South side success

Dawn Raid’s Andy Murnane (left) and Danny Leaosavaii.

You have to wonder when Dawn Raid will release its own vodka brand or energy drink.

The South Auckland music and clothing label is probably a little too community-focused to be distilling its own spirits like Jay-Z. But energy drinks - like Nelly's Pimp Juice - have to be a distinct possibility. After all, it's done everything else that's a necessary accessory to hip-hop and R&B music. There's the recording studio, Clientele (a second record label), a fashion label, clothes, shoes, hip-hop tours, a community trust and educational courses. And the latest accessory is the nightclub, Chocolate City, in downtown Papatoetoe.

Dawn Raid co-founders Andy "YDNA" Murnane and Brotha D (Danny Leaosavaii) say Chocolate City is a place where the community can meet the musicians on an everyday level.

"We're on a different sort of plateau now with Dawn Raid," says Brotha D. "When people come to our club they're expecting the artists to be there. It's where the artists can interact with their community again and all their friends who have been left behind, they can bring them back in. It's an area where we can talk together and share stories. We just had our Christmas party there."

Murnane: " It was huge. We brought [American R&B duo] K-Ci & JoJo down here. They [the community] will be talking about that for years."

Other highlights of the year include the launch of Clientele Records, the success of Adeaze, who this week clocked up more than 30,000 sales of their debut album, Always And For Real, and next year Dawn Raid opens an Australian office.

It's unusual for a label synonymous with hip-hop to have a group such as Adeaze as its best-selling act. But, explains Murnane, Adeaze were Dawn Raid's first crew. "R&B music has never been far from what we do," says Murnane.

"All the kids love it," adds Brotha D, "and we love it. But we wanted to bring up the hip-hop stuff because it's harder to put in the world. R&B soothes the soul so it's easier. Through Adeaze we brought up Aaradhna [who appears on the duo's current single, Getting Stronger]."

Clientele came about because of the number of up-and-coming artists who had music ready to release, including the debut album from Onehunga crew RES and the debut solo album from Deceptikonz member Alphrisk.

Murnane: "We've created a successful profile and standard for Dawn Raid that we don't want to change. But all the artists had been working hard and we had all these finished projects, and if you sit on finished projects they're going to get old. We couldn't really put these on Dawn Raid but these kids need an opportunity to get their music out there."

Brotha D says that Alphrisk's album, The Best Kept Secret, came to light during the recording of Savage's album, Moonshine.

"I always encourage them to do their own thing because the more material we have, the better it is. It started from Mareko, they all got the vibe from that and when Savage started doing his it increased that vibe and Alphrisk just popped up with this full length album out of left field."

"[Dawn Raid] is a growing thing," says Brotha D, "and for it to grow further we've just got to keep feeding it. That's what we're doing. The music comes out, the fashion, the clothing, the shoes ... "