(cassette player whirrs) (answering machine beeps) - Yo, yo, yo, what's up, Dawn Raid? Hey, let's make this worldwide global money on this rap shit. (radio station changes) - Word is on the street, man. New Zealand hip-hop. Dawn Raid Entertainment. (radio station changes) - Bringing you the best in hip-hop, with all the newest cuts. Y'all sit tight. Don't touch that dial. I got a hot track right here. - # Crunch! - # When it comes to the - # Crunch! - # Make the stage go - # Crunch! - # Pick up the mic and - # Crunch! - # Get my opponent like # Crunch! - Look out for that West Coast remix - South Auckland to LA. - # Snap, crackle and pop, ya see - # Crunch! - # When it comes to the - # Crunch! - # Make the stage go - # Crunch! - It's your boy Akon, and right now you're tuned into our new joint. - Dawn Raid Entertainment. - # Crunch! - # Crunch, snap, crackle and pop - Dawn Raid was the first New Zealand hip-hop label. - # Crunchin' up the beats. - We were living the dream. We were in New York, and we had sold a million records. - Yeah. I remember. - Everything I ever dreamed of. Whoa! We're here! It was incredible. - What?! - How can we do that? (laughs) They shouldn't allow us to do that. We're from South Auckland. - This is everything we ever wanted. This is it. This is the dream. Here comes the run. - It was bananas. But guess what? It happened. That was 2008. You know, me and D beat the odds. We beat poverty. But for us, things will never be the same again, you know? - It changed all of us. We're different men today. You know what I mean? Like, we have a... a dark part of our heart from what happened. (mellow hip-hop music) - Mid to late '90s, New Zealand hip-hop was, you know, a new thing. - # Tear the club up. # Champagne, campaign with it. # Party people, do your thing with it. # Get to it, y'all. # I get the fun, then I split with it... - We're constantly bombarded with what is imported from the US. That's what's marketed to us all the time. - # Get rich to this. - # We do a hundred on the highway. - # Get rich to this. - # Thank God for Friday. - # Get rich to this. - # Hey, they, hey, hey... - We had the American stuff on radio. But we were Polynesians. - # Get rich to this. # - We're kids from South Auckland. We had our own voice. Growing up here, that's what shaped us. (brooding atmospheric music) - When people hear South Auckland, they think Polynesian, Maori, the ghetto, crime. People think it's the scariest place in New Zealand. (chuckles) They think nothing good comes from there. I mean, you know, that's, um... that's how I think New Zealand perceives South Auckland. - But, you know, a magical thing happened at that time. That was the journey of our hip-hop label, Dawn Raid. We didn't always make the right calls, but we made calls that changed South Auckland and New Zealand. - # Wake me up, wake me up. # I don't wanna sleep. # This ain't my home, ain't my house, ain't my family. # I was a rapper. Me and my brothers got up to a lot of no good, you know? As your typical Island kids growing up here. After my dad died, we did the street thing. Gangs, drugs, fight, fight, fight. That's how it was ` serious stuff. (siren wails) One day me and my brothers went to help some friends of ours who were doing security work at a bar, and, you know, we had a big brawl. One of the guys from the other side lost his life. My heart goes out to that family. My brother John did life in prison. That's when my change happened. - Life started out tough in South Auckland for Danny and Andy. - It could have been the classic story of wasted youth. - Danny was a gang leader, Andy a high-school drop-out. The future was a road to nowhere. - A business course and a chance meeting... - ...and when these two bad boys hooked up together, they stumbled into something good. - At Manukau Tech, that's where I met big bad Brotha D. (chuckles) At Business School. We were in Marketing class. Brotha D walked in - a huge man - and he had bump-toe shoes, black suit pants on, and a white business shirt. I thought it was his church outfit. So I'm, like, 'Big, friendly Island guy. Cool!' He had a big-ass smile. He was funny. So I sit next to him. But he doesn't wanna talk to me. He's, like, 'Piss off, little kid.' And I was, like, 'What are youse up to this weekend?' (laughs) And he just couldn't push me away, you know? - (laughs) - And so what I found out, he wasn't in church clothes; he was coming from a round-the-clock shift at the strip clubs in the city, as a doorman, finishing at 5 in the morning, and starting class at 8, straight from fucking work. That's someone who really wants to get his education, you know? - We became good friends. The biggest connection that we had was the love and the passion for music. - (Andy) We were always talking about rap and shit. - (Danny) As a rapper, I saw how the industry was working. You realise all the money was going to the office, you know? And at school, they were telling us, 'Don't work for nobody. Create your own business.' You know? That's the dream. - (Andy) I studied the game. I studied the rap business. Music? That's it. We're gonna start a record company. A hip-hop label, an independent hip-hop label, cos that's what we were doing. - (Danny) A Polynesian label. And when we named our company, we just added a little twist to it. I said, 'I wanna call it Dawn Raid.' - (Andy) When we took that name, we knew what we were taking on. - (Reporter) No one's quite sure just how many Pacific Islanders arrive in New Zealand every year, the vast majority of them on three-month work permits. Wide-eyed and a little bewildered, they have very little idea of what to expect here. - (Danny) Our people came here, because New Zealand needed cheap labor. Then when the economy started ticking over, we were the first ones they wanted to get rid of. (tinkly music) - (Voiceover) There was a time when New Zealand cities were quiet and clean. People said they were nice places to bring up children. But the cities grew