0:00

This. Is. The

0:02

morning shift. So.

0:06

I thought I had van and wanted say that.

0:09

Are that a shift? Nation Shift? Is it

0:11

is. it is. Honestly, it's such a good

0:13

day for us today. We

0:16

don't do a lot of interviews with because

0:18

we want to but we just kind of.

0:20

We struggled to kind of t them up.

0:22

So when they do happen and it is

0:24

something that we actually people we want to

0:26

talk to it's just it's an amazing they

0:28

august today none other than sweat it How

0:30

much like about Keepers wouldn't we have spiked

0:32

and I'm on a studio right now though.

0:34

Sauce? what in a modern out and. Co.

0:37

I'm. Going to lie there road of do that I'll

0:39

never heard of how valuable and even trying to you

0:41

are going to try to you can I not.

0:45

Now I was as is as. Great.

0:47

To have you guys in here this morning? Obviously this.

0:49

there's a whole bunch going on with this month for

0:52

music. but how you boys outside even as a whole

0:54

bus when you talk about actually actually. For. Everybody

0:56

doesn't know I'm I'm going with assume knowledge because obviously

0:58

Jordan I marked. We're big fans of you guys! have

1:00

been for a long time but. For

1:03

anybody doesn't know about you what we're what he does know best

1:05

what to tell us a little bit of myself. Well.

1:08

As guys are walking home while

1:10

Griffey her now we just some

1:12

On to some kids roma only

1:14

hello so young other ones who.

1:17

They they are. a day or day

1:19

is an hour and damn. Ear

1:23

just. We've. Pretty much

1:25

just grew up on the kind of same block and

1:27

the sick. The street to street, an office, three. Year

1:31

just always had a passion for music. The

1:33

sky older brother was in a group called

1:36

Aureus Muslims Don't right back into Days so

1:38

he kind of had exposure to like a

1:40

new. The. The cones. All of that

1:42

at his crib. On. Historical.

1:45

Put on so the game in terms of how to make

1:47

beats, how to wrap and that kind of stuff and will

1:49

just little follows like. In. It was doing

1:51

regular. they get lots I could sit playing sports and

1:54

or that. The. Scars making beats and.

1:57

I. guess hanging over me know sort of rubbed off

1:59

on us pause And then we just

2:01

started popping off. Crazy. I

2:04

know it's hard to start with,

2:06

like, hey, boys, who are you

2:08

guys? So definitely what they're saying,

2:10

and I guess if you're

2:12

listening to this, your international audience, or you're

2:14

not quite aware of music down here, these

2:17

guys, I would say, our

2:19

generations, mind

2:21

me personally, I think they're our best rappers.

2:23

They're our best artists from our gen. And

2:26

it's just such a privilege to have you guys in the studio. A lot

2:28

of people don't know, but I remember

2:30

you guys. We went to the

2:32

same school. We were in the same year. Max.

2:34

Max. And, like, I always tell people...

2:36

Yeah, they're the same school? They didn't know. Yeah.

2:39

Yeah? Yes, my guy.

2:41

He bounced, though. He touched us. What

2:44

was Jordan like at school? Like, let's start there. No,

2:46

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we'll

2:48

be out. It was funny. It was

2:50

funny. Oh, yeah. It was funny. Class

2:53

class. We're in the same mass class.

2:55

I feel like Jordan, you know, he always

2:57

had that, like, main character syndrome. Oh, yeah. Jordan!

3:01

He was always different, you know, different for great

3:03

things. And here we are.

3:06

Oh, my gosh. You know why I

3:08

struggled that? Because, like, I definitely feel

3:10

like... And this is what I'll

3:12

put back on you guys. I definitely felt like in my formative years, like,

3:15

I was trying to figure it out. You know what I mean? I was

3:17

trying to figure it out, like, who am I? What

3:19

am I? What am I into? But I

3:21

tell people when I say that, because

3:24

they don't actually ask, I like to tell them. Like,

3:26

you guys, I felt like there was already

3:28

a sense of, like, the essence of, like,

3:31

even what you are now and was

3:33

there from so young. Like,

3:35

you guys were so cool without trying to

3:37

be cool. I never really felt like

3:40

it was like, you can't sit with us. It was just

3:42

more like, this is

3:44

us. You know what I mean? Like, I

3:46

remember even, like, the other, you

3:48

know, I remember Grayson and Cody.

3:51

Different dudes, but, like, they were, like, the

3:54

first to have the little MP3. I

3:56

believe it. Bluetooth ones that only fitted,

3:58

like, 26 songs. From Countdown

4:01

You Goodbye and I always felt like they

4:03

were just you were already into music

4:05

you were already well thought

4:07

out like I felt like you understood culture and

4:09

maybe it was like the influences from You know

4:12

music, Aemon like you having the consonate around like

4:14

what was that like kind of being emerged and

4:17

Iconic rap and music artists

4:19

from New Zealand from a young age like what did

4:21

it kind of teach you? I

4:23

think I mean that taught me that

4:27

There was something It

4:29

was almost like a message. I guess it was like the universe

4:31

saying or this is you You right

4:33

here like right in the next next room And

4:36

up next to my bedroom so they're all

4:38

making music in there like my brothers and like you

4:41

know RES and some other artists like

4:43

the econs and stuff like that there would have been in the room next

4:45

to me and Then I'll

4:48

be in my room like man. What's going

4:50

on in there? Like sounds like

4:52

a party like It

4:55

sounds like you know like Some something's

4:57

happening in there and then when they would

4:59

leave I'll sneak in there and then I'll

5:01

see like turntables and like beat machines And

5:03

or just endless endless endless of like refill

5:05

paper with like Versus

5:08

written on crossed out, you know screwed up. Would

5:10

you read? Yeah, I could I couldn't read most

5:12

of it Cuz you know the hand style and

5:14

the tagging kind of yeah, right now. It's just

5:16

a kid like It was

5:18

all like in code like almost, you know, and I had to figure

5:20

it out myself and

5:23

then and Then I think

5:26

one day I was just like man I want to give this a

5:28

go when I like try write something and

5:31

I thought it was cool I thought it was so cool like rhyming

5:34

words, you know and then I

5:37

felt like I was more curious about it and

5:39

I just wanted to keep learning and learning and then that's

5:41

how I figured out man, this is my passion and Yeah,

5:45

and then So

5:47

I took it with me everywhere everywhere went and

5:50

went to school met this dude But I took

5:52

my beats. I had took my beats and I

5:54

was playing them in the library and this dude came

5:56

up He

5:58

came up and he was like I think he

6:00

was doing a school talent. Maybe you were going to do

6:02

a rap in front of the... That's

6:04

my character vibe. Can

6:08

you make me a beat? Like 50 Cent.

