By VIVIENNE WONG
alltherage@thestar.com.my

Raising The Bar is a passion project – which basically means all seven of them rarely make any money out of it. In fact, most of them have freelance careers and businesses outside the collective.

Name: Jin Hackman
Real name: Tang Eu-Jin
Everyone in the local hip hop scene knows Jin Hackman, and not only because of Raising The Bar. He’s widely recognised as one of the best freestyle rappers in the country. These days, he keeps himself busy talent-spotting for Raising The Bar. It doesn’t matter if you’re just a bedroom rapper – if you’ve got the goods, Hackman will give you the chance.

Name: Al Caponey
Real name: Adriana Saleh
She indirectly got involved because Hackman and her started dating around the same time Raising The Bar began. With a background in advertising as a senior copywriter, she is the brains behind the branding of Raising The Bar. She also handles anything business related.

The Raising The Bar crew: (from left) Dae, Al Caponey, Jin Hackman and Mash. Mr. Dan, Mastermind and Uno are not pictured here.

Name: Mr. Dan
Real name: Dan Shiv
He joined Raising The Bar because they needed another host. Now, the former creative director does a lot of emceeing at clubs. That aside, he does a bit of writing for other artistes, too. But we’ll get a taste of his music soon as he’s currently working on his second mixtape, following his first one, This is Mr. Dan The Mixtape, which was released two years ago.

Name: Mastermind
Real name: Desmond Raj
When the previous Raising The Bar DJ quit, Mastermind was recommended. But besides being the resident DJ for Raising The Bar, he is also the owner and instructor of Premier DJ Academy, as well as the founder of Tamil hip hop collective TRAP.

Name: Dae
Real name: Kim Dae Heon
At 20, Kim is the youngest member of the bunch. He is a Sound & Music diploma student at Limkokwing University by day, and a sound engineer at Raising The Bar by night. He was an intern for DJ Fuzz when he asked Hackman if he could get a slot at Raising The Bar.

Name: Mash
Real name: Mahesan Param
Freelance event emcee Mash is Raising The Bar’s all-rounder. He handles the more “physical” aspects of their events like stage management and logistics, and he has contacts for pretty much anything. Apparently, he also does a good job at taking care of the door whenever there’s a cover charge.

Name: Uno
Real name: Riduan Ibrahim
About a year ago, the team was looking for a photographer on social media to help shoot an event, and Uno volunteered. Now, he’s a permanent fixture in the team, but he is also part of AA Studios Production House, through which he is involved in some independent films. He also designs websites.