Interview with Dues Paid (New Zealand)

Interview with Dues Paid (New Zealand)

By Jaz for Cold Rock Da Spot




Ridge Jaggers and Leary



Po' Cus aka Young Prety



CRDS: Please tell readers about your past group history, I remember a great track from Hazardous Dukes years back, who was in that group and did you do an album or a lot of tracks together?

The dukes was ridge, po cus, sativa, chop suey, me and asian. we made quite a few tracks, some of them you can get on our website on the album by The Hazardous Dukes - Old Gold. Most of that shit was done around 2001-2003, its pretty damn old!

CRDS: You all hail from Dunedin in the South Island, could you please break down what the Hip Hop scene is like down there, what groups inspired you?

Leary: Dunedin is an out of it place. Theres' some good fellas like IMC and SAID doing their thing down there still these days. Shan (DJ) has always been a dope c--t. I gota say haha that MC Hambone and the Funky Feelings were pretty inspirational back in the day :P

Ridge: When we started Young Pretty had a Hip Hop band 'MC Hambone and the Funky Fellings' that started round 97 i think , I saw it quite a few gigs as I worked as security at the venue 'Fuel' that He usually played at , then he moved over the road from Me and i got to know him thru a reggae singer Blair that i was recording . Then met Leary from DJing I think him and his crew wanted to borrow my Battle records , then we ended up having a big DJ battle between our 2 crews 'The Eastablelists and Deckcowrecktors , it was huge. Leary was MCing with MC Sativa and Me, Young Prety aka Po Cus and MC Curio aka Chop-Sui started making tracks together.



CRDS: What would say are the main differences between South and North Island scenes?

Leary: I dunno if there's much of a difference, there's just more emcees up here I reckon. More DJs too just grinding hard for gigs. Wellington is dope.

Ridge: More people at gigs up north , bars are less hiphop orientated down here , but in saying that its a lot easier to get gigs in the south compared to up north, however it harder to get a crowed down here .. does that make sense ???

CRDS: Leary, what prompted your move to Wellington and how have you found the Welli scene?

Hmm I moved up here to finish uni, and been working here government styles since. I'm about to gap to japan for a year, and I'm pretty keen to check the scene out there.. it might be ambitious but id like to be able to free a bit in Japanese by the time i come back. there's some real good c--ts around here in Wellington, and I'll be a bit sad to leave. big ups to Loaded Welli and the GAG gang (I'm late for work as I write this)

CRDS: What happens with Ridge Jaggers beats, when you first started did you all sit down in a room together and choose which beats you wanted, or would you go home with a beats CD and practice
your verses that way?

Leary: Back in the day, we'd just go to Jags stood, chill, drink, smoke, decide which one of his latest beats we're feelin if we're all on somethin and then just do it. Other times Id just sit there with my book trying rhymes over everything till something really stuck. Jags makes some pretty different beats tho, a lot of the beats he makes I mite not feel for something I wana do, but Cus would be all over it. Jags knows what we want these days and just comes to us with f----n lovely beats. Ridge Jaggers is the f----n man. Believe it.

Ridge: usually beats where made or worked on during a day long drinking/party session and mc's would get together and write to the continuous loop of the chosen instrumental , but sometimes it would work the other way a MC would come with a writen track and we would find a beat that we felt worked with the lyrics. usually the best tracks happened fast , the longer they took the more they sucked.



CRDS: Ridge, what is your modus operandi for making beats? where do you find your samples, how did you learn how to produce and where did you learn to produce through a course or were you just self-taught?

Leary: don't give em' the secrets Jag

Ridge: when I was 14 my Dad got me a cracked version of acid pro , which was a sample based music software program and id record the radio into it and muck around with samples etc , after a while I got into scratching due to buying the Shiggar Fragger Show CD's(a dj turntablist show) and got a huge bank loan to buy a DJ set up , then got into digging hard at the local record stores , lurking round the 50c record bins looking 4 the most bizar records ect. then found out about the MPC and grabbed one , love that thing as it takes the visual aspect out of making music which is hard to get away from when using computers to compose on.

So usually I'll make a beat on the MPC and record it straight out of it into the computer , I'm not much of a audio engineer so the tracks are usually quite raw and un-mastered.

CRDS: Now that you all live away from each other and with you Leary re-locating to Japan for a bit, do you think Dues Paid will still continue?

Leary: Yeah, we're already all over the show, its nothing new really. Dues Paid is more like a label than our actual crew. It's our collective from Dunedin to Welly to Motueka to Christchurch Mens, and now to Yamagata, Japan. We're each artists in our own right, and I doubt we're stopping making music anytime soon...I'm taking my mics to japan, I can tell you that much (Leary is now based in Japan).
Ridge: Yes due to the large technological leaps in the last 10 years, its quite easy to send beats and verses to one and other also good recording gear is getting cheap as , Young Pretty could be up in a space station and email me a verse or hook.

CRDS: Leary and Po-Cus, how do you prepare for writing your verses or do you often just write lines down when in the studio?