6:10

And I was like, oh yeah, I'll try. And then, yeah, after

6:13

that, this dude just kept coming over

6:15

and we used the vibe out and my room

6:17

paused. And the thought

6:19

comes... See, I'm not going to

6:22

lie, I remember before me and him linked

6:24

up, paused. I

6:27

used to walk past his crib because I was on the

6:30

way to the Derry. And there was times I walked past

6:32

him like, Maraca and shit is outside, like, you know, just

6:34

having a... And like at

6:36

that time, Thorn Raid was like... He was up there.

6:38

...pinnacle. And I turned, oh fuck,

6:40

that's Maraca and all. You know, he lives there and

6:43

I'll see this guy on a

6:45

step with his brothers and that. And it

6:47

was crazy when we just crossed paths and that.

6:49

And then, sort of being exposed

6:51

to that myself, in terms of music.

6:54

Do you guys know like the NPC? Yeah. Like

6:56

that old like beat pad thing? Yeah. I used

6:59

to have it at his house and stuff

7:01

like that. And I'd be like, what's that,

7:03

bro? You know, back in those days? Because

7:05

you got to kind of think like, you

7:07

know, Thorn Raid, Nijamistic, Scribe and

7:09

that. They were kind of like... Like, I know there's

7:11

OG's before them, but for me, that's

7:13

when I really was like, damn, we

7:16

got talent here. Like, you know what I mean? I'm

7:18

listening. I'm into this music. It

7:21

was like, there wasn't really like a blueprint or

7:23

a pathway for me. I felt like

7:25

in the music space until they came out. Because

7:28

growing up, it's like, you want to be all black.

7:30

You want to play for the Warriors. You

7:32

want to play for the Kiwis and that. It's like, we've already

7:34

seen people in our community. They've

7:38

already taken their path. And it's

7:40

kind of like, there's a blueprint there. Oh, yeah, that's what I got

7:42

to do. So following

7:44

those footsteps before music, there was nothing. So

7:47

it was kind of like, this guy had a little bit of insight

7:50

into a path there. And then, so just

7:52

like us being, you know, homies

7:54

off home, we got exposed to that too. And

7:56

it was like, all right, that's how we got to

7:59

sort of navigate. I think

8:01

that's what I appreciate about your

8:03

guys music so much and I'm not even saying you

8:05

were trying to Necessarily continue that on

8:07

but I think in a natural way you did because

8:10

you know when we talk about scribe Decepticons,

8:13

Dezia, Mr. Homebrew, D. Dot

8:15

like Those

8:17

are my some of my favorite years of music But

8:19

what I love is that they were able to interpret lingo

8:22

and language that we understood and

8:25

they had it popping there though it was vibrant

8:27

in the pocket and you and I feel like

8:29

you guys product your

8:31

production level content bars You've

8:34

been able to tell our story in a cool way

8:36

too and have us vibing or something Was that something

8:39

you always wanted to kind of continue on or

8:41

did it just feel like a natural progression for you? I

8:44

felt like that wasn't yeah, it wasn't like

8:46

premeditated or nothing was kind of just like

8:50

You know to be honest like as you know young

8:52

young males, you know, we don't know how to

8:54

express ourselves we never been taught

8:56

that it was a role model to us and I

8:59

found I felt like for me And

9:02

writing raps was real therapeutic like it's not therapy

9:04

obviously, you know, that's different But it was therapeutic

9:06

for me in terms of expressing myself in a

9:09

way that I couldn't do it to someone else.

9:11

Mmm and Yeah,

9:13

just naturally I guess some social

9:15

commentary I feel like that's You

9:17

know kind of our thing just touching

9:19

on what we you know, what we've experienced what we see

9:21

in the hood things

9:24

that we're into Yeah, it's

9:26

just like I felt like when you're

9:28

a fan of something so much you just digest everything

9:30

in that culture What

9:32

was a powerful song for you growing up or social

9:35

commentary that you felt from my artist? I

9:37

was like, man, I want to be able to do that

9:39

one day bro to park all day Like I know these

9:41

guys clammy sometimes But

9:47

like real talk man like That

9:49

was the first time that I connected to

9:52

you know Someone through music who I didn't

9:54

know never met His

9:56

story where he comes from totally different to where

9:58

I come from Yeah, it was

10:00

like a common like space band. A

10:03

rhythm. Yeah, we could kind of understand

10:05

of like growth, you know,

10:07

going through ups and downs. Like

10:10

it wasn't always pretty. And I

10:12

think I, yeah, I just, I respected the

10:14

raw emotion that he, you know, he displayed

10:17

in his music, whether it was showing

10:19

him in a good light or a negative, you know. And

10:22

yeah, for me, it's just, that's like human music.

