Cadbury Gorilla - Ballin' Outta Control?

Since his star turn as the emphatic drummer in the ubiquitous Cadbury chocolate advertisement this once reclusive and simple silverback gorilla has really hit the big time. The ad has earned him millions of dollars, thousands of youtube tributes and fans across the globe. He can even claim credit for bringing Phil Collins' classic "In The Air Tonight" back to the charts 25 years after its initial release! No mean feat.

But one wonders if all this sudden adoration and newfound wealth may corrupt the rhythmically gifted Ape. Rumors have begun to circulate about his frequent drug use, excessive alcohol consumption and reckless spending habits. The Hollywood party scene must be very enticing to one whose previous existence consisted of a lonely cage out the back of Western Springs Zoo and a daily diet of 2 dozen Bananas.

No one would blame him for wanting to taste the high life and enjoy the fruits of his success, but it is a dangerous world he has been thrust into. One where even the most evolved primates can struggle to navigate safely.

Lets just hope our friend doesn't get lost in the fantasy and become another sad casualty of the fame game. Your 15 minutes are almost up Mr. Gorilla... spend them wisely!

Headlines

A week has gone by and no posts?? Ah yes thats correct...
I have been away on tour and didnt have access to the net unfortunately. But yes, the tour was heaps of fun and there are tons of tour stories which each deserve their own post. But for fun I decided to hit you with the headlines and you can figure out the rest for yourself..haha! (Hopefully I will get a minute to expand upon the goings on at a later date...)

Methven: David Dallas has near death experience - New name is Jim Morrison.
Ashburton: Ashburton sucks - HA-DOO-KEN!
Wanaka: 3 guys + 2 Bunk Beds + No Soundman = Good Gig?!? How?...
Queenstown: Where did all the people go?? Kolab are good cunts.

good times were had by all. and a big thank you to everyone who made it out to see us, especially the 25 of you in Ashburton lol!
Much love to all the new fans we made and the old ones too!

For those who love the south island mountain scenery I have a little video to share in a minute too. Nice

Palestinian Not Many Remix - DAM

Here's the remix of Not Many by Palestine rappers DAM. This is a TV rip from the show Making Tracks on C4. Thanks to Sheena for the link.
It goes out of sync a little bit but still watchable. (whats up with a DVD or a Quicktime Nick?!!?)

Whakatane Wrap Up

Its 10:30am and I'm sitting in the car outside The Commercial Hotel in Whakatane waiting for PNC & David Dallas to get themselves together so we can hit the road back to Auckland.



Last night was our Whakatane gig and it was easily the best crowd of the tour so far. No dis to the other towns at all but the East Coast just turned it on for us in a big way. Crowd favourites for the night were "Who Betta Than This" (singing the words even) and Dave's Bone Thugs freestyle (ha!).



After the rap section was done I got on the decks and played my DJ set, as I do. I played a selection of my own hits (Keep On Callin, Stop The Music etc..) and then, just to test the waters, I dropped my new track that I just finished. I slipped it into the mix (pause) without any announcement and to my immense satisfaction the crowd reacted really well. People kept dancing!! If you know anything about New Zealand provincial towns and pubs you will be aware of how hard it can be to get them dancing to anything unfamiliar, let alone one of your own unreleased jams. Needless to say I was really stoked on the response and after the song ended I took the opportunity to inform the crowd that they had just been getting down to my latest and were now amongst the very first individuals to hear the track anywhere. The crowd applauded, awesome, ha!



The rest of the night was fun and games as usual. The boys drank the rider, mixed with the local fans and I dj'ed til close. Nice one Whakatane.



So, now its off to get some breakfast and head home.

Looking forward to the South Island dates next week. Methven, Ashburton, Wanaka & Queenstown here we come.

Whakatane Here We Go!

The 2 Rappers & A DJ Tour hits The Commercial Hotel in Whakatane tonight! (Saturday July 19th).
If you live in the area make sure you come along and have a good time with Me, PNC & David Dallas!

This show concludes our North Island Dates. South Island we'll be seeing you next week!!!