alarmingly. People poured in. Soon there were not enough schools or hospitals. There weren't enough jobs, either. And violence broke out, especially among those who had come from other places, expecting great things. (tense music) - (Reporter) Immigration will be cut from 32,000 to around 5000 people each year. - (Danny) Back in the '70s, the New Zealand government sent the police to look for overstaying Pacific Islanders. - (Politician) Maintaining law and order, we'll make certain that the police have the manpower to do the job. - (Danny) They would come knocking early hours in the morning to send the Islanders back home. - These are normal police checks and are not related to the Immigration Act. - They tore up our house looking for my cousin, who was in the deep freeze. That's where he hid. And even when they took my cousin when I was growing up, I asked my mum, 'What did Puli do wrong? What did he do wrong? Did he kill someone?' And my mum said, 'No, he's just been here too long.' That's what Dawn Raid was. We lived through that. - Yo, Dawn Raid just... That's us. That's our country. - From Dawn Raid being such a negative connotation in the past, we wanted to take the name Dawn Raid and make a beautiful thing that we are proud and represent. - (Andy) And because I was white, and he was brown, it was like, 'Oh, we're challenging the system!' - Music and hip-hop was our passion, but we had no money. So all your decisions in life then come into question because of that. You have to find ways to feed your family. - We had to work out, like, how to make money. - Cos we went to business school, (chuckles) we knew that it's not just about music; there must be business attached to it. Music business. Believe it or not, it was all through T-shirts. - (Andy) We started selling T-shirts at Otara Markets. On the front of our T-shirts we had sayings like, Cocoland, South side represent, Brown suga, You know, bungas, coconuts, FOBs, all these negative words - hori. And people were proud and buying it and were like, 'Hell yeah! Hell yeah, I'm a bunga.' (laughs) - What is a bunga? - (Andy) It's a racial term for Islanders. Pacific Island people, when they came here in the '70s, and, uh, the Europeans and the Maoris and stuff like that used to say 'coconuts' and 'bungas'. It's like a derogatory term. - Bungas worldwide. (laughs) - (Andy) That's what Dawn Raid was about. Flip the negative into positive, prove that people from our side of the tracks can make it. - (Danny) We started off with one table, and we ended up with eight. - Just came back from, uh, the markets and shit. - (Danny) Boom! Funds for our music label. - Makin' that independent money, know what I mean? Just makin' straight cash out the trunk. - (Danny) Andy, he's a bit of a hustler. (laughs) - (Andy) I got in a lot of trouble as a teenager. I know how to get mag wheels and, uh, I know how to get car stereos. You know, boys' stuff ` tagging, gang stuff, all that. And I done periodic detention. Anger management. At 15, I got caught stealing at Marbecks Records on Queen St. I got arrested, and my Dad was like, 'Ah, leave him there.' You know? So I had to get my way home from the cells. My dad was a business guy. And he started making me read a lot. He was, like, 'You like getting money? Well, here's some business books.' The Sam Walton story about Walmart. The Virgin Records story. And I thought, 'Millionaire ` what a wonderful word!' And I got this thing in my head, like, I'll be a millionaire by the time I'm 21. - I'm Mike Murnane. I'm Andy's dad. But also Danny's dad, because he adopted me. - He's our dad. Mike always encouraged us. - (Andy) Dad was a motivator, you know? Showed me and D how to do banking, business acumen and being professional, you know? He taught us those things. - I was just the dad there with the boys, and, you know, guiding them like any dad would do. They were just young men. And I gave personal guarantees to the banks ` considerable ones. Like my house. Um... Slowly, slowly, slowly I got pulled into the web of it all. - The family bond made Dawn Raid what it was. But if I could do it again, I would separate business from family. Yep. - (Mike) They started to talk about recording young people from South Auckland, putting out an album. - # Rocking back to back, # hey, where Adeaze at? - # Right behind the M-I-C. - # Picture me in the high-class limousine. # Who wants to do that? # MC Misery. Uh! # - (Danny) We put an ad in the Manukau Courier ` cos it was free ` looking for artists. We wanted to showcase this awesome sound we had, we believed in. (gentle music) We wanted to build Dawn Raid because we knew what was here. - (Andy) We were watching hip-hop labels in America who had a stable of artists. - (Danny) The goal was always building a stable of artists. Finding these young people, give them the opportunity, and give them a platform. (applause) - (Andy) And our first group was Adeaze. - (Danny) Young, humble boys that went to Mangere College, that later on will become the superstars in our communities and abroad. I wanted to show all Polynesians in the world these amazing two young brothers. - # Baby, you know I'm going away. - # So will you pray for me # each day I'm gone? - We started off in church. - # Sometimes I feel # like I'm falling from the sky. # - We grew up in one of those households where we have visitors come over, Mum and Dad send us to the room, 'Go get changed, grab your guitars, 'get ready to come out and do your performance.' (both play cheerful piano and guitar music) - We all played by ear, so my mum couldn't play the piano, she couldn't play the guitar, she couldn't play the drums or anything, but she'd go... (speaks Samoan shrilly). And we were, like, 'How are you meant to learn this 'and you don't even know how to play?' You know, us as kids. - # Matou te fa'afetai. # Ali'i agalelei. - You know, we were a real poor family. - # Oh, we thank you. # - Mum, she bought us all the instruments, lay-byed them, and we didn't know. Like, we'd see this instruments, when me and Nainz were at primary school. Our first piano, it wasn't until we were at high school we realized that my mum had just finished paying off that same piano. - So we thought, 'Oh, yeah, Dawn Raid. 