10:25

What about, you talk about how it was therapeutic to

10:27

find, you know, to get your, you know, get your

10:29

feelings out and been able to express it in your

10:32

art. Have you, and in the same

10:34

way you just described what Tupac made you feel, have

10:37

you had the feedback about how your music,

10:39

you know, and how your storytelling has made

10:42

others feel? Like, especially within the community, because I

10:44

find with what we're doing with this podcast, it's

10:47

crazy how many people will message you and just say,

10:49

you know, oh man, the way you said that, or

10:51

this has made me think this, or this has changed

10:54

our relationship. Do you guys get any feedback when it

10:56

comes to your music? Yeah,

10:58

personally, I've had like some

11:00

solid experiences like that. Like

11:03

man, just going to the night

11:05

market or something, someone bumps into you like, oh

11:07

man, you know, this is my favorite song, like

11:10

it changed my life. You

11:12

know, I was going through a hard time and I kind of like, you

11:14

kind of see yourself in a different light because

11:17

that's not something you think about every day. Like

11:19

you don't, I don't wake up every day thinking

11:21

I'm going to change someone's life today because it's

11:23

like a selfish thing, you know, like I'm making

11:25

this music to please myself to, you

11:27

know, do all of that. But like

11:29

when someone explains to you how much you've affected their

11:31

life, it kind of, it's kind of like

11:33

you have a perspective of their perspective

11:36

and then you look at yourself in like a 3D kind of light. Yeah,

11:39

it's quite moving. And

11:42

I think it's cool because for me, I grew

11:45

up on the East Coast. I would listen

11:47

to Tupac and Biggie, they're like, that was my thing. But

11:49

I come from a Parkour family with, you know, and I

11:51

was brought up really, really well. And

11:53

they listened to country music and so it was this combo, but

11:56

it was me being rebellious but in all

11:58

honesty, like what you guys create. what

12:00

you've created to me is like a

12:02

proud representation on a world stage and I'd encourage

12:04

any world listeners who are listening right now listen

12:06

to sweat it and that is a perfect example

12:08

of what New Zealand hip-hop is all about and

12:11

especially our culture. But

12:13

without that and just off the back of that so

12:15

when you guys came in because I

12:17

remember when I listened for the first time and it was like

12:19

you just smacked us in the face it

12:21

was with Conker who run

12:23

it it was it

12:26

was there and we couldn't miss it. Do

12:28

you guys know what you were doing at the time? Like

12:31

it was like three

12:33

ones like everything was just right there then you're

12:35

at I can vividly remember the music courts like

12:37

you guys are up on stage like I can

12:39

remember that but at that time do you guys

12:41

don't it was just happening for you or

12:43

you were like now this is our statement we're here to

12:45

stay. I felt like in that particular like

12:47

we were making music before that but

12:49

I feel like everything just a line day

12:52

at that particular time. I

12:54

felt like we needed it too as consumers. I

12:56

don't know what it was but there was something. There

12:58

was nothing giving us nothing. That

13:01

was so hard. That was the David De even

13:19

maybe you do but I think for

13:21

us one thing you'll never experience is us watching

13:23

you guys on stage. It is

13:26

an incredible experience to watch you boys on stage because

13:29

I can just tell you guys are free you know

13:31

thinking about anything up there but it is as as

13:33

fans it is the best but I always wondered

13:36

at that time did you guys know what you were doing? No

13:38

way it was just um yeah

13:40

back then it was just like we were just creating man no

13:43

expectation no no

13:45

sort of like feel of that we need to make a

13:47

hit we need something for radio

13:49

we're just expressing ourselves like just

13:52

freely and it was just coming out was

13:54

just translating like that a like yeah

13:57

that was a crazy time I do feel like there's like A

14:00

number of factors too in terms of we

14:03

had Andy, M'Nane, he was

14:05

in the picture. And it was

14:07

the first time where someone outside of our

14:09

group or our friend circle was giving

14:12

us game or guiding us. And

14:14

so we could just totally be free in

14:16

terms of the creative. And then it

14:18

was just like someone in the back here and just

14:20

like pausing, sorting everything, organizing everything, you

14:22

know what I mean? Yeah,

14:26

that was a crazy time, man. That

14:29

was all new, like that was

14:31

a crazy time for us. And like going

14:34

back to making those kinds of songs too, it's like

14:36

you don't realize that at the time. And that it

14:38

could be a room like this and we could

14:40

have made like a conqueror song. And

14:43

it's crazy up in here. We're not even thinking what's

14:45

like, the reaction is gonna be

14:47

because we're in that moment and that moment

14:49

is just about having fun, all

14:51

the energy in there. And then once it's like, I

14:54

guess once we're happy with it, then

14:57

and it's out and it's everyone else's now, it's not just

14:59

ours. And then everyone can share that energy

15:02

that went into the song. 100,

15:05

can we just quickly talk about that conquer song like

15:07

the DBZ, like Dragon Ball Z

15:09

sample, like how did that come about?

15:13

Oh, that was solid air, like we're at Airbnb. We're

15:15

at an air, yeah, we went to Airbnb for a week

15:18

just to create, just us

15:20

isolated vibing. It

15:23

was during the time when

15:26

that episode had aired. And

15:28

so I think it

15:30

was Maui. Oh, Maui, Maui, Maui. Jamal

15:32

originally, he cut the beat up and all that,

15:35

but I just wasn't slapping, how

15:37

we knew it could slap, pause. And

15:40

then Smoke came in, pause. We

15:42

had a counter going. Pause, pause, pause now. Smoke

15:44

came in and then yeah, he pretty much just

15:47

like put it together and it was

15:49

just like bang, I don't know. I

15:51

think it was me and Smoke vibing. I don't know what

15:53

these days were doing at the time, but

15:55

we were just, it was late. And then it was just like,

15:58

they're mad at the confidence. I

16:00

was like, yeah, I was fast. Like

16:04

honestly, I was. Yo. You say.

16:08

They're like, did that whole kind of right? Was

16:11

it? No, it just all like, that

16:14

all came together real quick. Hey, yeah,

16:16

we'll just like even hook the verse. Bam,

16:19

half an hour pretty much. Yeah. Got

16:22

that done. And then, yeah, these

16:24

dudes vibed and did it. But it was just like, yeah. It's

16:29

hard to explain, bro. But it's like, when

16:31

you're in their flow state, it's just like, things are just,

16:34

you know, appearing at the right time. And

16:36

they're not thinking too much. And it's just

16:38

like, bam, bam, bam. That's my favorite state

16:40

to be in creating. Because,

16:42

yeah, some of the best music we've ever made has

16:45

been in that state where it's like, not

16:47

sitting on a verse for weeks. What's your favorite

16:49

bar? Because that's immediately, that's legendary. They made it

16:52

to Confident. Some young Polynesians, that was a problem.

16:54

Oh, even I don't ask riffers what their favorite

16:56

bar is. So we didn't know. Yeah,

16:58

it's like your favorite kid. Yeah, you like this. Is it the same?