I haven't written anything in ages to be honest. I recorded a track the other day about the 9-5 grind, but its stuff i wrote about a year ago. Mainly Ive just been free styling, and I've been loving it. Nothing like a sweet cipher, it's like that with instruments too, jamming is always the most fun. F--k a rehearsal.

CRDS: It's the age old question, but I always feel that it is an important one, who are you influences, who do you listen to mostly and who are your favourite kiwi artists?

Leary: this is just what I listen to, the guys'll listen to other ish

listen to:

atmosphere
brother ali <- dude is so dope
mac lethal
louis logic
gang starr
rjd2
clutchy hopkins
wu tang
nas
vadim
de la soul

I could go on forever...

kiwi artists:

home brew*
cancer
louie knuxx
tourettes
tommy ill
tyna
venemous mic technicians
lewztheryn

*home brew are f----n dope, their s--t is great just on a 'Hip-Hop' level, forget the 'New Zealand Hip Hop' level, if you know what I mean?. I think everyone would agree that cats are raising the bar. Toms a top bloke, always got something nice to say about my s--t too. Those fellas are good c---s and I hope they go large. Chea




CRDS: What don't you enjoy about Hip Hop today?

Leary: Just wack egos that are rarely justified.

Ridge: It just keeps getting madder and madder
CRDS: Can you please break down the history of the Dues Paid-A Few Reciepts From The Shoebox album and is there any unreleased material out there?

We've got heaps of stuff aye, so many Jags beats. and yea we've got crazy amounts of 'unreleased' material. The history of Dues Paid is pretty much the history of the Hazardous Dukes, same people, pretty much same crew, but we're all over the show now. Jag might have a good rundown of events. I don't think we've had a full Dues Paid gig with all of us since the Dukes, just like me and jags, or cus and jags, or me and Asian. I think there might have been some misinterpretation around the Dues Paid name. Prety came up with the concept, of the stamps like a PAID stamp. We just sat around and laughed about it and loved it, so we ran with it, dues paid baby unngh! dreams come true when you paid your dues haha

CRDS: Anything you would like to add?

Look out for Black Dave, and our man Sativa is back with us in a couple of months we hope, cats been rhyming heaps so who knows what he's got in store. I'll be trying to hook up with some cats in Japan too so who knows wot kinda collabs are gonna happen.

Downloads: Dues Paid-A few receipts from the shoebox



http://duespaid.bandcamp.com

Hazardous Dukes-Old Gold



http://duespaid.bandcamp.com/album/old-gold-hazardous-dukes

Ridge Jaggers and Leary-70 Bars Freestyle

http://www.mediafire.com/?u1899ebdcw48iva

I hope you enjoyed this interview, Cold Rock Da Spot has upcoming interviews with Lord Monsta (X-Clan's DJ), DJ Soul-Clap and Sidney Reynolds and more...stay tuned.

Exclusive interview with Tha Feelstyle

Kas Futialo aka Tha Feelstyle is a New Zealand/Samoan Hip Hop veteran in New Zealand, having been the first ever winner of the first MC battle in New Zealand, way back in 1987 it is not surprising that he has been involved with the culture since the early 80's and that he has been in more than a few groups ranging from early Wellington Hip Hop outfit Noise In Effect to Wellington's own Rough Opinion (with Kos from The Footsouljahs and DJ Rockit V) to The Overstayers from kua (with King Kapisi and DJ Raw (The Footsouljahs) and the Mt Vaea Band.

In eager anticipation of his upcoming new album, Firepower For The Peoples, the follow up album to the outstanding album, Break It To Pieces his first solo album released in 2004, which won 3 awards at the inaugural Pacific Music Awards in 2005,

• Best Hip Hop album
• Best Male Artist
• Best Song

* The music video for Tha Feelystyle's award winning single "Suamalie/Ain't Mad at You" was filmed in Samoa and directed by well know New Zealand video and filmmaker Chris Graham.



I picked Tha Feelstyle's brain on a few topics and this is the end result, I hope you enjoy all of the interesting information here and make sure to purchase his new album when it gets released and pick up Break It To Pieces as well.

Kas also released a Samoan language album only titled Lokokasi in 2008, on Samoan Hip Hop Sounds.






Talofa Kas, please give some background on yourself for some of the overseas readers that might not know about your past, where were you born?, when did you come to New Zealand and was is it a struggle for you and your and Family?

I was born in Samoa in the out backs of Sataoa where the hospital was like 5 hours away , so the old ladies of the village delivered me into this world and so the journey begins.
I grew up mainly in the city, Apia in a neighborhood called Lalovae'a , so i had a great balance between the overseas influence of music , tv and movies to the Kerosene lamps of the out back village where i was born.
In the 80's i was sent over to NZ for a better education as a child. But i really didnt want to come over , it took me a little while to get use to the idea of coming over and lived with my relatives.I was a street smart kid from the get go, i remember getting off the plane and waiting at the airport for 5hours for my uncle to pick me up.
I sat there and asked myself do something about it or face defeat , lucky my bags had an address written on it if was lost they can send it there.
I sat there practicing what ever English i could summon up , walked out to the taxi stand , scan for an island looking driver and asked him to take me to the address on my luggage. to make the story short , i got there , my uncle came out of the house and said ' I thought you were coming next week ' lol i was only 8years old at that time?

