Bring out gold disc number 8

Yes i know....it's been a week since i lasted blog my bad.....but hey i've returned with some pretty dan neat alrite kind of news......firstly chur chur we got our 8th gold record with Mr mista this week. Pretty awesome feeling when your music gets embraced and reaches those milestones that aren't important until you hit them and then you kind of take notice of them.

It's kind of bitter sweet and this is what i love about blog world cyber space from your screen to mine...... i can be real. Our track going gold hitting top 3 was dope, we were number one most played on urban radio for 5 weeks straight i think that's even challenging nesian 101 but i guess the hard part is despite all that great news we were unable to get the support of the mainstream stations....basically the ones which target audience are almost the opposite demographic to our group :). All i'm say is mainstream radio held back the gates on this one and i can only imagine what we could have achieved if we'd got the support. Lol don't think we're not going to have another charge at the gate though.

I also need to send a massive shout out to the features on the track....che..pele...kimbra, this is the first time we've ever released a single thats featured people.....ok bar if it's cool.

We had mad fun playing massey university albany to a packed audience along side 2 top blokes sirvere and P money. Fun times were had by all around and it was actuallys moneys b'day to tip of the hat to the veteran lol, thats hustle working on your b'day.

My other awesome news is we have been nominated for the Australian MTV awards. You can vote on the mtv website http://www.mtv.com.au cheers. Lastly but definitley not less massive props out to the MTC fam for hitting that ever elusive number one spot. Savage's new album dropped this week congrats to my bro he hit 8 this week brother deserves all the praise for his hard work and props to Dawnraid fam. Is it me or is time for a aotearoa hip hop renassiance on the charts :P

Back in the booth

It's official we had our first recordings for the new album today, we're hitting it over the weekend. Plenty of laughs, agruments of whats working and stuff ups. Nothing ever comes out the way you think when there's 5 dudes behind the boards direct the plays when your on the mic.

Junz just got back from oz so the 6 nesians are officially in the building. We're actually off to oz next month so keep your eyes locked...melbourne...and possibly brizzy and cairns.

This albums a strange one as it's really random songs, i think we just might have the track of summer come xmas this year.....u heard it here 1st almost 10 months out from it getting released. Good news today we got video grant for RSVP the last single off Elevator musiq so make sure you start getting ready people coz this is definitly something we're looking forward to hooking you up with. For alot of the boys it's their favourite track off the album....don't forget our boy PNC is preparing to release his album and is featured on our next single...funny that (good hustle).

If only you could see our studio antics it's straight kindagarden steez, yet somehow we still manage to get stuff done....don't know how but we do. We're on to our 4th album so the process tends to just flow by....but were really just trying to get what comes easiest out and then begin to really challenge ourselves to dig deep and try come out with something we haven't done before. This album has no limits and goes everywhere from new york hip hop to pacific reggae blah blah blah just wait til you hear i guess lol. hours locked in the studio with these eggs can be hell but thats the very nesian factor which i guess makes us come up with stuff nobody else can be bothered trying.....crazy....crazy...zaney. This post is the fruit of too much time in the studio.

Chur S out

Smash proof sit on verge of hitting top spot

Smash proof sit on verge of hitting top spot and with it i think we maybe seeing the dawn of the next generation of Aotearoa hip hop. Do i don't mean to sound ancient but me and the boys have been going at it for almost 10 years now releasing music and personally i've been waiting for the next batch to pop through....how wise and reasonable of me i'm sure your thinking...lol

I don't mean to sound like i told you so but if you look back at the last smashproof article i did point out they were blowing up and that the track had alot of room to move up. It would take something like Souljah boy or Eminem to hold them out considering radio's not even fully all over them yet. The fact that their initial tracks didn't blow to this extent 3 years ago but they kept working at is dope and i don't mean to sound like i'm jumping on the band wagon but hey i can't remember seeing a relatively young crew come through and get this high in charts rapping since.....hmmmm.....haha isn't it amazing how i can take a congradulatory talk about another group and still bring it back to Nesian.....nah seriously cool that Hip Hop is flying the flag.

On a side note any body watch the new money vid: Seriously he got the whole disturbing thing going on. I wasn't blown away by the acting but it's a trippy vid which would have marketing and promotion agencies licking their lips with delight. I'm a own the beats not my cup of tea but hey i'm looking forward to seeing how industry embrace this one.

Oh yeah other side note.....me and the boys started on the new album in the weekend down in T-town and had such fun writing tracks. We got 7 tracks done which all had their own flava.

Chur chur

S out

When do you know you've made it?

Howzit peeps

I found out a little bit of info which brough a smile to dial today which highlighted an interesting question, when as an artist do you know you've made it? We get smiliar questions thrown at us all the time like, how does it feel now you've made it? The question still puzzles me today like what have we really made? Music....memories.....sales milestones....awards, what really defines making it? If i was bluntly honest i don't think we've made it becuase i havn't arrived at my final destination i'm seeking. In fact i would go as far as saying once you've made it you no longer have passion to pursue it because it's finished. So in some strange way i hope i never "make it" because if i do i won't have anything left to achieve.

Don't get me wrong i can still remember the first time i saw our debut single nesian style on the charts. I got the biggest thrill of my life because i never thought stuff like that could ever happen for this bedroom m.c growing up in grey lynn attending a school that didn't even have a music class. Going from a dude that use to hijack shows and hustle just to get heard to being asked to perform was a big deal and yeah i felt kind of appreciated which was dope. I remember alot of people use to give me a hard time because doing music wasn't seen as cool at school it was try hard american etc and those same people i met later would go out of there way to come and talk to me.....seeing how people change at times depending on how they percieve you is trippy.