'This could be an awesome label. This label could do it for us.' - # Never did anyone love you like God. # Keep up the faith and you'll grow # high, high. # Never gonna let you die. # - (Danny) Our first project was a compilation - Southside Story 1. I compare it to, like, having a baby. Look at this. We believed that we had something that we can offer to the world. - Yeah, what's up, everybody in LA? Holdin' it down. Dawn Raid Entertainment. We're just gonna give you a little bit of New Zealand hip-hop culture. (laughs) Yeah. That was Southside 1. We're back right at ya. We were coming out of street-gang mentality. Like, you know, we were coming from that and trying to be better. We'll make a thousand CDs. We'll sell it with a T-shirt. We're gonna make 30 G's. It's like having a tinny shop for a year. We're gonna be millionaires off this. (cash register whirrs) But it was, like, 'Aw, we're not millionaires.' 'Rude! Now what do we do?' (chuckles) We're these smart dudes. Like, we have to have the next plan straight away. We made the call, like, well, let's be honest - we're making more money off T-shirts. Let's get our money up so we can make the next record. - And that's what gave birth to the shop. - (Reporter) Traffic came to a standstill in Hunter's Corner, with drivers straining to get a view of the new expansion for Dawn Raid Entertainment, the first outlet shop for the infamous Island-wear label. - And it just so happens, next to that shop was an old hairdresser's salon, that was empty. - Well, what's the rent on the barbershop? Cool! Instead of having one shop, now we've got two. You know, the bank is saying that we're young entrepreneurs. (fanfare) - How do you learn? You learn by doing. Come on. Let me show you a bit of history. We learned so much that we started a bar, called the Student Bar. - We're printing so many T-shirts, we'll buy the factory. - (Danny) And we made phone cards - Island Life. - We'll sell anything you can think of. Cos, you know, we're going to class and being told how to be businessmen. - # You muscle, you hustle and just let it all carry on. # Things don't seem the way they are. # I know life is hard # if it ever was with them I got. # I'll be here when you struggle. # You muscle, you hustle and just let it all carry on. # - But what was going on in my head was really just the music. - Brotha D just kept complaining, like, 'If I don't have a studio, I can't make the music. 'If I don't have a studio, I can't make the music.' And down the road, this office came up for lease. If we build a studio, we'll not only be able to record our albums; we'll be able to charge out our studio. - The studio and the office, it gave us a base were people could come. - We had a boardroom, you know, cos we'd been at business school. It was so amazing. Now we go, 'Studio, new office. No one can operate the studio!' (laughs) - (Danny) The long and the short of it, Dawn Raid needed an engineer. And then someone from Russia sent us his, um, CV. - (speaks Russian) (Uzbekistan national anthem) - (Vitaly) I was living in Uzbekistan. I was in music industry again, was producing many songs. I actually was quite successful. I was just looking for a safe place for me and my mother to move to, when somebody heard New Zealand. (gentle guitar music) - (Voiceover) This place. - (Vitaly) it was ultimately, like, the safest place in the world. - (Voiceover) New Zealand. - This is how I landed in Auckland. (laughs) - (Voiceover) Welcome. - Andy goes, 'Bro, look at his CV,' you know? And when you look at his CV, he had a Doctorate in Sound, for goodness sake. You know? - And he's, like, 'Yes, I'm engineer. I run studio.' So I'm, like, 'D, what do we do?' And D's, like, 'Well, let's just take him to the studio.' - (Vitaly) They could see that I understood what I was doing. - And we were, like, 'OK. You want a job? Yep, cool.' - I guess I was the happiest man in New Zealand. (laughs) So they taught me about hip-hop. I taught them about music production. So it was mutual and very useful to all of us, I think, yeah. - (Andy) South Auckland was home to us, and we understood it. We're doing the best that we can do for our community. You know, we positioned ourselves in the middle of the hood. Like, Papatoetoe is, like, is the middle of the hood. Otara here, Mangere here, 'Rewa down here. So by putting it there, we weren't aligning ourselves with any faction. We were ourselves. We made Papatoetoe cool. And, like, every time we put out an album, we painted the whole shop wall. That's where the people started saying Dawn Raid was a movement, it was because of that, cos we've got a shop and a barbershop, markets at Otara. Here's our clothing line. Here, get a fade. We bought out the printers. The nightclub as well. And the studio. And a Russian engineer now, in our big Samoan family. He can't speak a word of fucking English, but he can record our artists. (hip-hop music) We had a hub. We had a whole block. We had a whole street. It was so amazing. David Tua used to hang out all the time. Jonah Lomu ` everybody. Really early on, our first Dawn Raid gigs was opening for Naughty by Nature, Bone Thugs 'N Harmony 2000. If a rap act came to New Zealand, we opened for them. - (Danny) Superstars around the world in the hip-hop industry. - Nellie, Beyonce, Destiny's Child, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent and G Unit. Yeah, we got to hang out with all of them backstage, sessions with Snoop Dogg, DJ Premier. - New Zealand. - Dawn Raid E, nigga! - (laughs) - (Andy) We were very lucky that we were from the local community, and we had access to certain things that American artists like. - To make people happy. - There's a lot of Samoans and Tongans in LA. So I think when LA artists came, like Snoop