top X

In the December issue of Real Groove magazine they put Take Me Home at the number ten spot for their Songs of the Year list. Thanks fellas.

whats in a name?

As we approach the mixing stage of the album I thought I'd let it officially be known, the second album is gonna be titled Bazooka Kid.

When doing interviews for Rookie Card there was three questions that I got over and over...

1."What does PNC stand for?"
2."Whats up with the dinosaur?"
3."Why Rookie Card?"

And with a title like this, I'm sure it will be more of the same. The answer... I don't really know. When I started writing and collecting the beats for it, I just had the word "bazooka" in my head. I just like the ridiculousness of a bazooka. It's like when Slick Rick is talking to Russell Simmons in The Show about how far will gangsta rap go, and he says "the next man will be like 'yo i carry a bazooka, what up...'". If I rap about shooting a shotgun, you'd think I'm an eatass wannabe, talk about shooting a bazooka, its just funny. And when you start an album or song or anything creative you want them to be like 'this is nuts!' and for it to hit people like an explosion to the grill. With NZ Hip-Hop being basically ignored by the mainstream, I think it's freed us up to do whatever we want, and be as stupid as we want to.

The more songs I did, the more I got an image of a kid running with a bazooka. No matter how wrong it is, a kid running with a gun is simultaneously crack up and reckless. Think Lil Ze' in City Of God. And that dichotomy is something I think can be found in my shit, and a lot of artists I look up to (Eminem, Luda). PN Whoa is playful and happy, but lyrically its all sex, drinking and dissing.

So as you can see by this semi abstract explanation, there is no concise reason for the title. But hopefully you can get some sort of understanding from my verbose attempt. Interviewers, please refer to this, it'll save us both a lot of time.

don't tell your friends or I'll say your a slut

I already know this will be the drinking anthem when I go back to Palmy. Andy Samberg is the king of musical comedy right now.

i got keeeys, comin from overseeeas

Hit up the Alicia Hansen concert on Saturday, and it was the sheeit. It was the second time I've been to two concerts in a week at Vector (first being Timberlake and Lionel Richie, this time Kanye and Ms Keys), and the difference between the two crowds and atmosphere was extreme once again. No smashed 17 year olds throwing glow sticks, it was predominantly brown women rocking and swaying to the hits, one hand in the air church style. It fit, as Diary going into her rendition of Tender Love accompanied by Jermaine Paul AKA Josh Howard was somewhat religious for me and my better half. Only bad part was the obvious finger pointing and dedications to me personally... got a bit embarrassing after awhile.

In other news... my bad for not posting nada in a hot minute. Why the silence? I haven't really had shit to say. I could post everyday about how the lady at Subway puts cuccumber on my chicken fillet when I ask her not too, but I didn't want to bore you. Still hard at work with Evander Hollishort in the studio, trying to finish up this album. Haven't properly talked about the album title, so I'll drop a post on that later in the week. Also coming with my Top 40 Songs of the Year, so keep an eye out like Houston for that one.

always running for the thrill of it

This track from Ozzie duo Empire Of The Sun has catapulted into my songs of the year list. Tight.

In other news... the Super Club show in Welly's went off. Had to be the most fun gig in a long ass time. Shot to everyone that came out, especially Shan for putting the whole thing on and keeping the free rums flowing ha.

I see my mate Peter Money has regained that #1 spot this week too, so congrats on that. Hopefully it will dominate Oz, then the UK... then the US... and we'll all being cashing that How Bizzare paper. For now though we're just walking on a dream I guess (see what I did there???).

reminder...

SuperClub at Shooters tonight in Wellington.

The homie David Dallas unfortunately can't make it, but you know we refuse to disappoint, so a certain MTC member has joined the cast for the night.

See you there.

P-Money - Everything (rap remix)

Me Scribble and Dave on Petes jam. Yay-eah.

partaaay... partaaay

This should be fun as hell. Wellington is my favourite spot to perform in NZ, so Im looking foward to it alot. Just to clear up any confusion, the live performance is gonna be my set with Dave, Awa and Neezy doing short guest spots on it. Heeth will be spinning the hits for a few hours too. Pera's also gonna jump up, so, basically a big ass party.

shot

Real Groove editor Duncan Grieve wrote a wicked little review of Take Me Home on his blog over at The Wire. Peep it here.

