Ring The Alarm playlist, February 29

Tracey Thorn feat Corinne Bailey Rae - Sister (Andrew Weatherall dub)
Sabres of Paradise - Ballad of Nicky McGuire
Paul St Hilaire - One after one
Derrick Morgan - Do you love me?
Sound Dimension - Real rock
Althea - Down town thing
African Head Charge - Animal law
Tackhead - Ticking timebomb dub
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Lady O'Kpele
Will Powers - Adventures in success (dub copy)
Beat Bronco Organ Trio - Easy baby
The Chi-Lites -  We are neighbours
The Fantastic Johnny C - Boogaloo down Broadway
Stevie Wonder - You met your match
The Supremes - Your love is like an itching in my heart
Jr Walker and the Allstars - Hip city pt1
Four Tops - Sad souvenirs
Little Eva - Keep your hands off my baby
Brenton Wood - Some got it, some don't
Bob Wilson and the San Remo Quartet - All turned on
Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters - Cry to me
Johnny Taylor - Jody's got your girl and gone
Curtis Mayfield - (Don't worry) if there's a hell below, we all gonna go
The Temptations - It's your thing
Staple Singers - Respect yourself
Conclave - Sunny (Seven Davis Jr remix)
Primal Scream - Goodbye Johnny (Andrew Weatherall's Nyabingi noir mix)

Ring The Alarm playlist, February 22

St Etienne - Only love can break your heart (Andrew Weatherall remix)
Sabres of Paradise - Bubble and Slide II
Primal Scream - Loaded
Andrew Weatherall - Fail we may, dub we must
Sabres of Paradise - Wilmot
Nightmares on Wax - Finer
Rae and Christian - Ready to roll
Willie Bobo - La descarga del Bobo (MAW remix)
Nicola Conte and Spiritual Galaxy - Universal rhythm
Metrophonics feat Mel Collins - Latin racer
Mike Young! - Si si no no (Bobby Duprea's mix) feat Graciela Perez
Big Daddy Kane - Aint no half steppin'
Rufus Thomas - Itch and scratch (pt1)
Booker T and the MGs - Tic tac toe
Jean Knight - Do me
Dee Dee Warwick - Suspicious minds
Mable John - Shouldn't I love him
Cookin' on Three Burners - Cars
D'Angelo - Really love
George Clinton - Hey good lookin' ('rush this' mix)
VV Brown - Crying blood (Andrew Weatherall remix)
Lightning Head - PPQ dub

Ring The Alarm playlist, February 15

Bo Diddley - Hit or miss
Dramatics - Stand up clap your hands
Gwen McCrae - 90% hanging out (Jim Sharp edit)
Beastie Boys - Hey ladies
Charles Bradley - Aint it a sin
Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers - Searching for soul
Betty Wright - Clean up woman
Donny Hathaway - Come little children
Cold Blood - Kissing my love
Fred Wesley and the JBs - Blow your head (undubbed version)
Lynn Collins - Take me just as I am
Sly and the Family Stone - Are you ready
Prince & the Revolution - Raspberry beret (12" version)
Kid Creole and the Coconuts - I'm a wonderful thing bbay
The Waitresses - I know what boys like
James Blood Ulmer - Jazz is teacher, funk is the preacher
Sun Ra - Where pathways meet
Ekadek - Love in your eyes
Phase 5 - Box juice
Dub Asylum - French letter
George Faith - In the midnight hour
Lightning Head - Second line stomp
Cutty Ranks - The cutter
Johnny Osborne - Budy bye (Kenny Dope remix)
Sugarman3 - Pull my cart
Jamie and the Numbers - If this is love (I'd rather be lonely)

Ring The Alarm playlist, February 8

George Benson - The world is a ghetto
Nuyorican Soul - Mawtilus
War - Sing a happy song
Salmonella Dub - Loop 7 (DLT version)
Andreya Triana - A town called obsolete (Mala remix)
Kaidi Tatham - It's about who you know
Grace Jones - Hurricane dub
Love Joys - Roots vibes
Ragga Twins - Shine eye
Nathan Haines - U see that
Biggabush - Yunaa
Patti LaBelle - Most likely...
Ramsey Lewis - Living for the city
Tom Tom Club - As above, so below
Darondo - Didn't I (Trishes edit)
Linda Jones - My heart needs a break
Tami Lynn - I'm gonna run away from you
Mary Wells - Can't you see (you're losing me)
Percy Sledge - Baby help me
Ike and Tina Turner - Somebody somewhere needs you
Three Degrees - Contact
Bobby  & Valerie Capers - West 4th St
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - Rumours
Lee Fields and Sugarman and Co - Stand up
El Michels Affair - Walk on by (Short version)

Leonard Simpson Duo drop album

 First single off this was a mean chop up of a Marlon Williams song as the beat, check it. Out now on LP/digital.