I also remember getting my first gold record, then platnium etc etc all that was exciting and the overseas touring was such a big thrill as well. But never at any point did i feel like i'd done all i came to do, it's like at every achievement i turn a new corner and see a new race i've got to win.

"Made it" is such a general kind of a statement and in this country made it normally is also followed by a large serving of "made it hate" which takes a bit of getting use to.

Any who....getting to what made me think about the issue, before i explain i don't mean to build you up with anticipation because it really ain't anything huge but....awa forwarded me an email from one of his mates talking about when you know you've made it and attached was a break down on a horse from southland which won four races straight (easily apparently) over a distance of 2400 metres and low in behold it was named after us "Nesian Mystic" and yes it was mispelled with a c instead of a K not the first or last time that's happened. It just cracks me up that somewhere in the world a creature was born and some person had the kahuna's or the humour to name it after us. Ok that was quite a build up to a rather nothing kind of a story but just in case you don't believe me click on link http://www.southlandharness.co.nz/

Is it happy or merry Waitangi or straight chur a holiday....any way were performing on channel one tomorrow for their waitangi special performing nesian 101 and then we're beginning the writing process for the fourth album down in Taurunga. We roll Taurunga for writing retreats, also late hours and phat tunes. The place where were wearing our old skol koro hat's in Mr mista is actually where we write the tunes.

Chur S out

Nesians ripping it up #9 ghost writing in Japan itunes

Howdi

Dam 3 updates in one day, i bet your counting your lucky stars or maybe you just know its going to be a couple of days until i update....not even eoowww. 

We remixed a track and wrote verses for an artist in Japan called miss Monday. Our track was released as the B side to her single yet somehow has begun charting on Japanese itunes. The A side of her cd features some of the biggest artists in Japan so we knew it would get a bit of attention but for our track to chart is darn marvelous. We done it over a year ago and kind of forgot about it, it was soon after our japanese tour when we were flooded by request to write tracks and beats for a lot of the Japanese artists. 

So shout out to "miss monday" doing her thing and ultimately getting us some good chart positioning and publishing. Oh chur chur

S out

welcome Smash proof to the top 10 fam

Shout outs to the smash proof crew who just today joined a small crew of nz hip hop top 10's. 

Not since the days of Scribe, Che-fu, Savage, Fast crew, Dei Hamo, Aradhna & Adeaze when top 10's for hip hop releases seemed a weekly occurrence have we seen such a healthy top 10 list. In the last year i can give off 7 Aotearoa hip hop top 10 singles:

*Devolo "To shy"

*Horsemen family "Feels like magic"

*Nesian "Nesian 101, Dance floor, Mr mista"

*Scribe "My sh**"

*P-money "everything"

Special mention must go out for J williams who i think was just outside the top 10 but hey i maybe wrong and that would make 8. Then add Smash Proof with "Brothers" and a high debut entry at 29 this week for Savage and i'm a say we back (at least for understanding the chart game). It took us a while to get this digital game down but Aotearoa hip hop is now most definitley in the building. In fact we Nesians learnt this lesson the hard way with our 2nd album singles not being available at all digitally and "Robin hood heroes" which i put as one of our biggest singles ever not to have an opportunity to be sold. Fortunately shout out to our label "Bounce records" which heard us out and eventually put our first single on digital format Nesian 101 which gave us our first number one single.  

But enough about Nesian this is a welcome to the club party for Smash Proof and all the hard work their've put in keeping in mind their album comes out in March. The run is far from over considering they ain't even close to reaching peak in their urban play spins and only just starting to edge in to vodafone sales despite killing it on itunes. I remember a time i would have been competative as hell that someone else was coming up when everyone was popping off, maybe its age but i'm actually really excited when new Aotearoa hip hop tracks come through now. I guess i appreciate hustle and all the work behind the scenes as well as getting over all the anti hip hop sentiments which played apart in the recession of hip hop releases. 

Ok i'm a shout up and stop analyzing things and just celebrate....

FYI.....were number 3 again 

P.S- Yes my pics are random but in a way thats exactly the continuity i'm looking for :)

S out 

Money or the bag

Top of the afternoon to ya

Once again me and the nesian broz are on the hustle sorting out the paper pushing part all musicians fall asleep on. Next to creating music, paper work is right up there for being daily rituals which make the difference between this being a fun hobby and this being a forfilling career. 

I don't think anybody really likes counting pennys especially when theres so few to count and filling out mountains of forms with no certainty of hitting the funding jackpot but after a chance meeting with a oversea's artist i was set straight. 

Head in any direction off these beautiful shores as a musician for a new start and you'll soon learn the sobering reality that we here in NZ are fortunate. Yes for all the obvious reasons you hear quoted by every 2 bid artist trying to kiss butt and hopeful sell a few more CD's and maybe some merch but i'm talking about funding. 

So many are quick to bag the funding powers at be for small budgets, picking crap music and being seen as looking to pat their own back to protect themselves. Lets face it there is some shocking picks with regards to music funding but after speaking with artist from the states, Japan even Australia they are amazed at the amount of funding made available for musicians hear and i'm not just talking about nz on air. 

We Nesian have been extremely fortunate to have the support of  NZ on air since day one and with out agencies like them we would not have been able to get our music out of the garage let alone get it on the radio and then get to the point of having our own recording gear etc. 

When i see talented artist still talking about not having the funds to release their music it really frustrates me, make no mistakes about it if your driven and use a bit of initiative and common sense with your application then you should be able to get your music A) recorded and B) have a music video. We need to spot providing excuses and start providing options with a game play people. Ok i'm going to get down from my high horse now.....

To be honest i hate filling out applications but then again do i hate receiving money to pursue my dreams. We are fortunate despite what ever we may think. 

Peace

S out