PNC - Take Me Home (VIDEO)

PNC - "Take Me Home" feat. Mz J

Out of all my singles, this is the most comprehensive reflection of the shit I actually listen to, ha. Featuring supremely talented newcomer Mz J. Produced by the home Forty One. Pump ya fist like its 86' and enjoy.

PNC - Take Me Home feat. Mz J



Only available HERE on Amplifier right now. I'll post next week when its up on all the other digital sites. Worrrd.

YOUTUBE link if you wish to pass along in that manor too.

the tiki...ahh tui's

Vodafone NZ Music Award Nom's dropped today. Tour Of Dirty cohort Tiki is up for every award including Best Album, Best Solo Artist, Best Supporting Actor and Best Fight Scene. Good shit I reckons.

Pretty fair all round. I would of chucked Anika Moa Standing In This Fire or Ladyhawke Back Of The Van in the best song category, but thats just a personal thing. Thought the Nesian brotha's might get a look in with their chart topper Nesian 101 too. Ahh well, your all winners in my books! *tumbleweed*

The category I'm always perplexed with is Breakthrough Artist Of The Year. I think because I don't really understand the definition. I've always thought of it as dudes who came out of nowhere to succeed. Sort of a Rookie Of The Year situation. Tiki and Flight Of The Concords have undoubtedly had breakthrough years in various ways, but I knew who both of them were last century. Then you have someone like Young Sid, who was basically unknown to the mainstream last year, and now is the one of the most popular artist's within New Zealand youth. Ladyhawke and Gin I thought were shoe-ins, but ahh... no. I agree totally with Cut Off Your Hands though.
SIDENOTE: Cut Off Your Hands are good cunts. My boy Michael knew every single word to Lil Jon - Lovers & Friends at the MTV Snow Jam. THE man.

The Hip-Hop Album Of The Year category is tight as. Sid's album was ill, but Scribble is nominated for Best Overall Album too, so if he lost it would be kind of like when Dikembe Mutombo won Defensive Player Of The Year then didn't get in the All-Defensive Team. Just wouldn't make sense really.

Good luck to err'body. I'll be there for sure. Hopefully my man doesn't stop me from entering the after party for being "too intimidating" this year and I don't have to Andrew Mehrtens another gift bag.

you got the juice now

CLICK HERE to sign up and vote for Find Me in the Best Hip-Hop Video category at the 8th Annual Juice TV Awards. Juice have always been good cunts and supported local music, so should be fun to once again party it up with the channel 62 click.

On another note, check this e-mail I got from my mate Barry in response to this nomination...

"I have voted, let it be known that PNC will now win this category of music... shortly thereafter he will retire at his peak to pursue his life long ambition of becoming NZ's foremost lounge singer... He will roam like the glamorous NZ Rodeo from Provincial city to small town to backwater community spreading the sound of sweet lounge... ladies everywhere will shower him with womens and in some towns mens undergarments... the velour tracksuit will make way for the micro-suede suit with crushed velvet lappels... it is not healthy for Sam to tame this inner turmoil for much longer... he must be allowed to live what he has been born to be... PN Lounge MC... let it be known.. the future of NZ music awaits...

Pce.

b"

Sounds like a plan.

get ya rap game on

This is the clip I posted bout a few months ago. BeatKamp ft. MZRE, Savage, PNC, Xy & OPW - Rap Game (remix). Was good times making it. Check out my "Mean flow combo x3!!!" haha.

get money... new money!

Check out my mate P-Money's meanage new single Everything and be prepared to party like its 1999 (see what I did there?). Featuring the ultra talented Vince Harderbetterfasterstronger. Hook penned by yours truely.

rush wars

dopeness x wackness

Sooo, we just finished up the 2 Rappers & a DJ Tour over the weekend, and it was an educational tour to say the least. The main lesson learnt was that if your hungry, don't drunkenly eat "cookies" at an apartment where the inhabitant seems she's been on drugs since puberty. The homie Dave had a true Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, experience.