"Legendary Detroit MC Guilty Simpson & New Zealand producer Leonard Charles team up as "The Leonard Simpson Duo" and provide a one of a kind 70’s inspired, psychedelic & acid influenced Album.

The psychedelic sound of this album is heavily drawn from rare acid influenced records from New Zealand’s 60’s and 70’s, carefully selected, picked and sampled by musical multi-talent Charles himself and accompanied by very well placed instrumentals and interludes taking direction from late 60’s jazz/rock fusion, fuzzed out African records and compulsory David Axelrod leanings. All of that combined with the lyrics and the beloved attitude of Motor City’s finest makes this album a beautiful, inspirational and surpassing Trip.

Active since the mid ‘90’s Guilty Simpson (100k monthly listeners on spotify) has become an institution and earned his spot in Detroit’s hip-hop legacy alongside friends, fellows and colleagues such as J Dilla, Slum Village, Eminem, D12, Danny Brown, Big Sean, Phat Kat or Black Milk and receives nothing but love and respect from the hardest street emcees as well as from acclaimed producers wherever he goes. Over the last decade Guilty continued the name he made for himself since his 2008 debut “Ode To The Ghetto” (produced by i.e. Dilla, Madlib and others) and has delivered plenty of features, mixtapes and studio albums ever since.

Leonard Charles has been a music producer since 2001. In his late teens he already played and toured with i.e. Randy Crawford. Charles attended the Red Bull Music Academy in South Africa in 2003 where he performed i.e. with Hugh Masekela and attended lectures with synth pioneer Bob Moog. He has won New Zealand Music Awards for his production and composing work with the Band Opensouls (previously released on Jakarta Records) and singer Hollie Smith. As a session guitarist Jeremy has played on recordings for i.e. Aaradhna, Teeks, David Dallas and many more while as a producer he has worked with i.e. Grandmaster Caz, Kimbra, Mara T.K., Georgia Anne Muldrow, Declaime and others.

The dynamic Duo met for the 1st time when Guilty came through Charles’ hometown Auckland, NZ, on tour in 2016. Charles got in touch with Guilty and the two connected immediately, started working together and what was initially planned as an EP soon turned out to become a full-length album with late 70's inspired psychedelic and acid influenced beats by Leonard and Simpson’s distinctive and uncompromising lyrics."

Mongo, Louie and me

Love this tune! Mongo Santamaria is wicked. This is a little re-edit did a while back, extended this jam from a short two minute snip into a solid jam. Enjoy!

Ring The Alarm playlist, February 1

Prince - I feel for you
Chaka Khan - I know you, I live you
Diana Ross - Give up
Marvin Gaye -You're the man
Leonard Charles - Neil's rainbow
DJ Spinna - Dillagence (one 4 Jay)
Stereo MCs - Connected
Troublefunk - Let's get small
Chuck Brown  -We need some money
Erykah Badu - Turn me away (get munny)
Red Astaire - Love to Angie
Superspirit - We belong to the cosmos (Jugoe remix)
Lefties Soul Connection - 12 inch rims
The 2nd Amendment Band - Backtalk
Young Holt Unlimited - Wah wah man
Tami Lynn - Mo Jo Hanna
Lulu - Feelin' alright
Labelle - Moon shadow
Pointer Sisters - Send my baby back
Wendy Rene - Bar-B-Q
Joanie Sommers - Don't pity me
Esther Phillips - Catch me I'm falling
Alice Clark - You hit me right where it hurt me
People's Choice - I likes to do it
Brenda and the Tabulations - California soul
Eddie Floyd - Under my nose
Barbara and the Browns - Please be honest with me
Mar-keys - Beach bash
Jackie Mittoo - Stereo freeze
Prince - Tambourine

David Grace interview, 1998

Choose your weapons

Taranaki and the power of positive energy.

By Duncan Campbell, Real Groove, January 1998, p13

When that moment of inspiration comes, you've got to run with it. For David Grace it came at around 2 am one morning a year or so back when he was recording debut solo album Weapons Of Peace (Jayrem).