and them, they were, like, 'Brotha D, you look like my brotha Jerry!' (laughs) The hood is the hood. Hoods are the same everywhere in the world. The ghetto is the same. Poverty is the same. - And so, of course, you know, with the all the great positives comes the negatives as well. - (Andy) Today, as you can see, Brotha D is at his desk. But as you come around the corner, there's a big fuckin' hole behind him! - And, uh, if you just have a look, just to your right... - (Andy) Holy fuck! - We've been fuckin' broken into. - Again. - Jimmied the fucking door. - We talked to our... crime-busting police, our local police, and they said, 'We can't get here till tomorrow.' Thanks, guys. - (chuckles) Aw, man. The burglaries were a nightmare. I think there were six. - I was, like, 'Let's go find them.' - This is our store at 10 o'clock in the fucking morning in Auckland. Check it out. Look at that shit. Osama bin Laden came in here last night. Pretty fucked-up situation. - (Andy) I mean, it's the hood, man. We're so hot on the streets, they've gotta steal our stuff. The police honestly didn't care. That was disappointing for me and D. - (Danny) The police said, 'Is this your fullas' store?' And we said, 'Yeah.' And they said, 'It's that stupid music you guys are making.' You know? These are detectives who are looking after our streets, you know? - They viewed what we were doing as negative. And they blamed it on the music. (indistinct conversations) We had been involved in the streets. We knew the police would watch us. When we made the decision to go into the music business, we were 100% legit. No smoking at our studio, no alcohol, no drugs, cos we knew what was just out there. If we let any part of badness in, it would take over. I'm gonna use the word 'momentum'. Momentum was behind everything we did. Southside Story 2 was our second album. - (Danny) A whole melting pot. We had South Auckland, you know, Samoans and Tongan kids on the album with American. - (Andy) We put all the Americans on it, because we were trying to up the game. We're gonna take this to the world. (Deceptikonz' 'Elimination') No one really cared. The song that popped was 'Elimination'. (woman screams) - (Danny) Deceptikonz. - # One verse will hurt you. # Plus echo off the stars. - Local boys. - # Elimination. # Elimination. - We had two tracks on the Southside Story 2 album. And this is the actual first time that we recorded material professionally. - # Welcome to my humble abode. # Mic metaphysics. # Where binding is no feet, # like the metric system. # - (Mareko) We just gained a whole lot of momentum and started getting traction. This is our take on an American culture. And this is the best way that we can flip it ourselves, talking about our tales and what we went through, and what our family went through to get to where we are now. - (Andy) Mareko was just smart. They already had the Deceptikonz logo, printed their own T-shirts. They'd already made a crew. - Mark Sagapolutele, AKA Mareko. - Demetrius Savelio. Savage. - Taupe Daniel Maoate. Alphrisk. - David Puniani. Devolo. - # More than meets the eyes, # Deceptikonz will (boing) you up, cut you up bad. # Robots in disguise... # - (Mareko) We first met at high school. Instead of doing our schoolwork, we'd be writing our own lyrics. Then we'd come out at lunchtime, and then we'd just battle each other. - We had a fire drill one day. (bell rings) And everybody just assembles on the field. My mate called me over and said, 'Oh, Mareko wants a rap battle.' He came across with these, you know, big words ` intricate. Like, they were bad raps. But my ones were just straight to the point. I just had basic, 'Your mum's ugly.' 'I'll knock you out like David Tua.' They were just simple. At the end of it, he goes, 'Man, 'you're, like, the second-best rapper in the school.' - (laughs) - It all started from there ` schoolyard raps. - We knew Deceptikonz was the next crew. (raucous hip-hop music plays) - You've got this hardcore crew, but in this hardcore crew, you've got people that have commercial sensibilities. - (raps aggressively) - (Andy) Hip-hop starts getting momentum, commercially. White kids, inner-city kids, started championing hip-hop. - Wonderful you could all make it this evening. Welcome along to the 2001 BNET New Zealand Music Awards. - (Andy) We got nominated for our first award that year. - We stand out like... like Wesley Snipes in a bowl of rice, right about now. - Whatever happens, we know we did well just to get here, you know what I mean? - Southside Story 2. - (Andy) There's no win for us. But this was our first time being compared at a level to Che Fu and King Kapisi. So now we felt like we're getting somewhere. You know? - We were always included in the nominees, but nobody ever got an award, you know? - # How does it feel? # To be shot down and rejected? # And how does it feel? # To be left out and neglected? # Put yourself in my shoes and find your feet's too small. # I hope you know by now that I don't love you at all. # - Something was happening in the early 2000s, where it was coming from, sort of, in the underground and the street, and it was staring to move into a more commercial mode. And Dawn Raid were a critically important part of that. They really understood they wanted to make sure they had hits. - (Andy) We wanted a major record deal. And because we're so confident in how awesome we are, I locked on Universal. I didn't want any other label. It just meant so much to me. It meant that we were gonna be rich. So I walk up to the Universal office with, like, 'This is it. We're getting the million-dollar deal.' And it was Adam Holt's first day at Universal Records as the CEO. The very first part of my job at Universal was Andy poked his nose in and said, 'My name's Andy. We need to talk.' - I'm a teenager, damn near. I'm 20 or something, 21. And I'm, like, 'Yeah, we've got a studio. 