KRS-One Announces Special Guests for Wellington And Auckland

For release: TUESDAY 10 APRIL

THE SPOKESMAN OF HIP HOP KRS-ONE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL GUESTS FOR WELLINGTON AND AUCKLAND SHOWS

Every culture produces its own “keeper”. Every culture produces its own principles, its own history, its own advocates, and its own prophet pointing the way to a higher quality of life. For the urban-street culture known in the world today as “Hip Hop”, KRS-One has been the loudest voice for the actual preservation and expansion of Hip Hop worldwide.

And as Hip Hop’s first true philosopher, as an emcee/rapper, he is considered the best live Hip Hop emcee of all time. High energy, amazing freestyle abilities, a mixture of rap, reggae, spoken word and even classical music, KRS-One is a refreshing break from mainstream rap content.

His shows which are currently touring Australia, are garnering rave reviews, maintaining his reputation for giving the audience a lesson in the true essence of Hip Hop – as he says “rap is something we do; Hip Hop is something we live”. In keeping with that maxim, KRS the Teacha has been calling emcees, B boys and B girls to come up on stage and perform with him. So if you’re at the shows you might get the opportunity to get on stage with KRS!

And now Ginnen Group and Juice TV are excited to announce the very special guests joining KRS-One for his two New Zealand shows in April. Hand-picked as some of the finest New Zealand has to offer, and in keeping with the philosophy of the Temple Of Hip Hop, these guests are the perfect fit for an education in the spiritual side of Hip Hop culture.

WELLINGTON FRI 20th APRIL @ THE TOWN HALL

With local favourites Foot Souljahs, Villians, DJ Raw, DJ Spell, DJ Kerb, Kurst One, Juse 1 and Tommy Graffiti. Plus grafitti art from Triple S Crew.

AUCKLAND SAT 21st APRIL @ THE CLOUD

A very special performance by HEDLOK – featuring Che Fu, King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley with special guests Manuel Bundy, DLT and Slave. And there will be sets from DJ Sirvere, DJ CXL, and K-One with Debt Collectors featuring Tyson Tyler, Genocide, Sammy Gallows and Godmode. Plus there’s Bboys and live grafitti art from the TMD Crew!

HEDLOK is comprised of the talented trio Che Fu, King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley. For this Auckland show, the crowd can expect a set where each drops hit tracks from their albums, three sets of turntables and a co-ordinated mix of scratching and backing vocals.

In recognition of NZ’s own hip hop history, they have invited stalwarts Manuel Bundy and the legendary deejay DLT to join them – DLT also reuniting with MC Slave to bring back some epic hip hop memories of our own.

As DLT elaborates “we’ve been listening to KRS-One and the Boogie Down production crew since the album ‘Criminal Minded’ back in ‘87. Now in 2012 he’s still putting out good hip hop. Even though his music didn’t really have an impact on the pop charts, he is a true star in the hip hop community worldwide. I like him because he has covered a lot of ground vocally and is into the spiritual aspects of life and puts this into his songs. A true genius of story-telling, a hip hop tohunga!”

So don’t miss your chance to see KRS-One and these one-off legendary line-ups of New Zealand’s best in action and let’s celebrate Hip Hop History by adding our own Aotearoa chapter!

KRS-One New Zealand Tour 2012

SHOW DATES & TICKETING INFO:

Wellington – Friday 20th April @ The Town Hall
Tickets via: www.ticketek.co.nz

Auckland – Saturday 21st April @ The Cloud on Auckland’s Waterfront
Tickets via: www.1-night.co.nz

LIMITED $69 + BF EARLY BIRD TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

VIP MEET & GREETS AVAILABLE EMAIL: gsimonekrs2012nz@aol.com

For more information: www.templeofhiphop.org www.ginnen.com

EDITOR NOTES ON THE SPECIAL GUESTS:

WELLINGTON

FOOTSOULJAHS are DJ Raw, Kos163, Flowz, Shogun and Ali. A highly motivated, firmly established and widely-acclaimed musical act based in Wellington NZ, Footsouljahs layer unique lyrical styles and fuse original flavours over banging beats of master DJ, producer and British Council award recipient DJ Raw. Through a potent combination of musical talents, high-energy live shows, promotional savvy and general hustle, they have built up a substantial and intensely supportive network of fans around Aotearoa NZ and Australia.

And the Footsouljahs have provided support for some of the biggest names in hip hop - Snoop Dogg, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Black Eye Peas, The Roots, Fugees, Cypress Hill and Busta Rhymes. New Zealand’s premiere hip hop magazine Back2Basics described these crowdrocking specialists as “renowned for their ability to stage some of the livest shows in the business” noting The Footsouljahs’ steady grind has lent a definite maturity to their music that distinguishes them from the current crop of New Zealand hip hop artists.

Nowadays, it seems like DJs are everywhere. What makes DJ SPELL stand apart from other DJs is his classic approach to HipHop and Breaks. Spell is a BBoy, DJ, Beat Maker and Graffiti Writer. Summarised; Spell is Hip Hop.