Methven and Whakatane were my favourite shows, props to all who came out. The rest of them had their ups and downs and proved to me at least that Hip-Hop in New Zealand is still in a very fucked up place. I came to this realization a long time ago, but if you didn't know, the widespread support seen for kiwi rap in the early 00's has not turned to hate, but full blown apathy. The positive thing about it in my eyes is that only great music is going to have the ability to break through this state of boredom.

With that in mind, I'm hard at work trying to finalise everything for the album. Finishing up the writing process, the artwork, the next clip (once again by Find Me director Warren Green), and getting a tour together for October with a few of the brudda's. This is simultaneously the most fun and stressful part when making an album. You don't know whether everything is gonna come together perfectly or fall apart into shattered pieces of shit. Usually ends up a bit of both.

In my d-o-w-n time I've been (finally) finishing up my GTA4 saga (how ill is the bike jump to helicopter) and challenging my next-door neighbor Awanui at NBA 2K8 (pretty even match-up, unless he goes got damn Lakers). I also caught some quality flicks like The Wackness, Cocaine Cowboys II and of course The Dark Night (going for my second viewing at Imax tonight).

Lastly, if you haven't heard me Money and D Dot are performing at the MTV Snow Jam on Saturday August 16, at Terrace Downs, near Mt Hutt. The show is free, so don't let the out of the way location get you shook. Me and Pete played the after party last year with Lupe Fiasco and it was a ball. We got told the international act's and were sworn to secrecy, but I've seen them posted on a few different sites. I'll just leave ya with a "YEEEAAAHH!" and "CRAAACK!" and you chaps can do the investigating....

HA-DO-KEN!

thaaat's riiight...

The 2 Rappers & A DJ Tour hits Ohakune tonight at the Powderhorn. Tomorrow we're in N.P. at the Brook Ale House. Come watch rap!

homecoming

I've spent the last few days back in the Oh Six, catching up with crew, drinking copious amounts of liquor, freezing to death and trying to finish the writing process for the next album.

If all artists have a spot where their most comfortable creating, mine is the bedroom I grew up in, I think in part because it's a muthafuckin' time warp. Source and Slam magazines everywhere, Starter clothes in the closet, Pac poster on the wall, broken Mase CD case, all this shit that I couldn't part ways with.

I have about 90% of this album written, and the next three weeks to finish it off. Expect an October release. Yurrrp.

RIP

This dude was the definition of legend. You could easily give him the GOAT crown for consistency alone. What other stand-up comic stayed at the same top notch level for 30 years?

"you know that song by phil collins..."

Who thought Cadbury would drop the illest ad ever.

blind the bitch

Yesterday was a good day. Think Cube fuckin' round and gettin' a triple double (LOL at Cube keeping stats in a pick-up game).

As I sat with E Double and one third of Nesian Mystik (all Lakers fans may I add) to watch my team dish out the biggest finals destruction of all-time, I got the txt to say me and a group of mates had secured tickets to the MC Gusto show.

There are a few people in the world that make me laugh consistently when they speak. Michael Jackson, Ralph from the Simpsons, Mike Tyson, my mate Hamish, but none as frequently as Chris Rock. Amped son.

Every other city we go...

Actually, not too many "city's", we coming to shut the small towns down on this one. Yezzur.

the pre-mix

Heres the original version of "Miss You".



PNC - Miss You (premix) DOWNLOAD

Jordan from Fire & Ice sent me this early on in the beat-sourcing process for Rookie Card. It was one of those joints where I instantly knew I wanted to use it and what I wanted it to be about, but (and all rappers know this struggle) the sample was a massive song, in this case being Brian McKnight's "Anytime". Suffice to say we got denied for the clearance and had to go back to the drawing board.

I hit up Chong Nee, the only dude I thought could do it justice, and he came up with another nice piano backdrop and the chorus. P-Money wasn't stoked on the remake, so me and 41 sat down and put in some what he called "bad boy shiny sounds" and in the end I thought it turned out as good if not better than the original.