'You know, we own a factory. We make all the clothes.' It probably just sounded like a big load of shit, you know? Adam himself came out to South Auckland. If you saw it with your own eyes, it was, like, 'Oh my God. You know, let's sign this deal.' - (Danny) Incredible. (chuckles) It was great for us. And all we had to do was deliver the music. - (Adam) You need the raw material, and D had an amazing way of finding that. And Andy had a real engine that really drove everything forward. They were a great partnership. (woman cheers) - Everybody probably hearing, 'Dawn Raid now with Universal.' Well, the fuckin' thing is, it's fuckin' true, man. Those people are gonna look after us, and we're gonna keep looking after ours, you know what I mean? - (Andy) And we were, like, 'Right, Deceptikonz are gonna be our lead group.' - The Deceptikonz up in here! - # Where the Southside at? Where the Southside at? # Where the Southside at? # Hoo! # (cheering and applause) - They bought in Fallen Angels, and the video, especially. And we went, 'Wow! A, this is a hit; and B, that video is amazing, the presence.' - # Ahh. Ahh... - (Adam) They definitely had it. - # They reach out for me. # Now, if I had a brick for every single thought that I have, # I'd build steps and migrate to God's land. # So while you succeed in this life, # I'd enjoy the fruits of my labour in the next life... - Mareko just... he just filled the screen. - # I greet the ugly face of death with a frown and open arms, # comforted by voices from the other side like Joan of Arc. # So embark on this chosen path, # Oh, my God, it's like I'm forced to fail... - We all had very humble beginnings. But, um, fuck, we just couldn't believe that we were in this situation. - # You think there's reasons... - That were a part of this fraternity of artists. - (Adam) And Savage, he is presence personified. - # It's on me now to turn back to where I started. # Walking is easy, but temptation is the hardest... - I always dreamt of being a rapper. As a kid, I got into a lot of trouble. Expelled by two schools. But I will say, Mareko still holds the record for being expelled at the most schools. I think he's got four, four under his belt. (laughs) - # Against all odds, we Kiwis do fly. # - (Adam) With Devolo and Alphrisk, they were just such a band of characters. - So we thought, 'We're gonna pour a bit into this.' - (Andy) $10,000 for the Fallen Angels video. That's a lot of T-shirts. But we went straight to number 2. There's only one other place to go, and that's number 1, so, like, rah! We're happy as shit. - Every time something like that would happen, we'd just be, like, 'Oh shit! Fuck, look at this shit!' My mum, man, she loved it. She loved showing me off. 'Oh, this is my son, Mareko. He's a... 'He sings with Michael Jackson.' (laughs) 'Yeah, he does the moonwalk, eh?' - (Andy) Now we're on tour. Deceptikonz have got fans everywhere. We're getting on planes. We're off to the races. - # Robots in disguise. # End of story, so la-la-la-la. # More than meets the eyes. # Deceptikonz will (boing) you up, cut you up bad. # Robots in disguise. # End of story, so la-la-la-la. # More than meets the eyes. # Deceptikonz will (boing) you up, cut you up bad. - We definitely appeared smarter than were. We hadn't figured out that you had to sell singles separately. - # More than meets the eyes. # - Everyone thinks me and D know the whole business. We don't. We don't know that a single is a separate release from the album. We don't know this. So Fallen Angels was never officially released as a single. So there's video with no single, completely retarded. No one told us. We presented ourselves very, very well. But we didn't know what the hell we were doing, so, like, for example, for the first three albums, I was getting Dawn Raid Music Publishing cheques. Um, I had no idea what that was. I saw that it said 'Def Jam Music Publishing', so I wrote 'Dawn Raid Music Publishing' on our CDs. Like, here's a DMX CD. Oh, it's supposed to look like that. Yep, we write that word. So Universal, when we do our deal, goes, 'Oh, they've got a publishing company.' There was no fucking publishing company. - And I'm learning and figuring this out as I go along. Yes. (peaceful music) - (Andy) At this point, our clothing label is making a fortune. - Ladies and Gentlemen, Dawn Raid Apparel! (hip-hop music plays) (applause) - (Andy) You know, we're having $10,000 Saturdays, you know, in six hours. But to be honest, there was a ton of money being spent. (applause) - (Danny) We saw that through music, we could educate as well. And so we created this programme called Str8 From the Streetz, running a programme for kids from the streets of South Auckland. - Dawn Raid Entertainment in South Auckland is well known as New Zealand's first hip-hop conglomerate. The company recently set up a community trust. - (Andy) After we got a certain point with our company, we thought, 'Hey, man, we need to get back to what we originally thought of.' Let's always nurture undiscovered kids. - You would arrive at work each morning, and there was all these young people hanging about wanting to be recorded and doing raps to you and things like this. It was about hope. They hoped that maybe you would give them something. We started the Dawn Raid Community Trust to cater to these young people. You can use music as a hook to get them doing other things that might move them towards employment and things like that. We taught reading, and we taught interpersonal skills. We had a computer suite there. And we fundraised this whole lot through grants and all sorts of stuff. And I think we spent maybe in the order of quarter of a million to set this whole thing up. - Our goal, right from the start, was to get our young artists to America. - # Verses pierce your ears like earrings, # when I recite one. # Bank off your left ear, # Mike Tyson the right one. # - Mareko is that good, let's take him to the home of hip-hop. Let's go to the Bronx. Let's go to Harlem. Let's get the best US producers, with Mareko on it. No one can beat that. (gentle music) - (Mareko) The