While brother John was laying down some bass tracks, David and roadie Chris Cubis were jamming in the garage next door. Cubis is a mean harmonica player and David was working up a song. The inspiration was the memory of his younger brother, who died in 1979, aged 14, from a heart ailment.

"One of my cousins said the time we did it is keehua [ghost] time - when the spirits start happening." David recalls "We wrote the song, then ran back to the studio and told the guys to drop what they were doing. We had to record it then, before we lost it. We wrote and recorded it in an hour and a half."

The song 'Live as one' is destined to be the first single. It has the potential to become a standard in the vein of 'Spiritual healing' or 'Redemption song' and marks the musical maturity of a man who, like many other Maori of his generation, thanks Robert Nesta Marley for turning his life around.

''We moved to Australia when I was 13. I didn't want to go there and before long I was going off the rails." A spate of juvenile crime was followed by an abrupt departure back to Aotearoa rather than spend time in prison.

David Grace returned to New Zealand a chastened and changed young man. Seeing Bob Marley in concert and hearing his message of love and unity spurred him to do something with the musical talent that was in his blood, His father was a working musician and just about all his whanau can play something ("we're born musos.")

At 33, Grace is embarking on a career that has taken a decade to bring about. He serves his apprenticeship with Dread Beat and Blood, whose albums Tribute To A Friend and All Our Lives are milestones in the development of Maori music.

After leaving Dread Beat in 1987, Grace formed Survival, who will be remembered largely for their work on the soundtrack of Once Were Warriors. Sadly they became the victims of music industry politics, and an album they recorded went unreleased. Grace formed a new band, Injustice, with his brother John, Sandy Ngatoto (ex Survival and Dread Beat).

The songs on Weapons Of Peace have been mostly written in the last three years. The reggae influence remains strong but only a Maori could have written 'Tino Rangatiratanga' or 'A lot of aroha'.

Grace was born in Wanganui and grew up in the Wellington region but has roots in both Taranaki and Ruatoria. 'Empower My People' celebrates the Taranaki chief Titokuwaru. In Revolution, Grace sings about 'our warriors - history books call them murderers' prompting the memory that until recently New Zealand history teachers were still referring to 'The Maori Wars' as though it was the Maori who started them.

"At school all they were teaching us was about Captain Cook and Christopher Columbus, what good guys they were. When I came back here from Aussie, I went to my marae and started reading the truth about what happened, and I was really pissed off. They sent missionaries to pacify our people.

“We gifted land to the missionaries so they could build schools, but a lot of them never did. Then they put the land in their own names and started selling it off. I thought I'd rather write about that than anything else."

The spiritual aspect of Graces music shines in 'Matua Whaia', whose lyrics basically translate as 'the father, the mother, the son and the holy ghost.' He has a deep affinity with other indigenous cultures and Weapons Of Peace includes tributes to the Kanaks of New Caledonia, the American Indians and the Ogoni of Nigeria. Ultimately it is to these people he wants to take his music.

David Grace is deeply interested in the Taranaki land claim but, as a father of three, he wants to give a positive message to the new generation. "We've got to move together - Maori, Pakeha, whatever. There's a lot of angry radical sorts around the place who are taking their anger out on people of today.

Instead of putting their energy into something positive they want to go around being negative, and they're being just as racist as the Nazis. We've got to put our energy and action towards the Crown and the Government. Thats where it's going to happen, not out on the street.

''Maybe I can do for one or two people what Bob Marley has done for me - wake me up and make me look around."

Ring The Alarm playlist, January 25

Janet Jackson - Say you do
Chuck Higgins and the Wild Bunch - Funkyfied
Sparkles - Trying to get over
Dalvanius -Who said that
Risco Connection - Aint no stopping us now (version)
Francois K and U-Roy - Rootsman
Spanky Wilson - Sunshine of your love
The Sharpees - Take me to your leader
Jackie Wilson - Sweetest feeling
Martha and the Vandellas - One way out
The Originals - Good night Irene
Jackie Shane - Stand up straight and tall
Freddy Scott - Am I grooving you
Doris Troy - Just one look
Teresa - He's a cooker
Jose Feliciano - She's a woman
Wajeed - Funkin' for Jamaica
Flying Lotus and Andreya Triana - Tea leaf dancers
Lewis McCallum - Fly or die
Recloose - Turkish delight
Talking Heads - Psycho killer (Greg Wilson edit)
Steve Spacek - Blue monday
Massive Attack vs Mad Professor - Eternal feedback (Sly)
Mr Reliable - Lucky dub
Unitone Hifi - Juicy (Juicy NDS remix)
Julien Dyne feat Mara TK - Layer

Askew One interview, 2005 flashback

 

Akld graffiti artist Askew One interviewed by hiphopnz.com site July 2005, revived via Wayback Machine

How did you start getting into grafiti,who & what were influences? and how old were you when you knew it was something you really wanted to take seriously.?