This song was simultaneously the hardest and easiest song to write from Rookie Card. Hard because you never really want to bring all those feelings up again and confront them, easy because once pen hit pad the song basically wrote itself.

drippin down my throat like strawberry cream!

Neezy played this to me a good six months ago, and it remains the shit. Best NZ song in aaages.
Ermehn feat. Chong Nee - I Love The Way

"FInd Me" for FREE!

Yooooo, sorry I ain't been updating the blog a lot recently, been busy as shit. I'll be back with a vengeance next week though. To make up for it, heres a free download of "Find Me" for your listening pleasure.

PNC feat. Chong Nee - "Find Me" DOWNLOAD

find me (video)

shouts to Warren Green on the direction tip

slicker than your avereage

I often get compared to the late great Francis, so...




Courtesy of Cleo Magazine. Photograph by Stephen Tilley

come watch us rap!

"find me" feat. chong nee (audio)

Once again, props to the homie Ryan Marx for the artwork.

smiles everytime my face is up in the...

In some ways, this magazine changed my life.



Everybody knows before The Source became The Sauce, it was the information spot for a hip-hop aficionado. I was talking to Dave the other day, and he noted how it took a lot more dedication to be a fan back in the day. You had to actually buy music, study videos to see who was down with who, and wait monthly to find out what was going in this genre we obsessed over. Growing up in the Manawatu, my exposure to Hip-Hop in the late 80s, early 90s, didn't exceed much more than Rhythm Volume CD's and RTR Countdown. But later on I could rely on The Source as a bible. It was an authority on pretty much everything that I cared about at 16.



None was more important than Issue #100, January 1998. I was 13 and I remember riding my bike down to the local Write Price (Feilding's answer to Pack'n'Save) where they, unusually, stocked the magazine. Though my knowledge of rap music was advanced compared to most of my Palmy peers (I remember being asked "did you know Busta Rhymes is in Wu-Tang?"), I still didn't have a full grasp on the culture. Almost all questions were answered in this one issue. Top 100 Albums of All-Time, Top 100 Songs of All-Time, Greatest Verse of All-Time, and so on. I spent the next few months diggin' in The Warehouse bargain bins for re-issues of Paid In Full and It Takes A Nation Of Millions. See, I always knew of these artists but didn't quite understand their importance. With such limited resources it felt like the task of working out a whole cultures history would be somewhat impossible (the advent of the internet makes this sound oh so ridiculous).



That one issue gave me a foundation to work off, something I think a lot of todays artists don't have. Even though I discovered so much good shit from the past, I still wouldn't put any album pre-1992 in my personal Top 10. I grew up on Death Row and Bad Boy and their influence on me obliterates Run DMC or Boogie Down Productions. But that particular Source edition gave me a comprehensive understanding of where it all came from. It buzzes me out when kids nowadays think DMX is as old school as it gets.

Its also interesting to see how much the history of hip-hop has changed since this issue.

• Best Producer of All-Time: Puff Daddy
• "I Get Around" the only Tupac joint in the 100 Best Songs. No All Eyez On Me in the 100 Best Albums.
• Best Song of All-Time: EPMD - You Gots To Chill
• No Jay-Z in the 100 Best Songs.
  
• Illmatic the most underrated album ever.
  

I wonder what songs and albums would be added or removed from the lists. Maybe over at the Shotthen massive we could try update this classic.

or simple as do re mi...

fuzzy bad feet

Recently, C4 asked me to list a bunch of my favourite music videos. I thought I'd share some of my picks...

Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time

Engineers had it good in the 80s. Box office mega-stars would rock up, slap hands with the entourage and record dance jams in one take. If only every producer acted like Rick James in the studio, throwing the music sheet in the air and running in on the session for an impromptu cameo.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

Everyone wanted to be Michael Jackson at some point. Though Moonwalker was actually a bit of deranged movie, everyone I know had a vhs of it for this scene. MJ let off shots from a tommy gun, smashed a pool ball and leaned like a muthafucker. LOL at the orgy-sounds scene though.


