Tirren Staaf

PEGZ

Artist. Producer. Music Executive. Melbourne born and bred. In the game since 1992 and nowhere near done.

The Story

From Spray Cans to Studios

Before he ever touched a microphone, Tirren Staaf was writing on walls. Growing up in Melbourne, he came through the city's graffiti scene, developing a visual language and a cultural sensibility that would shape every record he made and every artist he signed.

By 1992, that energy had found a new channel: hip hop. Pegz entered the Australian rap scene at a moment when it barely had a scene to enter. There were no blueprints, no major label infrastructure, no proven path. He and a handful of peers had to build the culture themselves, on their own terms, from the ground up.

Over the decades that followed, he earned a reputation as one of the most technically precise and uncompromising voices in the country. Not because of hype. Because of the work: three critically acclaimed solo albums, an independent label that changed the shape of Australian music, and a consistency that has never wavered.

His stage name is Pegz. His real name is Tirren Staaf. Both names carry the same weight.

Street art and graffiti that shaped the culture Pegz came from

Three decades. No major label. No compromise. Just work.

Discography

Solo Studio Albums

Three albums, each one a self-contained statement. Pegz writes, produces, and delivers with a level of craft that made his solo catalogue a benchmark for Australian hip hop.

2003

Capricorn Cat

Debut Solo Album

Pegz arrived fully formed. Capricorn Cat was a dense, self-produced debut that introduced the country to a new kind of lyrical precision: each bar measured, each beat deliberate, nothing wasted. Critics took notice immediately, and listeners who found it never forgot it.

More than twenty years later, it still holds up as a foundational text in the Australian hip hop canon. A record that proved you did not need a major label, a big budget, or a co-sign from overseas to make something that mattered.

2005

Axis

Second Solo Album

Two years after the debut, Pegz came back with more room and more ambition. Axis pushed into more complex production and sharper social commentary. The sounds broadened; the focus sharpened. It confirmed that the debut was no accident.

Where Capricorn Cat was an introduction, Axis was a declaration. The craft was undeniable by this point, and Obese Records, under his leadership, was growing into a genuine cultural force alongside it.

2007

Burn City

Third Solo Album

Named for the city that made him, Burn City is Pegz at his most visceral and most personal. Melbourne is the subject, the setting, and the audience all at once. The production is raw, the bars are unflinching, and the love for the city comes through even in its sharpest critiques.

It stands as the third point in a solo trilogy that holds together as a body of work: three albums across five years, each one building on the last, each one unmistakably its own thing.

Legacy

Obese Records

CEO, 2002 to 2016

In 2002, Pegz bought Obese Records and began building Australia's most important independent hip hop label. What followed was fourteen years of deliberate, patient, uncompromising work at the business end of a culture.

14 Years as CEO

2002 Acquisition Year

2016 Final Year

Running an independent label is not glamorous work. It is A&R decisions at two in the morning, distribution arguments, marketing on a shoestring, and the constant bet that the artists you believe in will find the audience they deserve. Pegz made those bets well.

Under his leadership, Obese Records signed and developed acts that went on to define the shape of Australian hip hop for a generation. Hilltop Hoods became one of the country's biggest live acts of any genre. Illy and Kerser both built massive, devoted followings entirely on their own terms. That roster does not happen by accident. It takes an ear, a vision, and the discipline to back artists when the numbers are not there yet.

When the Obese chapter closed in 2016, the label's place in Australian music history was already secure. Pegz had not just run a business. He had built infrastructure for a culture that had none.

Artists Launched Under Pegz's Leadership

Hilltop Hoods
Illy
Kerser

History

Thirty-Plus Years in the Game

1992
The Beginning
Pegz enters the Australian hip hop scene from the Melbourne graffiti world, developing the visual and cultural roots that will define his entire artistic voice.
2002
Takes the Helm at Obese Records
Pegz acquires Obese Records and begins building Australia's most important independent hip hop label from the inside out.
2003
Capricorn Cat
Debut solo album drops to critical acclaim. The record establishes Pegz as a formidable solo voice alongside his growing label work.
2005
Axis
Second album continues the upward trajectory. Production and lyricism both deepen. Obese Records' roster and reputation grow in parallel.
2007
Burn City
Third studio album. Melbourne as subject and setting. Pegz at his most direct and most personal.
2016
End of the Obese Era
After fourteen years steering one of the country's most significant independent labels, Pegz steps back from Obese Records. The imprint's legacy is already sealed.
Now
Still Active, Still Melbourne
Continuing to work as an artist, producer, and music executive. The catalogue grows. The influence remains.