I started dabbling with graffiti (Actually out on the street) around 1993 which was my first year of high school. It was just a 'Being Cool' thing at first, hanging with my friends late at night at the morningside station, being a reckless and rebellious teen. I started graffiti for a lot of the wrong reasons. But at the end of '94 I got my hands on my first copy of Subway Art and Spray can art and my world was changed forever. I changed my name to Askew (Got the word from a Freestyle Fellowship Lyric in 'Park Bench People'),I chose it for the balance of the word.

Growing up in Morningside and Kingsland I saw work from a lot of the pioneers of the Auckland and greater NZ scene. That really influenced me early on in life with my whole art and drawing style. names that I would mention are: Smooth Crew, Fly, USP (The original line up), and a little bit later on the public mural work of DLT, Dan Tippet, Opto and of course the great style of the DAF crew (AaronB, Merk, Dewz). The writer that had the biggest impact on me and the scene in general was the notorious Tank One from Bad Habits crew. 

when he came out here from Sydney, he started dropping throw up's and fat cap tags in really public places and it just really hyped me even more to be a prolific writer.

Ok tell us about about disruptiv , what did you have in mind when starting it?

Disruptiv just started out as a means of survival. an entity that allowed me to paint and do the things I like doing full time, a means to promote myself and invoice and make money legally. It's grown pretty huge, like bigger than I could have ever foreseen though.

You must be pretty happy doing something you love for a full time job?

Yeah it's still stress sometimes, just being the part owner of a company that is so multi-faceted. I never thought we would have employees or a gallery, a magazine or be involved in working with such a diverse range of talented people, but in less than three years all that has happened. I am a happy person most of the time any way.

Of course I guess it's not all fun and games , what have been some of the major challenges you have faced in setting up the business?

Starting with no capital. having accrued so much debt prior to this venture. Living out of each others pockets, not knowing where the next dollar was coming from. the doubters and the straight vindictive. we went through it all in the first year.

I know this isnt true for alot of all writers but there seems to be alot of immaturity and beef around what's your take on it?

Yeah it has a lot to do with ego and the fight to be seen and heard. Also it is a youth artform so the age of the artists themselves can vary from about 11 to 40-ish. So imagine putting a bunch of people from such different stages in their life together in one room and expecting them to all get along 100% of the time. But if you are talking about how people behave on these forums, I don't know if it is always the best way to monitor the actual dynamic of the scene. Over all, I probably have had the most beef out of any writer in NZ. but of that supposed beef very little has eventuated past the odd scuffle, exchange of words or maybe a couple of crossed pieces. over all it's just posturing and you do grow out of it.

Whats your honest opinion about the current state of hiphop in aotearoa ( from both a musical and graff pov )?

I've always been a big advocate for what's happening locally. Now is such an interesting time and one I watch both excitedly and nervously.

it is a time of growth and diversification in both the underground and the commercial marketplace. It's the era of our first Rap superstars, our first commercial hip hop ventures (On this type of scale at least) and there's a certain amount of resistance and testing the waters. I like having the choices we have now. We have MC's ranging from Dei Hamo to Breaking Wreckwordz, we have bombers and graffiti artistes! choose your flavour.

Now of course alot of cats wont know that you are also pretty handy with a mic in hand , tell us about about how you got into rap singing and your crew the tomb raiders.

haha! Ok it's a funny story and the motivation behind my actions probably differ from what a lot of other people would think. For me, MC-ing was actually the first element I really wanted to excel in. In 1990 I used to write my stupid little raps, influenced by whatever garbage I heard on the radio. My step father is a musician and makes guitars and fixes amps etc for people as a part time job. he always had keyboards, drum machines, mics and all the equipment necessary for a young kid to experiment with and pretend to be his favourite rapper in his bedroom. 