How well was Break It To Pieces received overseas, did you get good distribution for that album, would you say that the Break It To Pieces album is the one you are most proud of your new upcoming one?

The Break it to Pieces album ' received amazing feed back from overseas DJ and made their top 10 albums of the year etc.
I don't think it got a distribution push that i believe it should have deserve.
But i am proud of it and it did what it set out to archive and contribute to the growth of Aotearoa Hip Hop.


Who are some of the guests and producers on the new album, why has it been so long between releases?

The new album is completely different in weight compares to the last one.Im working with Juse from MTC on some songs , Victor Keil a talented Samoan Producer and another uso name Andrew . But I'm more active on shaping this album like a director, i co-produce everything.

Some of the guest artists on this album IVA LUMKUM , LADI6 and TEMPLE JONES , RIDDLEZ , ADEAZE , ADONIS , KELLE FINAU . .Between the first Break it to Pieces ' album i worked on 6 other island albums counting my Samoan album called LOKOKASI its my way of keeping Samoan Hip Hop music alive .

So its a natural progression that i am excited to release the follow up FEELSTYLE album , after all i am the best of both worlds lol

Who are your some of your greatest influences back in the days and of artists out today who do you admire and respect?


Back than music influence me any type of music , i was fixed.Especially when you come from the islands you only hear the songs on the radio we never used to see who sang them lol so music videos was like god.And i just love rap thats what it was , all sorts 7A3 , KING TEE , SCHOOLLY D , KRS ONE , JUST ICE ,GHETTO BOYS , POOR RIGHTEOUS TEACHERS , LOW PROFILE , PUBLIC ENEMY , AUDIO TWO etc
And today's artist i like MOS DEF, TALIB , LIL'WAYNE , KANYE, JAY Z only the complete artist

Did your old group The Mau aka Rough Opinion with Kos (Footsouljahs) ever record enough material for an album?, also please let us know what other groups you have been involved with over the years.

With Rough Opinion , we wrote a hell of a lot of songs , but manage to record one song for a Safe Sex program called LIPS lol the song was called 'DAM DEM FUNKY HORMONES '
The first group i put together was The Island Rappers or Ti Rappers. Than Righteous Indigenous Quest and i had the same Dj as Noise in Effect...that was Vini.
So i join Noise in Effect , soon it evolved into the Mau / Rough Opinion. As Gifted and Brown started i was like the extra member of the group but because Gerald made music i liked we started a group called Conscious Navigator and we did play for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers when they played at the SHOW BUILDING in Newtown.

The Overstayers from Kua was a concept group invented while at Danny Ds house with King Kaps at the time.
So it became me Dj Raw and King Kapisi.

Haha yes I remember that "Dam Dem Funky Hormones", I was in the video and was wearing a T-Shirt that had "Wednesday Night Jam" scrawled on it lol...okay, In your opinion Kas, what do you like and what do you dislike about New Zealand Hip Hop, are you happy with the current state of it?

I like the potential about NZ Hip Hop , im not really a hype type of person , meaning don't talk about how good you are show me how good you are.
A lot I see is that we lack creativity , our scene is like a poor duplication of what already exist overseas , but by saying that , if you want to be the next Drake or Mos Def make sure your better than them .

The new album title is great, what is the meaning behind "Firepower For The Peoples"?

Firepower for the Peoples ' is basically like a audio food an electric current to motivate you to own the moment that your in.

How would older fans go about getting your older tracks like "Walls of Steel (with Erhmen)" and "Hibiscus Milk" and "The Anthem"?

I apologize to those people that are in search of those tracks .I myself don't have a copy but consider those very important to where I'm standing at right now.

Anything you would like coldrockdaspot readers to know about you and your music?

If i can make or inspire someone to make a difference in there life than its all worth making music.
Its not about the fame or money , that shit is easy to gain.
A good album is a good album.

This has been great and really helpful so thanks a lot Kas and best of luck for the new album and your career.

My pleasure many thanks Jaz.

http://muzicheadz.com/articles/interview_-_tha_feelstyle

Special shout out to Martha at muzicheadz.com

R.I.P. Pauly Fuemana (OMC)

New Zealand musician Pauly Fuemana, frontman for the band OMC, died this morning at North Shore Hospital following a short period of illness, he was 40 years old.

His family was expected to issue a statement later today.

In 1995 OMC (Otara Millionaires Club) shot to fame with the single How Bizarre which reached number one in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and parts of Europe.

OMC moved between three and four million copies of their album, also titled How Bizarre, making it New Zealand's biggest-selling record.

The song "How Bizarre" is the biggest-selling New Zealand record of all time and went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Austria.

It also topped the United States airplay charts and peaked at number five in the United Kingdom.

The band broke up in 2000. They reformed in 2007 and released a single 4 All of Us, featuring actor Lucy Lawless.

R.I.P. Pauly, How Bizarre well always be remembered and so will you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMC_%28band%29

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Pauly+Fuemana