1.Growing Up
I grew up in Papakura, South Auckland, New Zealand. My home wasn’t very musical besides whatever was playing on the radio. I think TV was influential on me as a kid. I was fascinated with anything hip hop-related that came on television. Rap videos, breakdancing, graffiti art; I was obsessed with the culture from a really young age.
2.Inspirations
My favourites span across many decades and genres but hip hop from ’88-’94 was my biggest influence. Public Enemy was huge for me. The sound of their early albums just blew my mind, it still does. The way they created a wall of sound and brought you into their world is unmatched. Also DJ Premier, RZA, Pete Rock, T-Ray, Dilla, the whole D.I.T.C. crew – these are the producers that inspired me to make beats.
3.Your Crew
Most of my friends are the artists and industry people I’ve worked with throughout the years. I love all my crew, yet still at the heart of it I’m very much a loner type character. If it wasn’t for music I might not have any friends at all, ha! I love collaborating with different rappers and singers and also mentoring artists, helping develop their careers.
4.The Music You Make
I make hip hop and occasionally I make dance records too. My biggest records are the songs I made with Scribe, Akon and Vince Harder. My latest single is called ‘Baddest’ featuring Gappy Ranks. It’s a killer.
My DJ sets are a mix of hip hop and club styles. Lately I’ve been spinning a lot of new rap; A$AP Ferg, ScHoolboy Q, Young Thug, of course Drake, Yeezey, Kendrick and some DJ Mustard tracks. I mix them alongside beats by Mr. Carmack, HudMo, RL Grime, DJ Snake, Diplo/Major Lazer… that sort of thing.
5.Music, Right Here,
Right Now
It’s a very creative time in music. It’s the first time in history that (almost) anyone can access professional recording and production software and have the means to share it with the world. The entire process can be done from your laptop in your bedroom. So we have a lot of great, talented producers coming out that are young and giving their stuff away for free. On one hand, it’s great that you can do it yourself and reach a lot of people, but on the other hand we’re getting fooled into thinking that creativity no longer has any financial value and that your work must be freely distributed, and the public aren’t obliged to give anything back to the people making this music. That’s a false economy. Good music has value!
See P-Money at Marquee, Friday April 25.