17:02

Who's your favorite? You

17:04

didn't have to answer that, but I don't really

17:06

know. I never really thought about it, to be

17:08

honest. What's your

17:10

guys' favorite bar? If you know any, I don't want to put you

17:12

guys on the spot or anything. But if

17:14

you can think of any of the parts.

17:16

Honestly, I've been talking about Conker. But I

17:18

felt like that was spiritual from the A.

17:21

Even getting young,

17:23

it's like the littlest words. We some

17:26

young Polynesians. That

17:29

kind of felt like that's our

17:31

moment now. Because that's how we feel. And

17:33

the OG's did what they did, and they gave us their

17:35

music. But I felt like it was kind

17:37

of like, well, what are we doing? What are we up

17:39

to? And even the references to Pacific

17:42

Islanders, and all that stuff. And

17:45

I feel like that's the amazing

17:47

thing about this, Joe, is I always feel

17:49

you always come

17:51

in and you punch, Spike. And then I'm like,

17:53

I don't know if that can be top. And

17:55

then, anyone, you come in. You have a completely different

17:57

way of punching and like. and

18:00

saying what you say and it's just like, it's

18:02

just incredible. And I know that we're gonna talk

18:04

about new music

18:08

and that's why we're kind of on the show. But

18:10

I don't know if we're really allowed to

18:12

reveal all the plays, but like it

18:14

is New Zealand Music Month today. Is

18:21

that still a thing or? No,

18:26

to be honest, like I feel like, you know, me as an artist

18:28

and a fan, New Zealand Music Month is, I

18:31

feel like there's not that much investment into it. It's

18:34

kind of tokenistic now. And yeah,

18:37

for us, it was kind of like, we've got

18:39

all this music that we've been creating, you know, for the

18:41

last four or five years. And it was like, you

18:44

get a bit precious about it. And

18:48

I guess you get into the sort of, a

18:51

space where you sort of become perfectionist

18:54

and nothing is ever hitting, you

18:56

know, your expectation of what it should sound like or what

18:58

it should be. And

19:01

it's fire, mind you, it's fire, it's just us. And

19:04

so I guess, you know, we'll just kind of like, man, it's been

19:06

too long, we've got all this music, we need to put it out.

19:09

And then it was like, New

19:11

Zealand Music Month was coming up and it was like,

19:14

man, why don't we rebrand it as

19:16

Swooded Music Month? Come on now. You know what I

19:18

mean? Swooded Music Month. I'm here for it. We're kind

19:21

of, we do that a lot, eh? You like to

19:23

say things and just make it our own? Make it

19:25

our own. Any flyer we're on, we're like, oh no,

19:27

we changed the font of our name to like our

19:29

own logo. Like stuff that we're here. Like

19:32

all the, like festival lineups, you know what I mean?

19:34

It's all the same font. Nah, get Bryson,

19:37

Bryson to edit our logo. Bryson to go. Shout

19:40

out Bryson. It's all fantastic stuff, but you know, we got a stand

19:42

out, eh? But yeah, it

19:44

was just kind of like, for

19:47

us, you know, there's so many different formulas and

19:49

ways of, you know, delivering music to the fans.

19:53

Real cookie cutter type stuff, you know, they put up the

19:55

artwork of the date. Maybe

19:57

they pulled up a- Even we know the rollout now, eh? Even

20:00

like they put up like a snippet of the video, there's

20:03

many comments and we'll drop it. It's

20:05

like, Toko, you're gonna drop it anyway, you know what I

20:07

mean? But it's just, it's part of that fan engagement type

20:09

thing. But I feel like considering

20:12

the time we're in, you know,

20:14

it's a real TikTok generation, everything has gone to

20:16

like short format, even songs that show on the

20:18

day. No more third verses. We'll

20:23

just like, this would sort of fit and sit

20:25

in that space perfectly for

20:27

modern day, you know, consumption of

20:29

Konsi and A. Where we just,

20:31

so yeah, basically we're just gonna drop a song every second

20:33

day. Wow. There's gonna be

20:35

music videos. Ooh, for the whole month. For the

20:37

whole month. You got music videos for everyone? Woo

20:40

wee. Yeah, boy, it's been good. Yeah, boy, it's been

20:42

good. I did. But we've been active, like,

20:44

yeah, it's just gonna, well,

20:47

you get very funny. No, no, no, no, I love that because I

20:49

do want to keep talking about this, but I do want to play

20:51

out a song. Oh, we played out a song. Because

20:53

this is the show, I want to play out the whole

20:56

song. So, this is the song. Are we

20:58

playing the song out right? Yeah, we're playing, we're playing, we're

21:00

playing. I ain't heard a fan. I ain't heard a fan.

21:02

I'm gonna have to get a more of this shit to

21:04

knock it down. So this song is

21:06

called Swish. We're not cutting it

21:08

short. We're gonna enjoy it. Let's sit in the

21:10

moment. This is unreleased music from Swiddit. First

21:13

time you're ever gonna hear it right here. Ooh.

21:16

Baby, baby. I'm about to run the

21:18

summer. Me and all my

21:20

uso's about to hit a jumper. Like,

21:22

oh, oh, like, like, like. They

21:30

been in the palace, thought the moon is represented. They been in

21:32

the palace, they been in the city. They been in the uco,

21:34

they never listened. When it's a bong, we're listening to these,

21:36

like, a reposition, like, a race with a coast. I'm

21:39

about to die, I'm about to die. I'm

21:41

about to die. Oh,

21:45

man, these damn seats can get eight million. I'm an

21:47

old black, like, a parent's support on my neighborhood. Two

21:49

to three is up, like they named for Cliff. Six

21:53

feet to six feet, now that's my lineage. It's my

21:56

hustle, my little opinion is when your pavilion is leading

21:58

this limited, uh. My golden pimp enemy, million. If

22:00

you wanna tell that we livin' it My

22:02

head doesn't discriminate Every people on the teleplay

22:04

pass the teddy A friend,

22:06

she was the focus of the day That's why I come from a

22:09

square They play your musical tracks, can

22:11

sit in the zone of the bed It's

22:13

in the clips, the way that I'm blockin'

