Chosen by Nick Harrison and Jay Roacher
Written by Jay Roacher
Diaz Grim – ‘Finding Jamie’
I was having trouble finding something I felt deserving of number one this week until I heard this. I'd never heard of Diaz Grim until twenty minutes ago, but if all his music is in this vein this then I'll back him from now on. This actually reminds me of something Nettsmoney and I might make so all of a sudden it made choosing number one pretty easy, ha! Content wise its pretty simple, some laid back weed smoking rhymes over a super slowed down vocal sample and acoustic guitar beat. This is the perfect song to listen to while you take a bunch of painkillers and smoke a blunt, then nod out and melt into your couch. The video is nicely done and has a bunch of hazy, double vision shots of a girl riding a bike down a hill with appearances from the rapper being few and far between and I'm not mad at it at all for taking that route.
Karizma – ‘Coming Home’
Stylistically speaking Karizma doesn't really make music that's my cup of tea, but I honestly think he is criminally underrated. His schemes and flows are always impeccable and his songs generally have some sort of concept going on and a high quality beat. On this single taken from his recently released album “Words To Live By” he weaves lyrics about his life in his home town (Christchurch) in and out of this Young Focus (who also sings the hook) produced beat with ease, and his verses show great timing and are littered with subtle wordplay which may go missed by the untrained ear. Karizma has been rapping for something like nine or ten years now, and while he's released a slew of mixtapes this is his first full length album. The fact he waited this long really shows in the quality of the music on Words To Live By. Do the guy (and yourself) a favour and check it out. Its available free at http://soundcloud.com/big-sima
Tyson Tyler – ‘To Be King’
The latest single from Tyson Tyler and he continues to manage to walk the fine between raw underground rap and accessible radio friendly music without a problem. This time around Tyson drops rapid fire double time raps over a feel good beat that perfectly compliments his booming voice. There's also a remix by Yorel for once you're finished playing the original version until the wheels fall off. It's only a matter of time before Tyson becomes a household name in New Zealand hip hop so make sure you catch sooner rather than later.
Jane Deezy/Konflikt – ‘What Bitch Want What?’
I was first introduced to Jane Deezy when she did a song with Louie Knuxx a month or so back and was impressed enough to be interested in checking for more of her songs. This joint with fellow Wellingtonian MC Konflikt is basically a brag fest, but its done pretty well so I can dig it. Jane Deezy raps about Harry potter, MMA, Japanese weaponry, Phillie blunts and more while Konflikt drops lines about Peter Jackson, Cricket and cartwheels . The hook is a blatant call out asking 'who wants war' and 'what bitch wants what'. I know that sounds silly but it really is way better than I just made it sound and well worthy of its place in the top 5.
Tranzmute – ‘Reflections’
If you want a reason to watch this video I have two great ones. Firstly the guy has face tattoos. Secondly (as if the first reason isn't enough) there's some weird looking girl dressed in a Yukata doing an Asian dance with a fan during the haunting chorus. It's the honest content in the lyrics where Tranzmute reflects on his life that attracted me to this track more so than the actual sound of the track, but don't get me wrong there's a dope Fire and Ice beat and its mixed and mastered by Zebulon (Unique) Bult, so sonically its most certainly a tight song. Check it out.
Ayebro.co.nz