Old skool pioneer in the elements of Hip hop culture. KERB 1 has nearly 30 years of knowledge and experience. A respected DJ and Graffiti writer Kerb1 has co founded and been a member of some of Aotearoa's most influential Hip Hop crews.

Raised in the Wellington Hip Hop scene since the late 90s, MC Q the KURST ONE is a clothing label C.E.O., producer, mentor, youth worker, teacher, preacher, song writer and one of Wellingtons most loyal MCs. Trained in the 'Art of MC-ing' Kurst is frequently in MC cypha's and freestyles sessions.

JUSE1, MC and Graff writer for over 10 years, he has been recognised as one of the illest freestyle MC’s in Aotearoa. He is also one of the founding members of underground Wellington hip hop group The Wanderers. Living the hip hop culture has led him to working with the community and the youth travelling through Aotearoa to speak at schools, marae and community events. Looking towards the future Juse1 is now in the process of recording his debut album.

VILLAINS are a 12 man team made up of members from various crews and soloists within Hamilton and Wellington. 4 Corners, Funk Village, Frankton Zoo, N.I, JB, Slip Of The Tongue and Juse1. Their sound is heavy, gutter-raw and just don’t give a funk! Villains are the current leaders of the Hip Hop scene in the Waikato.

AUCKLAND

HEDLOK is the first New Zealand Hip Hop based super group made up of Che Fu, King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley. The trio have been a part of the New Zealand music industry for over 20 years, sharing among them a plethora of industry accolades including the coveted APRA Silver Scroll Award for Songwriting.

“We have all been good friends since first meeting each other when we were teenagers. Now, we have families, we have travelled the world with our music, we have also been dictated to by corporations in terms of what we are ‘allowed’ to release as major label artists. We are all now at a point of our careers where we can get back to the full artistry of our craft.” Teremoana Rapley

A typical Hedlok set consists of all three dropping monster hit tracks from their albums upon three sets of turntables where each take turns dropping tracks for the other, deejay scratching and backing vocals. While the foundation of Hedlok is held down by the triad, they also invite stalwarts of the industry to join them from time to time. Ringers for Hedlok include distinguished Hip Hop deejay, Manuel Bundy, dance floor killer deejay Killamanraro and the legendary deejay DLT.

The future will see Hedlok releasing tracks from Los Angeles based producers DJ Babu, DJ Woool as well as continuing to work on their individual solo artist projects.

SIR-VERE is a hip hop pioneer, always at the forefront of the movement, learning the secrets and tricks of people like Grandmaster Flash, Jam Master Jay and DJ Premier from their records, accumulating knowledge of what makes a good and popular sound. Gradually training himself how to use the turntables and how to move a crowd through mixing, when he was ready he just seemed to explode with talent and the ability to entertain. Record spinning runs in the family, his father ran mobile discos and the young Sir-Vere helped out whenever he got the chance, this early baptism into the world of using records as a tool, stood him well as his own hip hop career took off.

For he knew that it was more than just sounds, that it was an important cultural development with opportunities to expand upon. In a way he became an ambassador of the growing culture, moving from live work to the world of radio and then television, with his first radio show called The True School show on B.F.M. starting in 1993. His hugely successful Major Flavours compilations have sold in excessive units in New Zealand , the first hitting gold, the second reaching platinum, the third also going Gold, and Volume 4 and 5 selling in excess of Double Platinum. DJ Sir-Vere is not only about the craft of a hip hop DJ but will set out to share his love of hip hop and his passion, knowledge and understanding of the music genre as a movement, a corporate business and a culture – in true Hip Hop style DJ Sir-Vere envelopes himself in it, All or Nothing!

DJCXL is a New Zealand Turntablist & Hip Hop DJ, producer and member of the band Ill Semantics. He was the 2003 NZ DMC Champion and has been terrorising the 1200’s for the last decade plus, and has firmly establishing his position at the top of the NZ, Australian and Japanese DJ scene. He has collaborated with many New Zealand and International artists on various tracks including King Kapisi's "Second Round KO" and "Dazzling DJ" with Black Wall Street Japan's S.H.O. He also remixed Chicago Producer Mulatto Patriot's "International Connection", which featured Eternia, De:Joeso, and DJ Goersch.

DJ CXL’s unique ability has provided him with countless opportunities in all facets of entertainment and music. CXL plays regularly at the hottests clubs across New Zealand and Australia so don’t miss this chance to CXL’s incredible talents live at work!

DEBT COLLECTORS are a Hip Hop collective consisting of four renowned MC’s using their different backgrounds to become allies from the underground joined by the common goal to make Raw, Hardcore Rap Music. This is DC...Tyson Tyler (South Auckland), Genocide (Hawkes Bay), Sammy Gallows and Godmode (Christchurch). All four are members of NZ’s largest hardcore rap coalition the ‘Silverback Gang’ and each have recorded and released their own tracks and collaborations with other local artists. The boys in DC transform tracks into gravy for the ears!

ENDS

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