22:15

it's time You know I throw the keys

22:18

up like a load of laundry on your granny What

22:20

you like to work when they sleep My job is

22:22

a mess like a mess that he sleeps Complain that

22:24

the words that I speak is worth living See the

22:26

bubble in the morning? Yeah,

22:28

yeah, yeah Yeah Oh,

22:32

baby Baby, baby

22:36

Baby Baby Oh,

22:40

oh Oh, oh

22:44

Oh, oh Oh,

22:46

oh Oh, oh

22:49

I hear people They

22:53

be over there They be

22:55

over there They be over

22:57

there They be over there

22:59

They be over there They

23:02

be over there I don't care about

23:04

your homies, homies, homies If

23:07

it happens, this is homies, homies,

23:09

homies Homies, homies They

23:11

try to spread the rumors, they can turn

23:13

the stars These are what we

23:15

want us to make Beautiful Feel

23:18

like a movie, movie, movie, movie My

23:20

head's a tease I ain't got it all Oh,

23:27

God, I see your song, but I'm pretty good at it all

23:29

Oh, oh Oh,

23:31

oh I

23:34

know your song, but I'm

23:36

pretty good at it Write

23:38

out a description of how you'd like to see

23:40

your song Start to read it, and read it

23:42

every day, carry it around, and keep reading it

23:45

The one point that all the great

23:47

teachers all down through history Have

23:50

all agreed on, they've been in complete unanimous agreement on it

23:52

We become what we think about Maybe

23:55

fantasy at first, but it might even appear to

23:57

us as being a lie But

24:00

if you eat it often you'll start to believe it.

24:04

M why don't you just take me Sayofa,

24:08

Howdy! Hey RES Mm

24:11

mh mh Thanks

24:16

for business Yeah

24:25

Mama, Mama, Mom,

24:40

Don'tION The

24:43

people Is

24:50

A corner corner We

24:52

be on that if you like The

24:55

corner of that The

24:58

corner of that city My

25:02

town, little miss The people,

25:04

the Taliban You can't ask how

25:06

much I am going This time we

25:08

stand up In my hometown, I was the stand

25:10

up I need more than drone on the block

25:13

I said first, put my block, never ask For

25:15

what I got is the hand that I was

25:17

living up We in the

25:19

world without our teeth We forgot our

25:21

tradition We forget that we're all equal

25:24

Born and bred in the land of the green and

25:26

gold Been the only home we know but we get

25:28

picked on And called out for being sympathetic And

25:30

not a bitch, not to take down And

25:32

not a mother, free to carry Real people, all

25:35

the way out of the free and blind It's not

25:37

the place of more sensitive When we storm the

25:39

world for fun This is it, this is history

25:41

in the making All we gotta do is make

25:43

it The trophy right there

25:49

It's why I gotta stand up

25:51

Capricorna, cuz it's a girl We

25:53

be on everything now Yeah Hi

26:16

I've never

26:20

felt more uncool like

26:23

listening to seeing how cool you guys are

26:25

it's just the

26:28

dopest thing going around bro that's

26:30

incredible what that song get over

26:32

three minutes 30 40 surely I think

26:35

it's like five minutes come on shout out to

26:37

the sister who's a girl from out of Sydney yeah

26:44

that was she's a big part of she's crazy you

26:47

guys flipped it up there at the answer

26:49

why now is what I'm thinking because you guys move

26:52

to the beat of your own drum was and that's

26:54

one thing that's incredible you don't over set rate the

26:56

market it always feels like we're we're ready when

26:59

we think the product is good but you could have done this next

27:01

year you could have done this at a different time why right now

27:04

I felt like yeah I just felt like there's no better

27:06

time than now you know um we've

27:08

been saying next year we've been doing okay you know what

27:10

I mean this is a kind of a moment where we

27:12

have to check ourselves and be like nah just

27:14

run it what it out there you know what I mean and um you

27:17

know in terms of our creative process

27:19

like we back our art like we're

27:22

not like in there trying to create something for

27:24

radio we're just making good music we're

27:26

making what we're into what we love enough if you love it

27:28

you love it if you don't you don't but you

27:31

know there's a bit of like across

27:33

all the songs that we're about to drop there's something for everyone

27:35

100% that song like

27:38

it just it just feels good the production

27:40

you know the content where

27:43

you going with it switch up it's

27:47

still music just buzzes me out at the

27:49

moment a little bit and I I'm

27:52

only like 33 we're probably all getting

27:54

to that age but I feel like

27:56

an old hit already yeah what the

27:59

heck's going on But

28:01

it's just so nice to hear you

28:03

guys just talk about what

28:05

feels good. What are

28:07

some of the content matters we can expect on these

28:09

songs rolling out for this month? I

28:12

feel like there's

28:15

like confidence, provider. Why

28:19

do you think it's important to talk about confidence for

28:21

us? I feel like... Interesting

28:23

topic for Poly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel

28:25

like for our people, humility is

28:27

a real big thing. And there's a place

28:29

for it. Of course there's a place for it. But I feel like

28:32

in terms of trying

28:36

to excel beyond the status quo or

28:38

doing beyond what there's around

28:41

you or doing, sometimes it can hinder us. It

28:43

can hinder the way in which we receive

28:47

affirmations, compliments. It

28:49

can hinder the way in which we view ourselves.

28:52

And yeah,

28:54

I feel like for us, it

28:57

was like important for us. I know some people, they might

28:59

be like, these things are cocky, they think they're all that.

29:02

But it's really like, we're just backing

29:04

ourselves. We're proud of ourselves.

29:06

We're confident in our ability to

29:08

deliver our God-given gifts. And

29:10

it's like the fact

29:13

for people to sort of shout

29:15

us for that is kind of just

29:17

reflective of where they're sitting. You know what I mean?

29:19

Exactly. And we just wanted to normalize

29:21

it. Like if you know

29:23

us, we're not like... We're

29:27

cocky all the time on nothing. We're just

29:29

regular, diggular dudes from

29:31

only hunger. But yeah, it's just important to...