goals kept getting higher. It's a surreal feeling. I'm thinking maybe this dream is achievable. - It's crazy. It's just billboards, electricity, lights. - When they came to New York, they came here to try and take it on here. You know what I mean? And Andy's such a hip-hop fan that there was no option for Andy but to take it here. So he found a way to sell enough T-shirts to get Rex here. - Spin around to big Kirk Harding. Boom. Regular-like. - (Andy) Kirk Harding is from Mangere, South Auckland. - (Danny) Kirk was a good friend. - (Andy) He worked for Loud Records in New York. Kirk set this all up. - Andy was, like, 'It's my job to take this as far as I can.' We make a budget of NZ$50,000. - This was a big undertaking, resources-wise, for the company. - Big! - (Kirk) Those guys were really blown away by every single step that happened to them. - Ahh! - (Mareko) You realise how small New Zealand is. This whole skyline and this landscape of just buildings and lights. (laughs) Looks like Gotham City. This is real now. We had a job to do, and we had to get it done. - The size of the task doesn't matter, as long as you don't know what the size of the task is. As long as you start walking up the hill without realising how high the hill is, what does it matter? - (Andy) As each day progressed... - Yeah, New Zealand. You know Scram Jones. - ...we'd lock in the studio sessions. - We're recording the Scram Jones track. - # Me and Mareko rep flow, # shoot your foot, give you a shell toe. # You ain't lacin' shit, dawg. you Velcro. - (Andy) Rubbing elbows with all of these big American artists just let us know that we could compete. - # And that's deep, we're out of beef. # - I'm, like, 'A song a song a day, Rex,' You know? He did it. - I'm here to lace it. I got my shit ready. - (Mareko) Andy gave me that pep talk all the time. He's, like, 'You can do this. You got this, bro.' (hip-hop track plays) - In the studio, he was a beast. - # Those are capital M's. Ha! # Mareko dropping lines like a fisherman. # You'd swear my pen's possessed. Gave me the opportunity to record with the Alkaholiks, Wu-Tang Clan, Inspectah Deck, guys I grew up idolising. # Deceptikonz beat nuts, # make 'em say, 'Oh shit!' # - We had a session with Wu-Tang Clan. - You'll never guess who dropped in. Got our man right here blowing the trees. - Yeah. - Inspectah Deck. - Wu-Tang! - Right. New Zealand, what the dealings? Level, level. - I'm good? - (engineer) You're good. - Wu-Tang was the biggest group in the world. - So I say the first two lines, and you say, 'Where the G's at? Where the freaks at? 'Put one finger in the sky.' I felt genuinely star-struck. - Like, I'll do mine after yours. - Yeah. Yeah. - It's more clearer. He was, like, 'Hey man, let's write some verses together.' So we wrote our stuff. - Yeah. That's us. - I got my shit ready. He's got his shit ready. He did his verse. He went in the booth. He laced it. - # Deceptikonz... - I went in the booth after him, and I laced my verse. # Chillin' in my ice lair. # You cats got nine lives? Well, I just ate one. # And I looked at him, and he looked at me, and then he smiled, and he was, like, 'You know what? I'm-a come back tomorrow. I'm-a rewrite my shit.' (laughs) # So put one finger in the sky. # One finger in the sky for all of us. # - When I started seeing these American MCs respect Mareko, I was, like, 'Oh, man, we got this.' Like, 'This kid's got it.' - Fo' sho'. - Good-lookin'. Good-lookin', baby. There's more of that, too! Harlem, New Zealand, we comin', baby! - Cos he didn't stop being a South Auckland kid in Harlem. Oh, no. It was snowing, and he was walking around Harlem in jandals. - This is how real I keep it to my South Auckland roots. - Brotha D came in and finished the mixes. We all got in the limo with Rex and we went home, like, 'We're gonna go home and kick everybody's arse!' 'We're gonna go home and kick everybody's arse!' - # All I know is that my name is now here to stay. # Mareko! # Scream it loud. # Can we hear you bang it in your town? - (Andy) We made such a storm about Mareko. - There's a new kid on the block, a South Auckland rapper called Mareko. - (Andy) There was press about him. Everyone knew we were over there. We'd written articles. We paid 100% of the bill of it too. - # Christchurch, H-Town. # Mareko! # - And then along comes Scribe. - (laughs) - Yeah. Ain't no one like me. - He didn't go to New York. - # How many dudes you know roll like this? # How many dudes you know flow like this? # Not many, if any. - Scribe comes out with his debut album, Crusader. - And he just came and smashed everything out of the water. - # Uh-uh, uh-uh. # I don't know anybody. # Y'all know who this is. Act right. # - (Scribe) I've always admired Mareko. To me, that's my Samoan brother, you know? And they're trying to make it out of the hood, and so are we. We always have that same dream and that same struggle, which is to use our talents and gifts, um, to get out of a negative situation. (brooding atmospheric music) - (Danny) Everybody wants their project to be the number 1. And when it comes second, our expectations was, um, you know, uh, not met. Business-wise, maybe we need to look at the budgets that we spend on our projects. - You know, I was just, like, 'Oh, God damn!' And D was, like, 'You took Mareko to New York, so I gotta take the reins on this.' We have to have a higher-selling record than Scribe. So I was, like, 'Ugh. OK.' And Brotha D brings back Adeaze. - # Hey, hey. # Hey. # Hey. - (Viiz) I told D and Andy, 'This is the first song we want 'as our first single release.' - # Ooh. - You know, a slow song. - # I am sorry for the way that I've been treating you. # You've been so good to me, # and I have been so cruel to you. - (Kirk) Adeaze were really special to the Polynesian community. If you could hold a mirror up in front of that community, the music that would come up in the mirror would be Adeaze. - # I still care for you. # Baby, I still want a life with you. # That's true. - (Danny) I love Universal, but sometimes they didn't understand where this music is coming from. - They took it to Universal and came back and said, 'Universal said nah.' - (Danny) The feedback was the music was a little bit under-produced, and the boys didn't fit the mould of R&B. - # From now I'll cha-a-a-a-a-ange. - (Andy) We dressed the brothers like they were twins, even though they weren't. And I got them matching Kangols to make them look slimmer. And Universal looked at me and said, 'You can't put this out as the cover.' - (scoffs) Yeah. And I just said to Andy, I said, 'Oh, I want you to go back, and you let them know 'that if they don't put this song out as it is and boys as they look and that, 'you know, then we'll find another distributor, eh? 