Kiwi artists are increasingly scoring musical placements with major names like Rihanna, 21 Savage, Rich the Kid, Young Thug and Soulection. We spoke to a bunch of our local bedroom producers who say they’re starting to realise that even if you’re young, Māori and making beats in your grandmother’s garage in Tauranga, there’s no telling where a solid work ethic and major passion for music might take you.
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LMC
Villette
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Villette says Instagram has now become a primary platform to network as an artist. One morning after releasing her album she remembers waking up to hundreds of new followers because dance crews had used her tracks to choreograph hip-hop dance routines.“It's huge to me because when I first made the song I didn't picture anyone dancing to it. You don't realise the stuff that you make here, you chuck it on the internet and then people can connect and grab that and make their own interpretation of how that song makes them feel and then use that song to create music. That’s insane to me.”
Haan808
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Currently halfway through a degree in product design, he manages to fit the music in before and after lectures. “There’s a lot of people in my class [at uni] that don't even know what I do,” he says. Now 22, he has enough collaborations and placements—including names like Young Thug—to be able to pay his rent while studying.In terms of success Haan says he feels like a baby in his career. He learned the ‘hustle’ from his parents, who built a life in New Zealand together after marrying young and arriving from the Middle East, “with 20 bucks in their pocket”. As for what’s next? He plans to finish his degree and head overseas. “My market is not actually NZ. Don’t get me wrong, there are people that listen to my music in NZ and I appreciate that, but in terms of electronic music and my style, it’s all like London, LA, Montreal, all liberal places—much more liberal places”.