29:33

I felt like it was important to sort of submit

29:36

that out there. And I

29:38

felt like we did. I'm not gonna lie. I feel

29:40

like we did. I feel like I rubbed off. I'm

29:42

not gonna lie. Bro,

29:45

straight up, I'm just tired of hearing this

29:47

like same old like, these are the cocky.

29:50

I'm tired of hearing people like shorten or

29:52

put a limit to how great you can

29:54

be as a person for anybody, for anybody.

29:57

Like, imagine trying to be

29:59

the best. what you can do but there's always like a

30:01

group of people who are like, oh yeah nah, it's

30:04

alright. I mean that's

30:06

cool but you're not gonna go foul, you're not

30:08

gonna do this, like always trying to put a

30:10

limit on you when really it's just themselves like, oh

30:13

I say this to myself all the time, life ain't a

30:15

bitch, life is a mirror. It's just a

30:17

reflection of who you are. And

30:19

then you're out here just like putting all that

30:21

energy on people trying to be great, like

30:24

we're just trying to spread positive

30:28

messages to people who feel that way, like

30:30

feel like they can't be as great as

30:32

they can be because of their

30:35

economy of friendships around them,

30:37

their group. Such a

30:39

good word, economy. Yeah right,

30:41

right. That's where you're

30:44

valued. Yeah exactly, the people around you are

30:46

probably not good role models for you to

30:48

be around and you're taking on the energy

30:50

that kind of mindset that

30:53

they're putting on you and then you're going on

30:55

like on social media or whatever leaving negative comments

30:57

only because your mates are telling you

30:59

that you can't do that and now you're on someone else's

31:01

thing going, that sucks. So

31:04

you know we're just trying to be the

31:06

best versions that we can be just

31:08

so someone else is like damn I want to be

31:10

the best version of myself when they hear our music

31:12

or see us out in public or whatever. See

31:15

just to carry on from what you were saying, you know

31:18

how sports are competitive eh? Like

31:22

if you're a fan of any, if you're a fan of

31:24

like the NBA, the NFL, all of that, it's

31:27

like each player like in those

31:29

teams, they're backing themselves like I'm the best

31:31

in the world, you can't see me. And

31:33

we love it. We love that, you know what

31:35

I mean? And in our sports, it's

31:37

not so much everyone's humble like oh you killed

31:39

us, oh you know, all credit to

31:42

the boys, all credit to the team and all that

31:44

kind of stuff. But like one

31:46

person that I always see who

31:48

has that energy is Riku, Lwande, and

31:50

I see it on our, bro I'm

31:52

like it makes me happy bro when I see

31:55

him do that and then the hero

31:57

straight away, you know. And

31:59

he stands on the ground. that. They're

32:01

tearing them down for doing that and

32:03

I'm like, that's the sport man. Like,

32:05

you know, yeah,

32:07

I just feel like, man, don't

32:10

worry about what everyone else says. Don't worry about

32:12

all the noise. Just back yourself. If

32:14

it makes you happy and it's not hurting anyone

32:16

else, go hunt these on. I

32:20

think about all the time, bro, like, and I don't

32:22

know. This is what someone needs to do their masters

32:25

on or something like, can someone give us some

32:27

gems on like why that is like, why do

32:31

we really struggle to like to

32:34

show up for ourselves or to be seen or

32:36

like to put ourselves out there?

32:38

Because, you know, the example you just used, we

32:40

love it in American sports. We love it in

32:43

other cultures. We like, we prop

32:45

it up and we gas it up. We bet on it. We

32:48

put it on our screensaver. We

32:50

allow it to give us inspiration.

32:53

But in this context, like,

32:56

when we see, and I don't know if it

32:58

is, you know, that we're more village people, is

33:00

it but stuff for that, you

33:02

know what I mean? Like, yeah,

33:04

I just I don't know where I'm even going with this,

33:06

but I do wonder why, why is it, you

33:08

know, it's but but I mean,

33:10

I guess it's, it's for people like you to create

33:12

the art, right? It's for people to you that have

33:14

the confidence that can take the hits and say, that's

33:18

cool. Like, you know, we're still going to have just

33:20

to say what else can we expect on the album? Other

33:22

content? Vulnerability.

33:25

Always got to put that in there.

33:27

You know, especially

33:31

for our people, we have males out here. Can

33:33

I just also add rates, like all of that stuff, you know, 100.