'We'll move our business elsewhere.' - We said, 'OK, fair enough. It's your label. 'We'll do it, but we think you're wrong.' And, uh, it was a smash out of the park. - # So I say sorry. # I hope that you can understand. # - (Adam) They actually did know how to market incredibly well. And that video and the packaging, and they made it sound like a really modern, global pop song. And it worked. It was a big, big hit. - Man. It just had legs. - (Danny) That project became the number 1 single and the number 1 album at the same time. - # I promise you from now I'll cha-a-a-a-ange. # - Brotha D was one of the best A&R men that our business has ever seen. He's pulled people out of nowhere and put them on the global stage. - (Andy) Now it was real. Mareko had also gone gold. And in the midst of this, Brotha D finds this young girl that's folding papers in Wellington, called Aaradhna. (gentle R&B music) Nainz writes this amazing song called Getting Stronger. And he has a place for a female. And Brotha D OG called it, and was, like, 'Put this new young girl in here.' And then, boom, we set up two number 1 stars. - # Listen to me. I'm feeling afraid # of something in my life that is wrong. - (Danny) Voila! Let me introduce you to the great Aaradhna, the only lady of Dawn Raid. - # I know it gets hard sometimes, # but remember that I'm only human. - (Andy) So when we found Aaradhna, and she was born beautiful, we knew, like, 'Oh, here we go. We have a Polynesian princess.' Like, 'We're off to the races with this.' - # I don't want nobody else. # I don't need somebody else to tell me about love. # I am strong on my own. Back in the days, I used to be so shy that I had to tell everyone to look at the wall, don't look at me while I sing - like, don't look at me at all. It was my auntie. She called me up. And she was, like, 'Hey, Brotha D's here. You should come. 'You should come and, um, sing to him.' - I'm just... I get so overawed every time I think about, you know, Radz at 16, 17. - (beatboxes) She did the beatbox. - (beatboxes) # If your mother... # If your mother only knew... (beatboxes) # ...that you was trying to talk to me. I kind of just blocked off the shyness, cos I was just eager, just wanted him to hear me sing. # But if you think you can tell me # why the things I'm doing is going wrong. - (Adam) At Dawn Raid, everyone was bouncing off each other. It reminded me of what it was like at Motown in the '60s, where the competition amongst all the acts really drove excellence. - # Strong-er-er-er-er-er-er-er. # - Dawn Raid was like a hit factory. (hip-hop music) - (Danny) There was a growing buzz on the street. Our lives were starting to change. Morning, Theresa. - (Mike) It was as if everybody in South Auckland was putting their hopes on the boys' success. People would come up and talk to me and say, 'You're the dad.' And I'd be, like, 'Well, how do you know?' (chuckles) There was so much to keep control of. - (Andy) Now we have full momentum and steam behind New Zealand hip-hop, brown culture, Pacific Island culture. Now we're mainstream. Shortland Street had billboards across the whole of New Zealand, with one of their actors had the Dawn Raid T-shirt on it. - One day a company called Saatchi & Saatchi came walking up our stairs. - (Andy) Saatchi came knocking on our door. They've done a whole bunch of kids' surveys, analytics, all of this stuff, that we're, like, the hottest, coolest thing in the world. - They had a product that they wanted to get around to the youth, and they believed we were the best people to deliver it. (cell phone rings) - Hello? - (Andy) Cell phones? - Savage! - (Danny) Boost Mobile. What's up, bro? You wanna hear my verse? # I be that Southsider, lost in the South Island. - (Danny) We pitched this idea to them. We told them, 'This is the way you do it.' The graffiti running right throughout the ad, that was all our graffiti artists. - # Hook it up! Star-struck when you look at us. - We were able to get all our friends involved, put money in their pockets for what they do best. - # If you're an aerobics instructor. - (Danny) It was fully done by all hip-hop people. - # Hook up! - # We want it now! # It was a six-figure deal. This was, like, 'Here comes the millions.' (dramatic music) 'You're all gonna get cell phones.' - We thought our phones were the baddest phones, and it was the flip, you know? And I just... I remember... Who remembers flip phones, man? (laughs) - (Director) Five, four, three, two, one. - # Cos down here it's out to lunch. # And yeah, we've got the South Island hooked up. - Those underground stars became the biggest stars in New Zealand at that time. - # I bomb atomically, # stomping through Mestopholes, # dropping bombs that leave these squads lost in Oz with Dorothy. # Yeah, I'm the modern anomaly. # I'll hit Nostradamus before his pen can document the prophecy. # - We could capitalise and make money off it. - We were getting paid for TV commercials,... What's goin' on?! ...voiceovers, you know, little snippets on videos. Whoa! And then we're getting paid for these tours. Boost Mobile funded the Hook Up Tour. - # Hook it up! Star-struck when you look at us. - (Danny) And we were in control of it. - (Andy) We'll get their money