Here’s the first video documenting what we’ve been up to here in New York. Empty ass apartment, fucked up stairwells, chicken and waffles, all that good stuff.

It’s a long way from home.

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Just to let you know it wasn’t all just partying and celeb spotting over in the States, below is a review of my showcase taken from the CMJ website. You can check the full write up over there.

Meanwhile, the act that followed was a bit of a stronger one. David Dallas, another Auckland, New Zealander (damn, they are edgy over there), boasted fantastic energy and stage presence, and had the crowd grooving in waves. If you came to the Red Bull Space for a full-fledged club vibe, David Dallas assured you that you were in the right place. His rhymes had a direct and impactful energy and assurance, with a sunnier, classic hip-hop energy. In terms of soulful delivery, this guy has got it. There is definitely a touch of early Kanye influence in there (pre-egomania and award swiping), so let’s hope Dallas keeps it that way. His was an impressive set.

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I ain’t even gonna get into the obligatory “sorry, I’ve been away” blog post cause you all know my reasons – rest assured, I’ve been workin.

I just got back from the U.S. this weekend, admittedly I did have internet access over there but I didn’t feel like writing some half-ass ramblings in the apartment when I coulda been out doin shit in Manhattan. Time was limited, and there was experiences to be had.

All in all it was a mental trip, which I could go on and on about but I’m just gonna go ahead and mention some of the random highlights.

• Whilst walking back from getting a slice of pizza at 4 a.m(hangover prevention measure) we bumped into Adrien Grenier (a.k.a Vincent Chase from Entourage) about a block up from our apartment. Admittedly he was trying to bounce out quick when he noticed fans approachin, but once he heard our accents he and his friends were intrigued as to what the fuck we were doin there. Jordache was yellin out “Aquaman” and Che was as excited as I’ve ever seen him. He proceeded to state how much he loves Entourage, hand him a copy of my album and tell him how it was the shit. Adrien then got his friend to film us talkin shit for some upcoming doco he’s doing – comedy.

• After my showcase in Williamsburg, we found out Just Blaze was spinnin at a club walking distance from our apartment. This shit was a no brainer so we rolled over with our friend Aroha. As you’d expect we got there and the place was rammed, bouncer wasn’t lettin noone in – let alone a party consisting of 4 dudes and a chick. Aroha wasn’t having it though, so she rolled up and had a word to him – once again the accent caused him to be a bit more lenient than he would have been. She followed this up by mentioning she worked for Serato and it was a done deal .. NZ in the building! Walking inside a club in N.Y to “Shook Ones” was one thing, but when we hit the bar and “Give Up The Goods” dropped I damn near lost my mind. To top this off, I swear the club looked like the “Quiet Storm” vid… red lights and all that. Fucken solid. Oh yeah, if you ever get the chance to see Just Blaze live, I’d suggest you attend.

• The night before we were leaving New York, I made a call and found out that our accom in L.A had fallen through. Me and my cousin had mixed the dates up and he would be in Vegas for the majority of our stay there. Could’ve been crisis time but Callum was in effect on Expedia and within 15 minutes we’d booked a hotel by L.A.X and a rental car. Flew out from N.Y the next morning, landed in L.A picked up one of them Chrysler P.T Cruisers(which Che would manage to crash later, LOL) from the rentals place and stopped off at the hotel. It was suprisingly rather plush. After a quick freshen up we were off to the infamous Do-Over party in Hollywood.  The Do-Over is a long running weekly party held over the Summer in L.A. It’s held on Sundays from 2 till 10 p.m(?!),  outdoor, AND it serves food. The guests are kept a mystery every week, and everyone from Peanut Butter Wolf to A-trak has spun at it. Just to give you an idea of how buzzy America is, we arrived and the first person we saw step out of the party was Fat Lip from the Pharcyde.  The party was rammed and it had such a good vibe to it. We ate vegetable lasagne, drunk beer and mimed M.O.P. – you can’t fuck with that. Shouts to Maya Jupiter, Aloe Blacc, Mibbs from Pac Div  and Jamie for looking after us. Legendary Detroit House DJ Theo Parrish had been spinnin earlier, and being that he was staying at the same hotel, he decided to catch a ride home with us. The 45 minute ride home was straight up entertainment. Theo is funny as fuck, stand up comedian status even. I only wish we could have recorded his views on L.A’s strippers and homeless people, shit was killin me. Oh yeah, even he was suprised when we told him  “Put Ya Hands Up For Detroit” gets mainstream radio play out here – haha.

Anyways, there are many more tales but I will digress for now. I’m sure I’ll recount some of my experiences in depth in the days to come. For now all I want to say is shouts to Che, Callum, Jordache, NZ On Air, NZMIC and everyone else who helped me get there or shared the experience with me. That was tight.

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I shall be heading off to New York next month primarily because I was invited to showcase at this years CMJ Music Marathon. It’s awesome to be able to get back to the U.S twice in the same year, but what makes it more significant to me personally is the fact that around this time last year (August 21st to be precise) I sent my boy Che an email entitled “The Goal”. All I wrote in the email was “Let’s try and get on these next year” and there was a link to the SXSW website and a link to the CMJ website. Just over a year later.. here we are.

I’ll elaborate more on the festival itself in the days ahead but I thought I’d just put this personal anecdote out there. As with most things, when I first decided I wanted to do this I was greeted with skepticism. Some of it justified, some of it not..  “those events aren’t for rappers”, “it costs too much and it’s too far”, “you don’t know anyone/have any connections over there”, “americans won’t understand you, you won’t get invited”, “it’ll be a waste of time” etc etc.  Hearing this sort of thing can of course weigh on your mind, and I’d be lying if I said doubt and subsequent feelings of apathy didn’t have the tendency to creep into my thoughts. However I had done my research prior and was dead sure that these were things I wanted to do so we persisted. Looking back on that email from 13 months ago now … I’m rather glad we did.

Much thanks to my team for hearing me out and helping me do the things I want to do, I appreciate it.

Catch me on these dates:

• Oct 20: New York – Red Bull Space
• Oct 21: New York – The Rose

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