I started writing entire songs at age 11 for all my school mates to perform over my crudely programmed drum beats in front of the school assembly. It was the wackest most uneducated shit ever, believe me. I'm so embarrassed but I know it's time to tell this story. man I thought Hip Hop was like what was being played commercially at that time (90-91) like all about the wack dance routines and rapping like" 1-2-3-4 Yo DJ play that beat...blah blah" and the parachute pants and shit.. honestly I was doing that and only very occasionally credible artists were slipping onto the radio at that time like LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, De La Soul and I was listening to all that at the same time just not differentiating any thing from the other. 

And then at the end of my 1st form year I heard NWA, Brand Nubian, Main Source just so much dope stuff.. man it just opened my eyes and ears up. By the start of High school I was really just listening to so much Hip Hop, like great golden era stuff and just writing and trying my hardest to be heard as an MC. 

In 3rd form one of my best mates at school was Oli Green from Urban Disturbance's younger brother and through him we just got access to so much stuff. and we learnt about what was cool and real in their eyes. About Freestyling and we set up a weekly cypher at the ponsonby community centre. Between 3 of us we had a complete DJ set up and PA. A lot of people came through that place, like people that are big now like Che Fu, Tourettes was there, just so many cats ended up at our parties and cyphers. It was all freestyle and with lots of weed and liquor. that shit shaped my life. 

I used to go and MC with my mates and then cruise out and tag or take a walk down the train lines. A lot happened that turned me off MC-ing though. I quit drinking and lost a lot of confidence in the process. False confidence albeit but still a necessary part of my process at that stage in my life. Graffiti just took over, the anonymous fame and the adventure. 

Eventually I just stopped rhyming all together and didn't even write a single line again until about nearly 3 years ago. I have to give credit where credits due, Tourettes gave me the encouragement to give it another go and also Cyphanetik played perhaps a bigger part than he knows. As you may know I just fucked around with mixtape freestyles for the most part, but late last year I felt the urge to write some complete songs.

I heard Esspro's beats online through here and then emailed him about it. we started working together immediately. I knew in all hoesty that I could never listen to a whole album of myself so I would never wish that on anyone else and thats when I approached Megatron. things just clicked and Tomb Raiderz was born. 3 months later we have completed a whole album of material which will be released on some sort of scale in about a month or so!

You have been involved in the local scene for a long time , what are some of the changes you have noticed for better or worse?

I don't know if there was even a solid scene before the late 90's. It was more like several isolated crews or groups of people doing there thing. Now there are solid networks. There is industry, the is also underground as well. it is all thriving and alive. it is self sustainable and diverse.

Your also a member of the stick up kids which is home to many of the top writers in the world , how did you hook up with them?

Through Can 2 from Germany. We brought him out a few times and in that time both Exist and I really clicked with him. Our Birthday's are all really close together and on each of our B'days we got put in the crew.

It's real cool and real humbling for me at the same time. The line up has actually changed a bit last month and heaps of writers have been given the option to move on and the rest of us are still down and going to rep SUK to the fullest so look out for our new moves this year.

Running your own gallery now , do you find the 'art community' accepting of graffiti as a legitimate art form or?

I don't care what the general public think anymore. enough people come here and buy art to sustain us having a gallery. If that answers the question? I'm not interested in legitimising the art form, I am concerned with feeding talented people who deserve to live from what they are good at.

Who in your opion is really pushing boundries with their work?

So many people eh.. Deus, Fiasko, Sens, Gasp, just so many people locally have just hit the point where their idea's have clicked into place and they are going in crazy directions and tangents. I'm proud to be one of the artists that have put in the hard yards to expose this work to the world.

What advice do you have for any upcomming writers out there?

Just do it. be true to yourself. Learn the history. get some foundation and do real letters before you go on to doing tricky stuff. All the advice older people told me when I asked for it and at the time I thought they were being narrow minded and mean to me.

Now a few questions from our members ... askew-i remember u sayin that u been in some old adds. wot adds were they?

Haha.. so many dumb ads. it's just work though. It's hard to be an artist with no other source of income and survive off that 100% of the time.

askew-will we see a disruptiv video?? with live action?

Yip.. it's definitely on the cards, also we are gonna make more of a move into publishing books and releasing music.

Askew: Back in the day 1990 - 95 grafitti and tagging was a serious offence if caught by the cops, how much do you think it has changed now, and what are corporate responses to graff when they approach you to do a piece?

