Debuts right on the money

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

Just as the New Zealand Music Awards figures it's high time for a hip-hop category, these two local hip-hop debuts gatecrash their way into the top 20.

If that makes for a competition, the crossover between the two albums- DJ P-Money guests on the Deceptikonz disc and vice-versa - would say otherwise.

What both albums do share is an aggressive streak that suggests a heading on this new chapter in Kiwi rap: the New Nastiness.

These albums swear like troopers, would probably start a fight if left unsupervised and - worryingly - occasionally veer towards a lyrical misogyny that sounds like a hand-me-down from their American counterparts. No wonder they're instantly popular.

Fortunately, P-Money's album comes with something else: the New Funkiness.

With the champion turntablist joined by a cast of MCs, including the four-man Deceptikonz crew, regular employer Che-Fu and his main vocal offsider Scribe, P-Money's album emerges as a crunchy, colourful affair that catches the ear with its attention to sonic detail.

It swings on scratched and sampled Bacharach strings, slices of antique jazz-funk and deep-rumbling grooves.

While it's a showcase of sorts for P-Money's deft way with a turntable, it rises above it with obvious studio smarts and an astute rapper recruitment policy.

The result is compelling - especially on highlights like the brilliant, flute-figure-powered The Xpedition, The Freshmaker and the title track on which he finds speaking parts for what must be a fair percentage of the New Zealand hip-hop community.

The lyrically dodgy offering that is Stay Dirty (featuring Unique) doesn't help the cause, and the warped electronic remix of Che-Fu's hit Fade Away seems unnecessary, too. But on the whole Big Things is one vital hip-hop album.

Less energetic, not as musically interesting but all the more aggressive is the debut by the Deceptikonz, the four-man crew of Mark "Mareko" Sagapolutele, Daniel "Alphrisk" Maoate, David "Devolo" Puniani and Demi "Savage" Savelio.

Theirs is a low-slung, vocally bellicose sound that takes its cues from the more paranoid-aggressive American crews - some of which offer their verbal endorsements on the occasional interlude.

Trouble is, for all of its swagger it's a little thin-sounding and the tracks tend to blend into each other.

That's apart from Fallen Angels (with its gospel backing), the creepy title track and Broken Home, the autobiographical tale of growing up fatherless in Manurewa, which neatly sets new local standards for, as they say, keeping it real.

Deceptikonz' first outing isn't a great hip-hop album, but it's when they align their combativeness to something personal and honest that they sound the most dangerous.

P-Money: Big Things

Label: Dirty/Kog

Decptiokonz: Elimination

Label: Dawn Raid