Here we have it!

Directed by Special Problems. Many thanks to Joel, Cam, Crichton and Che for all their work. Massive props also go out to Niko and Ngahuia for being superstars. Solid.

Song is available now from:

iTunes | Vodafone | Amplifier | Telecom

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Continuing on from where we left off:

D.Dallas says:
people always talk about PNC’s got a cool flow, so when you write raps – what comes first? Do you think of the lines/ words that rhyme, or do you mumble some gibberish and try to suss out how you gonna flow on the beat

slickVANxl says:
yeah i do the gibberish, and usually from that I get the kinda flow and certain words that are gonna sound cool. A lot of the time people say they like your flow, its more the structure of the rap

D.Dallas says:
elaborate

slickVANxl says:
haha

D.Dallas says:
like who’s got a good flow, as opposed to someone who structures raps good? I’d say Snoop in his prime had a nice ‘flow’, Em in his prime structured his raps awesome. Would you agree?

slickVANxl says:
yeah Snoop in his prime, and Slick Rick

D.Dallas says:
yeah, flow-ers

slickVANxl says:
yeah, its kinda effortless

D.Dallas says:
… kinda like me really ay

slickVANxl says:
haha.

then yeah someone like Eminem or Treach, they came with crazy structures

D.Dallas says:
haha Treach, the under-appreciated

slickVANxl says:
yeah hard, like “Feel Me Flow”

D.Dallas says:
yeah, that’s actually nuts ay. “You bout to feel the da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da……”

slickVANxl says:
busta and luda are flow-ers too aye

D.Dallas says:
yeah yeah for sure.

What’s more important delivery or lyrics?

slickVANxl says:
delivery, cause you could be saying the most important poetic shit ever, but if it sounds wack no one wants to hear it

D.Dallas says:
raps or beats?

slickVANxl says:
i guess beats, cause theres plenty of great albums with nice production and average raps but not vice versa

D.Dallas says:
zactly

slickVANxl says:
ha, production has made wack rappers successful and great rappers poor

D.Dallas says:
LOL, that would be the mean tag line if this was a magazine interview.

Do you think someone deserves to be considered great if they can’t pick good production tho? is that not a talent in itself ?

slickVANxl says:
yeah for sure, but I think you can still be a great MC technically, even if you never really picked good beats, like Royce The 5’9″ or something, but yeah in the grand scheme of things your not gonna make any GOAT lists at the end of the day if you havent made something with classic production

D.Dallas says:
tru that. Both your albums you’ve looked outside and brought some new dudes through on the production. are you out there lookin for some new dudes now for the next project?

slickVANxl says:
Im definitely keen to work with new producers. The main thing wit using new unheard of dudes, is they are still hungry, so they’re sending you shit constantly. So its really, I just look for producers who are going hard, and seem inspired

D.Dallas says:
one of the things with new dudes is bein able to recognise somethin that’s good when it’s mixed like shit, and sonically it might sound really lo fi

slickVANxl says:
yeah hard, i probably didnt use beats back in the day, cause they didnt sound good off the bat.

D.Dallas says:
i thought you recognised stuff like that well on your album tho. Cause there were demo beats that were used on Bazooka Kid that i was like ‘this sounds like shit’, which now sound mean as

slickVANxl says:
Once you start sitting in for mixes and shit, you can see how those beats can turn into something mean

D.Dallas says:
that’s PNC the producer coming out

slickVANxl says:
haha

No related posts.

This Saturday if you’re in the A.K. – that’s a line up very much in tune with my personal tastes. Perhaps yours too ?

Come on down.

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This is the first part of a discussion I had with Sam Hansen a.k.a PNC via MSN. I figured I’d break the convo up and give you guys the 2nd half tomorow, I’m all about reducing the need to scroll down. Featured on Something Awesome’s “In The Mood”, PNC should need no introduction. I’ve collaborated more frequently with him than any other artist in my career, we’ve rocked many tours/stages together, and apart from being a top notch rapper I also consider him a good friend. We had a good yarn and these were the results

D.Dallas says:
when did you write your verse for the song? was it last year?

slickVANxl says:
yeah

D.Dallas says:
i gave you the song with my 2 verses and the hook ay

slickVANxl says:
yeah i think so

D.Dallas says:
did you spend many hours labouring over it trying to defeat me on my own song?

slickVANxl says:
yes

D.Dallas says:
why would you do such a thing? i thought we were mates

slickVANxl says:
im a fake friend ©Jaz-O

D.Dallas says:
Haha. For collabos do you prefer gettin songs like that and jus havin to slot in your verse, or do you like gettin the beat and comin up with the whole thing from scratch

slickVANxl says:
ummm, it depends. its easier to just slot it in, cause all of the work is done for you far as a subject matter and the other dudes flow or whatever, but making the song together i think you probably come up with a more cohesive package

