The NZ Music Awards went down last night, with the Hip Hop category containing some of Aotearoa’s most riveting artists on the music scene today. Alice Lolohea caught up with Church and AP, Diggy Dupe and Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club at the awards ceremony.
OPINION: The Vodafone NZ Music Awards have come and gone for another year. And while the number of Pasifika nominees were sparse (you could count them on one hand), it was nevertheless encouraging and inspiring to see the young talent of Aotearoa’s music scene walking the VNZMAs carpet for the first time.
Up for Best Hip Hop Artist, Diggy Dupe was nominated on the strength of his second EP, Island Time. It’s a body of work which demonstrates Diggy’s maturity as an artist, both lyrically and musically. Yet, the nomination came as a surprise to the Grey Lynn artist. “It’s crazy, I haven’t even dropped an album yet… It shows you that the groundwork is there. I’m at ground level and I’m with everyone.”
Hip Hop duo Church & AP were also nominated for Best Hip Hop Artist, including Breakthrough Artist and Single of the Year. AP was thankful for the nod. “[We’re] real blessed and grateful to be nominated with all the other artists we’ve been nominated with.” Church was equally appreciative, “last year I was in High School. We weren’t even in a position where we could be here. So, coming here, especially as two Samoan Tongan kids, it’s amazing.”
While it has been encouraging to see Urban music grow steadily in New Zealand, it seems it has yet to receive the proper recognition it deserves at an awards ceremony like the VNZMAS. It was only three years ago when Aaradhna, after winning Best Urban/Hip Hop artist, called out the awards for placing her in a category which didn’t adequately describe her as an artist. Subsequently, a large number of changes were made to the categories for the 2017 VNZMAS, which included the addition of Best Soul/R&B artist and Best Hip Hop artist in 2017.
Despite these changes, it was disheartening to see these very same categories delegated to the ad breaks of the show, which means NZ audiences would have initially missed Avantdale Bowling Club rapper Tom Scott’s acceptance speech. Winning the award for Best Hip Hop Artist, Tom called the awards a large phone advertisement for Vodafone, and urged Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to visit Ihumātao. We caught up with the double Tui winner backstage. “They always put me in the ad break,” he said disappointingly, but doubled down on his statements to the Prime Minister. “She should go down to Ihumātao, and we’re still standing on stolen land. If I have anything to say as a Pākehā living in this country it’s that… we can’t act like we’re saving the environment or saving s**t till we right that wrong.”
While many would assume an element of rivalry between the artists, each Hip Hop nominee had genuine respect and admiration for one another. Tom noted the importance of being nominated together with his own contemporaries. “It’s an honour. I was just writing music with [Church] and Diggy last week. They’re my peers and my inspiration and my competition. That’s how you make good music. Steel sharpens steel you know?” Diggy Dupe felt the same. “If I lose I really [haven’t] cos I [lost] to my brothers, so at the end of the day it’s a win for all of us.”