Blogger Frogger

Hey look! We are now syndicating my blog over on thewire.co.nz. Which means all The Wire visitors can read my same blogs that I post over here at Full Disclosure. So if you like you can have your choice of whichever place you like best to check in on me without missing out on anything. But I might still be cheeky and put special things up only in certain places, just to be a tricky guy. Ha. Choice.

Buhlud! Buhlud! Buhlud!

Funny baby...

I made this...and then found this. haha gutted.

Crack Up News Of The Day

[Sigh...] So, apparently the "Timbaland" show that was scheduled for Auckland "next week" has been "postponed". LMAO! Please do not hold your breath folks....

I hope it does go ahead, and I will be there if Timbo touches down on our soil, but I get the feeling we've seen it all before...

I know I'm not the only one who's (way-passed being) tired of big name hip-hop acts being promoted in NZ and then cancelled, or postponed, or "they didnt get on the plane" or "there were passport issues" or "whatever other bullshit excuse some half-assed promoter can come up with to excuse them from the fact they never had the shit confirmed/legitimately bankrolled/or organized properly in the first place".

A word to the promoters that continually pull this shit (or have it happen to them; lets be fair): STEP YOUR GAME UP!
This type of shit does nobody any favours. Whether these show cancellations are out of your control or not, you need to seriously consider the impact of this fuckery.
You have ruined consumer confidence in live hip-hop concerts in NZ.
You have repeatedly damaged the reputation of the genre and brought into question the professionalism of the hip-hop industry as a whole.
And what's worst of all is that in the public eye, the blame ALWAYS rests with the artist. When it is very rarely their fault!

These things are serious. Sort your shit out, or stop booking gigs that you can't pull off. Please, Im asking you, stop it.

Apparently Tim's on August 23rd now.
[Disclaimer: I am not aware of the particular parties involved with booking/promoting the Timbaland shows, I have no personal vendetta against any particular individual or organization. I am just a concerned and passionate supporter of Hip-Hop music in NZ and I want to see more successful international artists hitting our shores!]

Tour Dates! Ohakune & New Plymouth This Weekend

The 2 Rappers & a DJ Tour continues with myself, PNC & David Dallas this weekend. You can catch us at the following venues:
Friday July 11th / Powderhorn / Ohakune
Saturday July 12th / Brook Ale House / New Plymouth
Tickets/Door Sales available at the venues.

Its touring season at the moment, Aucklanders should check
Young Sid & Ethical at 420 this friday as they continue their Unkut Tour.
And Kolab fans can catch them at Backstage in Dunedin on friday as part of their national album release tour.

Tiki Hits Number One!!

Its official! Tiki has the number one single in the country with "Always On My Mind".
I will need to double check the stats but I believe this is the first local number one of the year and the first to achieve the top spot through digital sales alone.
Excellent!!

Engineering For Greatness

In my opinion a producer's most important tool is not his sampler or his workstation, or his source material, or even his playing ability. The most important link in the chain has to be the mix engineer.
Producer's are measured by the sound of their productions and a great mix engineer is the key to taking that recording and making it sound AMAZING.

Every great producer must work with the best engineers and many develop career long partnerships with key engineers who become an integral part of that producers sound. Check DJ Premier's work with engineer Eddie Sancho or Timbaland's enduring partnership with Jimmy Douglass for example. These pairings have resulted in some of the best sounding Hip-Hop records of all-time (straight up, Primo's sound has never been the same since D&D closed and Eddie's name stopped appearing in the liner notes).

I decided it's due time to shed light on the key men that have aided and assisted me in taking my productions to the next level.
This first installment puts the focus on a good friend of mine and mentor of sorts...

Chris Chetland


Chris Chetland is an academic, a borderline genius in some areas. He's by no means a 'hip-hop' dude but he is a student of life and sound which made for a perfect pairing with me for my first proper recordings. I wasn't sure what to make of him at first but quickly discovered that Chris' knowledge of computer music software (which I knew nothing of at the time!) and his eagerness to understand the nature of Hip-Hop production would be a blessing to my recordings and our working relationship. We have worked on a lot of music together and developed a great friendship over the years.