D.Dallas says:
yeah, but our songs cohesive ay… we’re just on that wavelength ay

slickVANxl says:
yeah cuzzy

D.Dallas says:
lol

D.Dallas says:
how far through writing your album(Bazooka Kid) were you when we did this song ?

slickVANxl says:
i think it was about half way, i think i’d done the first three singles, and had about 5 or 6 others half done

D.Dallas says:
we hadn’t done “V.S.O.P” tho ay?

slickVANxl says:
nah, we did that at the very end of my album recording. I gave you the demo, and then about 2 months later we recorded it

D.Dallas says:
heaps of people been mentionin how it’s “buzzy hearin PNC on this sorta beat again” when commentin on “In The Mood”. What you reckon your next stuff is gonna be like, you gonna rap on “those sorta beats” again

slickVANxl says:
I dont really know. The thing is, I never set out to rap over a certain type of beat, its just the moment when I first hear it that determines  whether or not I get the inspiration to do something to it. I think, being a third album, I’ll have more focus on what works and what doesnt though

D.Dallas says:
what you mean what works and what doesnt, as in what works with your voice or?

slickVANxl says:
I mean more overall a combination of what I think is gonna make the strongest records with my abilities and also what is gonna make sense to people and work, which is just sensibilities you learn the more music you do

Alot of artists I look up to have that same progression. Hov, Outkast etc

D.Dallas says:
hard, were you happy with how the song turned out?

slickVANxl says:
yeah its mean

D.Dallas says:
don’t you reckon Jay had it sussed on the first go, then experimented for a bit. Then at Blueprint had come full circle?

slickVANxl says:
It depends how you look at it. I think for the artist Jay-Z wanted to be, he sussed it on Hard Knock Life

D.Dallas says:
yeah i agree. cause he wanted that appeal

slickVANxl says:
yeah, he wasnt happy with just making the respected classic

D.Dallas says:
do you feel like Rookie Card is your Reasonable Doubt in that sense. Or were you already Hard Knock Life-ing it at that point?

slickVANxl says:
haha nah. Cause I dont think Rookie Card is like some next level shit I was one that I never could repeat ya know, I’d compare Rookie Card more to something like Southernplayalistic

Just a young cunt having fun, learning to make music, with some flashes of brilliance! haha like What You Expect bro

D.Dallas says:
Haha

- part 2 tomorow-

No related posts.

Nice little 9/10 review for Something Awesome on the TVNZ website. Check it out here.

If you haven’t picked it up yet, you probably should. I hear people in far off places are diggin it, and oh yeah THANK YOU to everyone that’s already picked it up. It debuted at #20 on the NZ album chart. Shot fullas!

Something Awesome: Available now

iTunes NZ | iTunes Oz | Vodafone | Amplifier | Digirama | Telecom

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Wow.

Something Awesome has spent its release day as the number one album on iTunes.

Thank YOU for making this happen.

Stoked as.

Something Awesome – Pick it up here!

iTunes | Vodafone | Amplifier | Digirama | Telecom

.. oh yeah, stay tuned over the next couple days. I’m thinking we’ll run a little competition which could be well worth your while.

No related posts.

I am extremely happy to announce that Something Awesome is now available.

You may now run down to your local store and pick up the cd like the young lass in the photo above, or hit up your preferred digital spot to do’z it up.

For right now I’d like to say a big thank you to all you guys for frequenting this site and supporting me over the last 2 years. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s been a great help knowing that there was actually people out there who were still keen to hear what I have to offer. I appreciate it to the utmost – hope you’s dig it.

Something Awesome – Get it here!

iTunes | Vodafone | Amplifier | Digirama | Telecom

p.s As of right now Something Awesome is #1 album on iTunes hip hop chart, and #4 overall. Thanks to everyone who’s already grabbed it!

No related posts.

Something Awesome drops in exactly 7 days.

If you needed some further proof you should pick this album up, Real Groove has come to the rescue with a nice write up and free download of the track “Slow Down”. It’ll only be up for the next week so get in there fast.

Some of you may remember me writing this piece about a year ago. The verse I spoke of there is the 2nd verse of this song.  Check it out.

Free Download:  “Slow Down” produced by Fire & Ice

also

Something Awesome is available for pre-order now on Amplifier (this is good for the dudes in Oz who don’t wanna wait a month or 2 to get their hands on the CD)

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