The penalties for graffiti are way more heavy now than in 1990. They actually keep a good tab on what each artist does and take civil cases against you when you get caught. so not only can you end up with a criminal record, but you might end up bankrupted by the city.
Corporate's are the same they've always been. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't at least try to educate them on some level when we get the chance.

Ring The Alarm playlist, January 18

Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - This land is your land
Charles Bradley - Why is it so hard?
El Michels Affair - Detroit twice
Thee Lakesiders - Si me faltaras tu
Preston Love - Omaha BBQ
Patrizia and Jimmy - Trust your child pt1
Mickey and the Soul Generation  - Get down brother
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band - Express yourself (alternate version)
Soul Severes  -I got it (Kenny Dope edit)
Fat Freddys Drop - The raft (Jet Jaguar Findaway mix)
Pitch Black - 1000 mile drift (International Observer remix)
Massive Attack vs Mad Professor - Bumper ball dub (Karmacoma)
Tricky vs Gravediggaz - Tonite is a special night (Chaos mass confusion mix)
Super Cat - Scalp dem (Wu Tang mix)
Combinations - Freddy Fender
Bobby Valentin - Use it before you lose it
Pete Rodriguez - I like it like that
La Lupe - Fever
Rafael Cameron - Funtown USA
Bernard Edwards  - Your love is good to me
Carl Carlton - She's a bad mama jama
Conquest - Action pt1
Ardijah  -Which way is up
Parliament - Starchild
Isaac Aesili - Chemistry (Synthstrumental)
Treva Whateva - Singalong
James Brown - Shoot your shot
Lyn Collins - Mama Feelgood

Lost Tribe interview (Real Groove, Nov 1997)

The Lost Tribe – Check behind the fridge
By Grant Smithies, Real Groove, Nov 1997, p17.

Open wide. It's time for a taste of the true Pacifican flavor, yall. Beware of imitations and look for the mark of quality, namely the Urban Pacifica logo, a sure sign of music that is as UP main man Phil Fuemana puts it, "strong and proud with all its cultural soul intact."

The first sighting of Urban Pasifika's musical manifesto came in the shape of Moizna, four young women making R&B sweeter than pawpaw yet tough as coconut shell. Its the brothers turn to get busy as Lost Tribe step 'to the mlc to tell you what it means to be young, gifted and Polynesian.

Lost Tribe are Johnny 'JS Jester' Sagala and Danny 'Brotha D' Leaosavaii from Samoa, Kendall 'KD'' Kereopa Takai from the Cook Islands, Jonathan 'Son Tan' Pale from Tonga and DJ Jim E 'Finkas' Makai from the Niue Islands, all speaking for themselves but representing plenty. Debut single 'Summer in the winter' is crawling up the charts and Johnny Sagala is on the phone.

Johnny Sagala: "The band consists of people from a lot of Pacific Islands... Tonga, Samoa, Nuie and the Cook Islands and it's like, we're all descendants from those islands, with some of us born here and some of us born over there but living here in New Zealand we tend to get a bit confused about our identity. It's easy to become lost people in a lost land and the name Lost Tribe tries to express that feeling."

Your press release talks of Lost Tribe ''demanding respect for Polynesian culture, accountability for past injustice and Polynesian leadership for our future" and acting as "flag bearers for the Islands." Do you see yourselves as positive role models for young Pacifikans?

"I hope so. We're just speaking our minds on matters like identity and self respect, and trying to let the lads know that they don't need to look further than themselves to find a strong culture. You don't need to copy all those American styles, you know? That's what our first single 'Summer in the Winter' is about, knowing your own roots and being yourself. I have a son, and I want him to grow up smart, with a good head on has shoulders.

“I figure whatever I can teach my son, I can teach other young people. Even the way we work together sends out strong messages about Polynesian unity. Myself and DJ Finkas mainly hook up the beats, along with Phil Fuemana, and all four vocalists write their raps from their own viewpoints and cultural backgrounds, Just expressing ourselves as Polynesians and how we live every day, trying to be positive."

Chuck D of Public Enemy often talks about seeing rap as ''the black CNN' and himself as an ''urban reporter', dispensing the real news to his people.

"Yeah, and Lost Tribe are like the TV3 News for Polynesians! (laughs) We're the news service for those people from the Islands who maybe don't understand much English. Like we rap mostly English but with a lot of Polynesian flavour, a lot of jokes and references that Island people will recognise and relate to."

One refreshing thing about both yourselves and the rest of the UPR posse (Moizna, AKA Brown, Fuemana etc. all soon to be showcased on the Pioneers of a Pasifikan Frontier album) is the authenticity of your muisc, the lack of gangsta cliches.

