4 Corners interview (2006)

Feature: 4 Corners - Laying Down the Foundations

By Gareth Shute (photography by Steve Tilley), NZ Musician, August/September 2006 (Vol:13, No:1)

Mainstream music listeners got a first taste of 4 Corners in 2002 with their appearance on the P-Money/Scribe track Synchronise Thoughts. The track proved what hardcore hip hop fans already knew - that 4 Corners' Ngakoma 'Koma' Connerand Hohepa 'Hepaklypz' Morgan are two of slickest flowing rappers in the local scene. 

By the following year 4 Corners had begun recording demos for an album at Kog Transmissions, trading rhymes for beats with various local producers. However when Dirty Records split from Kog the group too decided to part ways. The demos they had recorded so far were not strong enough to release as a fully fledged album. Instead they turned the tracks into 'Rap Related', a mix-tape they sold through shows and specialist stores. They toured the country with Nesian Mystik and Misfits of Science, before regrouping in their hometown of Hamilton to start serious work on an album.

Brett 'DJ Omega B' Wagner, one of the group's founding members, had returned to Hamilton after three years in Wellington. He and partner Ayesha Kee were responsible for starting NZ hip hop magazine Back2Basics, and Brett was able to bring his talent for organisation to the recording process in the role of executive producer. The group were also aided by the return of Stacey 'DJ Militia' Adams, who had spent three years in Auckland completing a degree at MAINZ. He created his own K-Town Studio in Hamilton and began making beats for the group, primarily using Logic.

The group received a new recording grant from NZ On Air which gave them the chance to record their first single On the Downlow, at York St with Steve Roberts (Scoobs). Koma found it a useful experience.
"York St has got a really strong sound, but because we got along well with Scoobs, he'd give advice to Militia and so he was constantly learning about how to make things sound better. The sound that was coming out of K-Town studios last year is nothing compared to the sound that's coming out this year."

Koma found that working with Militia allowed the group great flexibility with their recording.
"He'd give us beat CDs that we'd choose from and use to make demos. Three or four tracks developed like that. Other times, he'd play us a beat and we'd write something to go with it, then talk to him about how we thought the instruments should be... we spent two weeks doing demos for the album. Once we knew which songs we wanted to use we went through the process of re-recording everything properly."

Various other highly experienced producers also contributed beats to the album including P-Money, Juse, and Ali. The group had originally hoped to work more with P-Money but he was too busy to be seriously involved. Instead P- put the them in touch with some rising talent that he'd discovered in West Auckland - two brothers who produce as Fire and Ice. Three of the album tracks were based on beats they created.

Established Hamilton talent Tyna Keelan helped out too, not only rapping but also playing guitar on the album. They were also visited in the K-Town studio by Ladi 6, Tyra Hammond and Maia Rata (another artist signed to Disruptiv), who all contributed vocals to various tracks. Che Fu recorded vocals for Live It Again in his home studio and at York St. The final sessions were then mixed by Steve Roberts and mastered by Chris Winchcombe at York St.

The resulting album, called 'The Foundations', was assigned to Disruptiv Music who had also released their first single. 4 Corners represent their unique approach from the very start of the album, putting a haka and mihi before the first track which is called Urban Maori.

Koma believes this kind of approach was long overdue. 

"Brett was the one who came up with the idea to do a song like that. It just seemed to be something that was missing in Aotearoa hip hop. A lot of people are so influenced by what's happening in New York or elsewhere overseas... but we've got a heritage that can only be represented from here."

4 Corners give respect to local rap pioneers Upper Hutt Posse, including a photo of them within the album's insert. It is another way in which 4 Corners show themselves to be centred in the foundations of hip hop, as Brett acknowledges. 

"We're still doing what we've always done since we began. Things are sounding better and hopefully we're more organised than when we got together in '98. But back then we had an idea of what we wanted to do and we're doing it now with this album. That's why it's called 'The Foundations' - with any part of hip hop you have to learn the fundamentals before you can get anywhere."

With their own foundations now well in place, 4 Corners are ready to build a long and healthy future in the local hip hop scene.