33:37

Can I can I ask you about that? Like,

33:39

because I feel like vulnerabilities, like, it's not a

33:41

concept. I feel like it's a new concept. Like,

33:43

yeah, I remember growing up, I didn't really feel

33:45

like I heard it. Now, it feels like a

33:47

buzzword. For you,

33:49

for you guys, specifically, like, what makes, what

33:51

do you think vulnerability is? Like, what makes

33:54

you guys vulnerable? And how do you know

33:56

when? Because I feel like a lot of people know

33:59

what it sounds like. know how to get out there but

34:01

it might not necessarily be that. Well

34:03

to me I just feel like safe to

34:06

be, to express your

34:08

emotions and how you feel with people

34:10

around you. Like sometimes I'll say

34:14

how I feel around strangers but

34:16

I don't even care because it's just like,

34:18

makes me feel good to acknowledge how I

34:20

feel. Yeah I

34:22

feel like sometimes everybody's

34:25

almost got like a filter on they, you

34:28

know what I mean? Like in real life and I feel like, like

34:31

IG filter but I

34:34

feel, anything that yourself

34:36

were deemed to be sort of weak, I

34:39

feel like that's sort of been vulnerable. Being

34:41

able to be your true authentic self

34:44

and express your emotions and

34:46

all its rawness, self affair

34:48

of any you know judgment

34:50

or ridicule and

34:53

I feel like it's empowering, you know what

34:55

I mean? Like I

34:57

remember my dog he

34:59

passed recently, it was the first time having a pet,

35:02

you know and it was

35:04

the first time having a pet and it was like, like

35:08

he was sick, he was old, he lives to

35:10

be 16, like that's ancient and doggiest but

35:13

he was like sickly and you know we took him

35:15

to the vet and all that and it was kind

35:17

of like oh he's quite old, we don't know what's

35:19

wrong, it's gonna cost thousands of dollars to assist him

35:22

and then we can see it and then so

35:24

we're just gonna like nah let's just get

35:27

him euthanized because he was in pain. So

35:30

that night you know we slept with him in the lounge, honestly

35:32

all straight like poodle styles,

35:34

they like song and styles bro, like all

35:36

in the lounge sleeping with him and

35:39

then moments before the lady came to euthanize

35:41

him I was like boom and

35:44

like you know me, I'm still navigating

35:46

my own vulnerabilities you know what I mean in a

35:48

public setting and I

35:51

just started crying aye and

35:53

because like my kids were present I

35:56

felt they couldn't see me cry,

35:58

I'm there you know I'm the bad, I'm the bad. the head

36:00

of the family situation and I was like, damn,

36:05

and I left the room. And

36:07

then in that moment, I was crying, crying. I haven't

36:09

cried like that since my grandma passed and I was

36:11

14. Because

36:14

I didn't expect to feel that way about a

36:16

dog, but it's because I was never really like

36:18

a pet person. And then you

36:20

realize that they're just a part of the family as much as

36:22

a human, you know what I mean? And

36:24

so I remember being in the room, trying to rub

36:27

my eyes, and sort of

36:29

regather composure. That sort of situation.

36:32

And then I thought to myself, and I

36:36

remember back to when my grandma passed,

36:38

and I remember my uncle having a

36:40

come with me at the hospital, and

36:43

he was like, you know, I've never cried in my life, even

36:46

when your grandfather passed. And

36:48

he's like, and even though Nena passed now, I

36:52

still won't cry. And I was like, this

36:55

is like 2 a.m., why are you telling me? I

36:58

don't know, there was no sort of thing

37:00

to prompt that conversation. And I was like, why is he telling

37:02

me that? And I could tell he

37:04

was just trying to like, strengthen himself in that

37:07

moment, by sort of projecting it onto me. And

37:09

so I sort of felt like, damn, I gotta carry myself like

37:11

that. My uncle never cried, I looked up to him. He's a

37:13

role model to me, I love him. That's

37:15

how you do it. And that popped up in my

37:17

head in that moment when I was crying in the room in that, and

37:20

then I was like, nah, I'm

37:22

gonna cry. I'm gonna just

37:24

let the kids see me in that state, to

37:27

see that they're vulnerable like that, to

37:29

see that their dad actually cared about

37:31

someone so much, that

37:35

he got into that space, you know? And

37:37

then, I was like masculinity kids. And

37:39

I did go out there and I

37:41

was crying in that vibe. I

37:45

had my looks on. I was

37:47

like, I'm not all the

37:49

way there. I'm kinda here. How are we doing so much?

37:51

I'm like, very faint all the way there, yeah, but. Hey,

37:53

they can see me crying, they can see the tears coming

37:56

up, but the looks was on you. I'm still with you.

37:58

I'm crying, but it looked hot, it looked hot. thing

38:00

for me because I was like like

38:02

you know that's your family and that and I was like I'll

38:04

protect of all my you know their perception of me

38:07

and I was like oh that's

38:09

crazy I love

38:11

the locus check too because I

38:14

feel like we need to be

38:16

careful and the point

38:18

isn't to only be vulnerable all the time you

38:20

know what I mean like I feel like we

38:23

also need to honor the fact that sometimes you

38:26

don't let their tear drop because you gotta carry on you

38:28

know I don't know I

38:30

feel like sometimes we've kind of demonized mean

38:32

for struggling it off a little

38:35

bit but in the right moment yeah that's when

38:38

vulnerabilities magic yes it's so

38:40

powerful it's transcending yeah and so

38:42

but I do they could see

38:45

the stream but they didn't need

38:47

to see the eyes yeah I

38:49

cracked up when I was thinking

38:53

back to the day of

38:55

man Porter's looks how is that changed music like

38:57

for you guys because obviously when when you're young

38:59

and it wasn't even really that long ago it's

39:01

eight years ago but I was time change kids

39:03

change you a little bit older now how do

39:06

you guys navigate these new

39:08

orders with the art that Jordan was

39:10

talking about the art that you guys have the God given

39:12

gift you guys have as musicians but time has changed so

39:14

the music's obviously I'll be a little different right yeah I

39:17

feel like it's just natural you know what I mean like obviously

39:19

we speak on our life experiences and what's going on with us

39:22

and that's reflected in the music I

39:25

feel like that's part

39:27

of being a musician a is like the

39:30

growth the pitfalls the rises the

39:32

highs the lows you know

39:34

sometimes you get some hours that's

39:36

still rapping about the same thing they were talking about like

39:38

20 years ago and you know

39:41

because we live in a space where

39:43

everyone's like quick and everyone's

39:46

being like authentic and you know like being

39:49

real and authentic is such a big

39:51

thing in society now all the facades

39:53

all the you know smoke and mirrors stuff that's out the window

39:56

now in all the case about that and

39:58

I feel like me like you know I'm still listen

40:00

to Pusha T. I love him.

40:02

I love his music. But

40:04

he's still rapping about... He's

40:07

the best to do it, dude. He's

40:10

on the next generation now, the next generation.

40:13

He's like, you haven't followed me in

40:15

like 30 years, but hey, what

40:17

do I know, bro? I'm just a multi

40:19

award winning artist. Hello

40:22

there. Just quickly, last couple of things before

40:24

we let you guys go. For us, we...

40:27

The last, probably our last interview, we

40:29

were somewhere else and we're trying to

40:31

change with the times and we're here

40:34

now. In terms of the

40:36

music industry, what's

40:39

going on? As artists, what do

40:42

you feel is going on? I just

40:44

feel like it's so hard to be a music

40:46

artist right now. Maybe

40:48

coming into the game, starting, where do you

40:51

get song play? You used to make

40:53

a TikTok. How do you establish an audience? I

40:55

think New Zealand's such a... To

40:58

our own detriment, we're such a nostalgic audience.