"We're trying to be more honest with our music. That's not how we're living over here... we don't all have guns, racism here isn't nearly so blatant, we're in Auckland not Brooklyn it's the Polynesian capital of the world and it's all good! And of course hip-hop, even in the States, hasn't alway been about the gangsta life, lt used to be more funky party music with a message.

“Hip-hop is blowing up in this country at present, but people forget it's had a presence in New Zealand since the early 80s, back when the movie Beat Street came out. I mean we were bopping and breakdancing back when I was in Intermediate, and it was part of our culture, we weren't even thinking about trying to seem like Americans.

"Now though, here in South Auckland, there's so many young people massively influenced by American styles, dressing like that, talking like that, what are they gonna do next, carry guns? We just want to take that music back to the basics... pride, self respect, knowledge of your own culture, and the artform of living peacefully."

RELATED: Phil Fuemana interviewed in Stamp magazine, 1994.
Urban Pacifika profiled in Real Groove, June 1999

Ring The Alarm playlist, January 11

Marvin Gaye - Got to give it up
BT Express - That's what I want for you baby
Maxayn - Bail out
Tina Turner - Whole lotta love
Dead End Boogie - New tires
Darondo - Didn't I (Trishes edit)
Sharon Jones and the Dapkings - Road of broken hearted men (live)
Jackson Sisters - I believe in miracles (remix)
Ekadek - Love in your eyes
Dub Connection - Knokoder
Longsy D - This is ska (Greg Churchill edit)
Rockers Hifi - Rockers to rockers (come again)
Rootical Sound - Dub it today
Joe Dukie and DJ Fitchie - This room
Rhythm and Sound with Love Joys  -Best friend
Trinity - Three piece suit
Hi-tones -Got to be at that party
Shirley Bassey - Light my fire (Kenny Dope remix)
Nuyorican Soul - I am the black gold of the sun (MAW remix with Q-Tip)
Willie Bobo - Fred neckbones (Dan the Automator remix)
Pete Philly and Perquisite - Amazed (Seji's bugaloo rub)
Lee Scratch Perry - Jungle youth (Congo Natty remix)
Kode9 & SpaceApe  -Victims

Ring The Alarm playlist, January 4

Massive Attack - Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni remix)
Special AKA - Racist friend
Love Joys - Gimme back
Farm Fresh Sound System - Roots once again (Max Rubadub remix)
Primal Scream - Higher than the sun
One Self - Blue bird
Booker T and the MGs - Harlem shuffle
Johnnie Taylor - I am somebody
Chris Clark - Love's gone bad
Marvin Gaye - Got to give it up
BT Express - Express
Aretha Franklin - Get ti right
Undisputed Truth - You + me = love
Elektro Hafiz with Grup Ses - Mega hafiza 2
The Suffers - Do whatever
The M-Tet - Express yourself
Aaradhna - Lorena Bobbitt
Platinum Pied Pipers feat Tiombe Lockhart - Stay with me
Oddisee - Chocolate city dreaming
Joe Bataan - Subway Joe
Latin Blues Band - Lay an oz on me baby
Ray Barretto - Oh elephante (Shh remix)
El Michels Affair - 12345678910
Lee Fields and the Expressions -Don't give up

Ring The Alarm playlist, December 28

Cookin On 3 Burners - Cars
James Brown - The payback
The JBs - Gimme some more
Fred Wesley  - (It's not the express) It's the JBs Monaurail (pt 1)
Bohannon - Bohannon walk
Betty Davis - Anti love song
Clarence Reid - Masterpiece (Kenny Dope edit)
Helene Smith - You got to be a man
Hawk - Don't judge a book by its cover
Kutiman - No groove where I come from
Alvin Cash - Keep on dancin'
Renee Gayer Band - Really really love you
Rick James - Bustin' out
Parliament - Agony of DeFeet
De La Soul with Chaka Khan - All good?
DJ Spinna - Dillagence
24 Carat Black - 24 carat black
Dennis Coffey - Scorpio
Fat Freddy's Drop - Mother mother
DLT - Liquid skies (UltraNeon mix)
Damon Locks and Black Monument Ensemble - The colours that you bring
Lady Wray - Come on in
Liam Bailey - Champion
Soul Sugar with Leo Carmichael - Never too much (discomix)
Dub Asylum - French letter