The Notorious B.I.G - Mo Money Mo Problems

This remains my favourite video. Not the typically praised Hype Williams clip, but also at the top of the pile. Shiny suits, exploding money, zero-gravity rooms, Riddick Bowe... What else do you need?

Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You

Kid builds plane. Kid watches shiny-silver-music-clip-guys. Shiny-silver-music-clip-guys catch plane in clouds. Cool.

Outkast - B.O.B

This is the best opening to a clip ever. Andre getting chased by hundreds of 9 year olds. The psychedelic colours fit the madness of the song and his verse was so ill it made two of them flip downhill. Mean.

beat kamp mu-zik

I spent the weekend over in the Gold Coast with the Beat Kamp crew. They were shooting the clip for their song "Rap Game remix" which features yours truely and a slew of other nz/oz hip-hop artists.



I first connected with MZRE when we did the second Hook Up Tour, both MC'ing for DJ Sirvere. Then in 2005 we did a song intended for the Sirpreme Team album (MZRE and A.T.P) which ended up on Adeez Presents BeatKamp Mixtape Vol 1. These dudes have been doing their thing on the Coast for a while, so it was cool to see them prepping their first official release for the masses.


Rhann kept the Henny flowin'. Me and Scotty jacked Kane and O-Dog's steez.

A.T.P for my money, is the best producer from New Zealand at the moment. He's produced Savage's "Swing" (you may have heard of it??) and also has songs with everyone else on Dawn Raid and the Major Flavour's compilations. We spent Friday knockin' out a few songs and I dropped a verse on a track for Dirty Mob. Look for the homie Aaron to have multiple tracks on my sophmore effort. Yerrp!

"Ruthless, cause its easy/ how I break ya bones thug..."

Heres some images from my new single/video Find Me.

The song features vocals from the legendary Chong Nee and his protege' Tolu. These two killed it on the hook, but this isn't an R&B song whatsoever, straight hardcore rap. One of those ones where the clean version sounds a bit ridiculous. It was produced by the massively talented but relatively unknown First Class.

We brought in Warren Green to do the clip, he did alot of the stuff for The Living Room and the X-Air specials. Photography wise, this guys amazing, so I'm Tim Duncan that this clip is gonna look ill (Tim Duncan = banking, ha, I'm coming with the new slang daily!).

I've decided to hold back on releasing the song early, so the first time you'll hear it is when the clips done. That should be in the next two weeks, maybe sooner, so keep a look out. Yes. Sir.

Swagger Jackin'

I dont know how many people realized that the Just Roll verses were basically alot of lines from 90's hip-hop/r&b cuts put together. That was the inspiration for the clip, along with a an old sketch from Skitz ("wanna root ya girl...") where they were mocking Boyz II Men, hence the reason we got Oscar Kightly to do the video. Oscar is the only one I can remember that knew every line used in the song.




I put this rough as mix together to show all the bites, back when we did the track. 10 points and a gold star for anyone that can list em all.

Just Roll is still the track of mine that we had to put the most work into. The sample Official used is The Temptations - Treat Her Like A Lady, and I thought we had no chance of clearing it so I kind of wrote the song off. Low and behold, we managed to clear the publishing but not the master, meaning we had to remake the sample. Problem was, even P-Money hadn't tried to recreate a song verbatim like that, so we didn't know if we could pull it off.

We randomly found a book of Motown sheet music in a shop by the Dirty office, that had Treat Her Like A Lady in it. Money's mate DJ Sarah Love was staying down here at the time, and she could read it, so she played some of the keys (her names in the liner notes if you check it). We brought in Chong Nee to play the lead key line, and sing the vocal along with Lemuel. Money replicated the drums, put all of that to tape, and re-sampled it. In the end, I think we got as close as possible.

Is that from... Susans?....

Sheeit, I have been busy as hell recently and neglecting my blog hustle. The Tour Of Dirtay has been off the rictor as you've probably heard. We got back to Auckland on Sunday, and I started shooting the video for my next single Monday morning. Straight cant-stop-won't-stop'n on some 97' Diddy shit. I'll get more into the new song/clip later in the week though.

