With the most recent visit to New Zealand from the man Gappy, I thought it was a great chance to review a tune he collaborated with our local golden boy of hip hop, on. Peter Wadams, or better known to me and you as P-Money.

This tune was released around 6 months ago and first came to my attention when I saw it on the whiteboard in the Base FM Studio, as track of the week. However I instantly assumed it was a vocal colab with the UK grime MC of the same name. I didn’t realise until Piet from Sandy Bay Social Club pointed out it was actual our own P-Money on production. I had to hear this!

At first I was somewhat sceptical of what I was about to hear. I actually thought it was going to be a rap song..I was very wrong. This is a dancehall beat first and foremost (I’m not sure if it has a name), but to some extent you can feel P-Money’s hip hop influence in there.

Heavy drums and back beat combined with claps and snares have the hip hop formula, but it’s the way P-Money has composed this that makes it a dancehall tune. I’m guessing it’s Gappy’s lyrical content that gives the tune it’s title, some of the usual boasting and bigging oneself up, but we like that. Overall it is a tuff tune and well worth a listen.

Gappy was in New Zealand for about 5 days on a southern hemisphere whirlwind tour. He once again graced us with his presence at Ponsonby Social Club (and once again it was free! Much respect to PSC and Bobby Brazuka for doing this for us each and every time). Unfortunately I missed him this time around, but the reviews where rave.

On his downtime in New Zealand (which I’m not sure Gappy usually has any of, as I’ve heard his work ethic is second to none) he recorded an EP at Red Bull Studios in Auckland. This was to coincide with the release of a video for ‘Baddest’, which he filmed with P-Money in Melbourne the previous week. I have yet to hear any of the EP, but I’m sure it’s going to be just as good as this release.

On the other hand, something I did hear was a snippet of a riddim Gappy made at Riddim Central with another local boy, Iron Will. I’m not sure how much I can say about this, but it’s amazing. Gappy also spent some time at Dawn Raid, and if the rumour mill is anything to go by, there will be a release coming out of that camp in the very near future.

NZ to the UK via JA.

Bless Up.
Danny 2 Chains