The first track we mixed together was the original "Sunshine feat. Scribe" back in 2001. I turned up at the studio armed with a bunch of hip-hop CD's with tracks that I wanted our song to sound like (a tip that Chris taught me which I still use to this day. Referencing is very important) and we set to work.
It was a simple track, very rudimentary, but we spent a long time mixing it across many different sessions until we had the sound that I wanted. Throughout this process and our many subsequent mixes together I learnt the language of audio engineering and began to understand (chris began to teach me!) the basic principles and processes of engineering; like compression and EQ etc.

Chris was also learning more and more about Hip-Hop production as I kept bringing in all my favourite albums as reference material and for him to tune his ears to.
Chris ended up recording, mixing and mastering my entire first album "Big Things" including the classic singles "Scribe 2001", "Synchronize Thoughts" & "Remember?".

These tracks really introduced my sound to the world and Chris was a major part of that. From there we got stuck into a little album called 'The Crusader' by my friend Scribe. Once again Chris was on the boards (or should I say holding the mouse?) and by that point I had learnt a little bit about mixing (under Chris' tutelage) and would often jump in and tweak EQ's, balance levels and so forth. The credits on that album read 'Mixed by Chris Chetland & P-Money' which became the case for a lot of my work from that point onwards (You cant keep me off the bloody buttons now man! haha).
That album resulted in some of the biggest rap records this country has ever produced ie; "Stand Up", "Not Many" etc.. and Chris can proudly claim credit for his contributions to that historic album.

All the mixes done with Chris Chetland at Kog studios were done inside Logic with some helpful outboard gear; Manley EQ's, Pultec and Neve channels.

After 2003 I decided to take my work to a studio with an analogue desk and see what I could do to add to my sound and learn more by working in a new studio with the big Neve desk at York St. This was with my man Steve "Stevie Neve" Roberts. More about him and those experiences in the next installment.

Chris Chetland continues to mix great records and has more recently been lending his considerable talents to the music of Chong Nee and Delani among others. Chris is the man. I salute you sir!

For more info on Chris and the great people at Kog Studio's visit their site here

Beached Whale

Beached as...

The Auckland Dance Scene In 1993

"It’s not the music that instantly hits, however, it’s the dress. Around the corner from Truetone Records is Blitz, South Auckland’s major street wear outlet. The clothes there aren’t cheap— But price doesn’t deter. Fans will do without, scrimp and save to buy the latest Starter jacket, Workshop or Levis jeans."

I just stumbled across this blog by Mysterex. It's a reprint of a 1993 article on the emerging South Auckland & Auckland City 'Dance Music' (now more commonly referred to as Hip-Hop) scene. This article just took me back in time.
I was 15 in 1993 and the music, clothing and culture of Hip-Hop/Rap/Dance music was all I cared about in the world.
If you lived in greater Auckland at that time or you have a fondness for NZ music/cultural history you will definitely enjoy reading THIS...

Scribe - Babygirl [Video]

The perfect video to help you escape on a rainy day like today...

Scribe - Babygirl
Directed by Oscar Kightley
Track produced by 10Aciouss
From the album "Rhymebook"
(c)Dirty Records 2008

ME VS APE

Haha!
courtesy of DJ Penfold

I'm So Amped!!

We just finished writing the verses to what will be my first single for this year and I am so fuckin excited/relieved/stoked about it!

Im not sure if I can explain all the internal struggles and challenges I've had while working to come up with that one track that would be the right one... the right track to lead off with and to re-introduce my sound... But now we've got it!
Still there are some extra bells and whistles (well not literally bells and whistles but you know..) that I want to add to the track, and then theres the mixdown to follow, but we have the bones of it completed. So high 5 for that!

Its been just under 4 years since I did the Magic City album (wow, thats ages) and the more that time goes by the more different phases of creativity I move through. My inspirations and tastes evolve through the years (as do most peoples) and as such the sounds I create tend to keep changing. The buzz I'm on at present is new, exciting and different from anything I've done before. I'm having so much fun with these tracks. Its an awesome feeling.

I reckon we'll take this one to mix next week...and then I'll get some artwork/video ideas together and get ready to drop it on you. Ahaa! and so it begins...