Ima' keep my lazy reign continuing by just adding to D Dot D.A.'s Top 10 In-Joke's of Last Week...

1. "I like what your wearing miss... Looks good on you..."
2. Txt'ing outside sources seems to be universally accepted in the Pub Quiz game nowadays, using Google on your WAP browser isn't.
3. Pouring a shot out then pretending to skull it will save you from embarrassing van situations...
4. ... so will joining Jay Bulletproof Hova on his recreational activities.
5. Welly show, best yet for the rappers.
6. "Dont battle me in a physical manner!" - Random guy talking to me on the street.
7. My boy Johnny Leota desperately needs some help in the Otago backline. The off the post fumble was next.
8. Asian restaurant workers are polite as hell.
9. Woo!woo!woo!woo!woo!woo!woo!woo!.... wooooooo, woooooo.....
10. Asian restaurant workers are polite as hell.

think twice

i wont deny it...

2Pac stays on my top 3 of all-time list. Heres a long ass verse I did over a bunch of All Eyez On Me era beats.

PNC - Ambitionz Of A Writer (2Pac Beats freestyle)



ZSHARE DOWNLOAD

five

One good sample, five good songs.

Donald Byrd - Wind Parade



Used in

• 2Pac - Defintion Of A Thug Nigga
• Black Moon - Buck Em Down
• Jewel - It's Not Deep Enough
• Louie Knuxx - Fly
• Organized Konfusion - Stray Bullet

DOWNLOAD - Wind Parade sampled tracks

auuuucklaaaaaands hotteeeessst muuuusiiiiic...

As I was doing the promo rounds for Moonlight today, I heard an interesting story at Mai FM.

When asked what my favourite part of making the song was, I said something to the effect of 'when I got to sing some Roger Troutmans'. The production manager Dave Bridgman proceeded to tell me that all the talk-box stings on Mai are actually the one and only Roger Troutman. I was skeptical to say the least, and thought this was another 'Bizzy Bone is my cousin from Gisborne' urban legend.

His story was detailed though. He basically said that in 97' when they couldn't get the talk-box sound they wanted for their ad's, they tried totally in vain to connect with Troutman through Universal. He never heard back until the day they called him to say they had the drops, and it wasn't gonna cost them anything.

But, talking to the one Turk-Stunna of Late Night Hype, he reckons its most definitely former Mai presenter Mike Haru. Im lost, don't know who to believe. Is this common knowledge in Auckland music and radio circles? Or have I had my leg acutely pulled? If you know the true story, let a brotha know. In the meantime...

gutter black freesteez

Outrageous Fortune is my [Katt Williams]sheeeeeeiiiiit[/Katt Williams]. One day when mucking around at Peter Money's place I asked him if he could have a bash at flipping the theme music. He grabbed the now classic Hello Sailor "Gutter Black" song and..



So I felt I should do my part and drop some rap lyrics upon it. Word to the Munter.





Download:PNC & P-Money - Gutter Black freestyle

NB: The homie Truce Lee's song Strictly For The Westside uses this sample too, so go check that.

classic shit

Still recovering slightly from P-Money's birthday bash on the weekend. Today is his actual b-day so holla at him on one of his numerous social networking pages and drop a line why don't ya.

This was my jam of the night, though I doubt some can remember haha.

Billy Ocean - "Carribean Queen"


classic shit, but what the fuck is goin' on in this video LOL

"moonlight" video

Yep, so here is the clip that was promised yesterday. Shouts to Jonathan Gerard on the direction tip...

we be bloggin...

"We laptop niggas, thugs on the computer"

Yes, yes, hello folks and welcome to the official PNC blog. I lamed out for too long and haven't really had my own spot to unleash venomous rants and update on daily happenings. So, this will now be the spot for checkin' all the goings on of me myself and Irene.

To have a little personal celebration for the Slick Talk premiere I will be posting the video of my new single "Moonlight" at some point today. So stay tuuuned...

EDIT: clip didn't arrive so ahh, yeah... see you tomorrow!