and the two men decided to go absolutely all out to make an album that would say everything they wanted to say.

And Dan figured that this would be their only record.

They would burn the house of their career down and end everything for them in the music industry, but that's not what happened.

Their album, Reclaim Australia, was a massive award-winning hit.

Dan, aka Trials, has become one of the country's most outstanding hip-hop producers and writers and rappers.

He's collaborated with Hilltop Hoods, Archie Roach, Paul Kelly and Thelma Plum.

Now he's just released his debut solo album called Hendel, which is something like an origin story.

Hello, Dan.

Welcome to you, sir.

Thank you so much for that introduction.

That made me feel like a fever dream in real time was happening, hearing about somebody else's life.

Oh, this is me, right?

That kind of feel.

Oh, yeah.

He sounds interesting.