41:01

We don't want to give new music

41:04

a chance. We don't want to hop

41:06

on a new vision and an artist

41:08

might have for themselves. We want

41:11

to go to the same concert every

41:13

summer and it's no slight to the

41:15

OGs that have come up. But I

41:18

feel like it's a worrying state when I look at

41:20

this. What are your goals? What are

41:22

your actual thoughts about the industry and

41:25

music? I feel like

41:28

things have changed dramatically. The power of the

41:31

internet is crazy now. There's so

41:33

many different platforms and avenues in which you

41:35

can connect with artists that you never could

41:37

before. People are

41:41

learning how to market themselves better, I feel. I

41:44

guess when we were coming out, it was like everyone

41:46

wanted to get signed. Everyone

41:48

wanted to be signed to a major. Now it's kind of

41:50

like you want to have ownership, you want to

41:52

earn your masters, you want to... I

41:55

feel like Nip always did it the best day in terms

41:57

of building... building

42:00

a foundation, building

42:02

your brand up, creating value

42:04

in your brand, because

42:06

in creating value in your brand, it

42:09

gives you leverage in terms of when you do

42:11

sit at those tables and you try to negotiate stuff. It's

42:13

like, you went on the pitch and this is what I built, this

42:16

is what I achieved, these are the numbers I hit. Totally.

42:20

But yeah, I feel like in this day and age, yeah,

42:24

you don't really need, like you don't need a label,

42:26

you know what I mean? You can... You

42:29

can do it all yourself, just have a picture

42:31

of it. Hit all the DSPs, like Spotify, Apple,

42:33

you can get like TuneCore and stuff like that,

42:35

just upload your music, they put it out

42:37

on all those platforms, so it's like, really

42:40

all you're dealing with is like,

42:43

you know, play

42:45

listing, you know, those kind of connections and stuff

42:47

like that. You know that what you've just said

42:50

scares the living daylight out of middle management, which

42:52

is, you know what I mean? Like there's a

42:54

whole lot of people trying to justify their jobs

42:56

right now in the radio industry.

42:59

And they look at what we're doing, and I'm guessing

43:01

it's the same with music. Like you guys can create

43:03

what we've just heard, and you don't

43:05

need that middle management, you don't need that ownership

43:07

over the top of you saying, you know, claiming

43:09

the clout, that's basically what they do. They go,

43:11

well, look at these talented people, I'm

43:14

making them do this. They don't exist

43:16

anymore in the future, which is

43:18

scary for some people. To be honest, bro, it's

43:20

like, what we're doing is the same as what

43:22

you guys have done. You know

43:24

what I mean? These guys have created your own lane, and

43:27

like look at what you guys have achieved, you

43:29

know, you guys went out on the limit, and

43:32

was like, oh, let's take a risk, let's back ourselves, let's

43:34

do something that hasn't really been done, you

43:37

know, on this side of the world even. Bro,

43:41

you know, it speaks for itself, like look how well you guys

43:43

have done. And I feel like I love that

43:45

shit, I love that energy, I love that, I

43:49

love that, eh, because like, you know, for the same with us,

43:51

it's like, you know, no

43:53

one's monitoring what we're creating, no one's

43:55

dictating our sound. We own all our

43:57

masters, the whole creative process.

44:00

marketing, that's all fueled by us.

44:02

Like we control that. And you

44:04

know, it's empowering. Sometimes maybe you might not

44:07

have the industry connections

44:09

to do certain things, but

44:11

I feel like, you know, if you look at the numbers,

44:13

you looked at what we've achieved

44:16

and what we've done in our time, been in the game

44:18

on our own, it speaks

44:20

for itself, you know? Thanks. And

44:22

I think like not to make you malarious with you guys, but

44:24

like, that's what

44:27

we recognized and why we came in, why we

44:29

think it's worked is because we understood where we

44:32

were. People

44:34

weren't being treated like they were smart or

44:36

intelligent or like they had different

44:38

things they wanted to express, like, or they

44:40

could listen to something and hear themselves, the

44:43

funny, the thought provoking.

44:46

And that's like, I feel like that's, that's what's awesome

44:48

about your music is you're going to have the conquers,

44:50

but then you're going to say, well, here's

44:52

something I haven't like told anyone or he's

44:55

okay to feel this, but it's across the

44:57

best production too and the best beats. So

44:59

yeah, we're huge fans of what you're doing

45:01

here. And

45:03

we're looking forward to this

45:06

rollout every two days, is it? Yeah,

45:08

every two days, man. Boy, is it cooking. You know,

45:10

like, you know, we're fighting against, you

45:13

know, we're fighting against some algorithms as well, but

45:16

you know, the more and more

45:18

the content is going to come out, if you

45:20

don't catch the first drop, you'll catch the second,

45:22

it'll make you run back, you know, the first

45:24

drop and that's how we're rolling, which is, you

45:26

know, straight, innovative, gorilla style, no

45:28

rules, just doing what we want to do, when we want

45:30

to do it and how we want to do it. Where

45:32

do we catch them? Like every time one drops, where can

45:34

we find it? Where's it going to be available? Spotify.

45:39

All streaming services. All streaming services,

45:41

man. All streaming platforms. Follow

45:44

us on Instagram, sort of music and

45:47

look out for all the posts, all the

45:49

skits, all the music, all the visuals, all

45:51

the reels, all the carousels,

45:53

all that lingo, all that

45:56

jibber jabber. Oh, just before we wrap,

45:58

I thought we got you a little. A

46:00

little bottle? Oh, wow! Celebrate

46:03

the one year. Come on, we're coming up here. Last

46:05

time I was like, damn. What

46:08

these guys have achieved is actually like, you know, it's

46:11

just crazy. Because obviously,

46:14

we know your guys' origins, where you guys came from

46:16

in the space, and then you

46:18

guys leaving that space, and then creating this

46:21

was just amazing, bro. It's truly humbling. We're

46:23

looking at you guys as superstars. I'll

46:25

take it off your hands, man. I

46:27

think we're doing all that, but yeah. Ship

46:30

Nation, if you're already fans of Swidded, please tap

46:32

in the next month. They're about

46:34

to give us a lot of music, and

46:36

we've been waiting for it. We can't wait. If

46:38

you don't know who they are, take our word for it. Amazing

46:41

human beings who also happen to be rappers.

46:44

Check it out, Swidded. Love it. Swrit! Swrit!