to tour, sell records off the back of this, merch at every event. It was just like the set-up of a lifetime. - (Crowd) # We want it now! - # Hook it up! - # We want it now! - Sold-out shows. - # D-konz in the place. # I know you're down with that. # Yeah, we're the ultimate specimens. - Like, it was some crazy superstar shit that we were experiencing. - Hip-hop! What?! - # We're staying on point like the Sky Tower needle is. # I keep between the rips. # My flows forewarn y'all. # You in my zone like... - Party hard, and then repeat. - # These other towns are hot, # but Aucks is five degrees more warmer. # I keep it blazing with pugilists, # with blue-and-white wallpaper. - Every time we'd pull in, like, kids just clamoured round the bus. - # We hanging on your ass like ducks on a toilet bowl. # An Auckland Warrior, got the best of both worlds... - (Andy) 18 cities. We went from the bottom of New Zealand to the top. - # All the way to the Viaduct. - Biggest hip-hop tour ever for New Zealand. - # Takin' out competition, # M-M-Mareko. - The stars definitely aligned at that time, where you could pull something off like that, and you could have the funding from the corporates. - # I keep it blazing with pugilists. # - (Andy) When the corporates got involved, the entrepreneurs in us, the hustlers in us, um, loved the money. - At this stage now, I forget the income, but it was a lot. It was into the millions. - (Andy) But it was also, like, a lot of pressure. What if we make a mistake? Like, a mistake on a tour like that could lose half a million dollars. That was scary as shit. (needle buzzes) (brooding atmospheric music) Now our lives were on the line. - To some degree, I must admit, I did start to think, 'Well, they're growing up and they have to make their own decisions, right or wrong.' When these corporates started coming knocking on the door, on the positive side, there'd be a lot more money. We needed the money. We needed to keep going. But the thing was that most of the corporates wouldn't give you commitments to the future. And it was sustainability that was the important thing. - I wanted to go bigger. Like, if you see my early interviews, I'm, like, 'Yep, we're off to Aussie, then we're gonna open the office in LA.' Like, to me, I was following the formula set out by Motown and Def Jam and everything else. And it had happened for them, so I couldn't see why it couldn't happen for us. - New Zealand's biggest hip-hop hook-up left this afternoon to conquer the dance scene across the Tasman. - (Andy) We got used the craziness, because it became normal. - Day one. Australia, here we come. Polynesian invasion. - Shit is going worldwide. You know what I'm talking about? - # Crunch! - # When it comes to the - # Crunch! - # Make the stage go - # Crunch! - # Pick up the mic and - # Crunch! - # Get my opponent like - # Crunch! - # Hear his bones snap - # Crunch! - # Deceptikonz make it - # Crunch! - # Crunch, snap, crackle and pop, ya see - # Crunch! - # When it comes to the - # Crunch! - # Make the stage go - # Crunch! - # Pick up the mic and - # Crunch! - # Get my opponent like - # Crunch! - # Hear his bones snap - # Crunch! - # Deceptikonz make it - # Crunch! - # Crunch, snap, crackle and pop. # - Now we had certified superstars in Mareko, Adeaze and Savage. - (laughs) - He's the standout performer on 'Not Many - The Remix'. - # Can you please give it up for Savage? # It's all good. Yeah! - This guy at the back who just elbowed Scribe out of the way and said, 'I'm Savage.' - # Saute Aukilani! - # Ah! - # It ain't good. - # Savage. - Everyone thinks Savage is next. - # I'm hearing you still talking that shit, # but none of your actions here are speaking to me. # I'm talking it, walking it. # My stomping sound will stop your movement. # Hold up. Who's this? # Ah! # Still leaving you with cuts and bruises. # So cut the bullshit # before I rock your face with a pool stick. - (Savage) When Not Many first came out, it was the biggest song in New Zealand. And here I was, serving people at the gas station. People were, like, 'Ho, bro! You're Savage, bro.' And I was just, like, 'Yeah, what do you want - 91 or 96?' # Throw it up! # And I will always represent my crew Decept- Deceptikonz! # What?! - (Andy) He had waited for his solo moment his whole life. - # Not many, if any - # Savage! # - He was about to beat poverty. - (laughs) Holy shit! As a teenager in South Auckland, I didn't know what goals were. You know what I mean? I didn't think it was possible for me to have a goal and achieve it. - Sav was a wild child, bro. He was a rough dude. Kicked out of high school, kicked out of home. - (Andy) Formerly homeless, a street kid. - (Savage) I got involved in a lot of gangs. And it was cool to start working on my solo project. Cha-hoo! - (Andy) He was funny. He was entertaining. He was a tough guy. He had a reputation. He had all the things that made a star. And he was hungry. - (Savage) They gave me a list of American artists to feature on the single that I was gonna work on. Really big names. You know, you got bloody Lil Wayne in there, Fat Joe and Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep. You know, when Mareko came back from the US, he came back with a demo disc that he got from Kirk Harding. - Savage picked up that CD, and he said, 'This is the guy I wanna work with.' - (Savage) It was an unknown artist, but I really liked his music. - (applause) - (Announcer) Give it up for Akon! (brooding atmospheric music) - And Akon was... nothing. - Akon wasn't a star yet. We're all chasing the same thing. Savage and Akon are the same people. One is from Africa, moved to America; Savage is New Zealand, new to the world. So I go back to Universal and go, 'Hey, I know this; we can get Akon in the video. 'If you give me the money ` 50,000 ` boom! 'I'll fly to New York with Mareko and Savage, and we'll get Akon. 'No one can beat us.' We get there, and he drops Lonely. - # I'm so lonely. - # So lonely. - (Andy) Superstar. - # Mr Lonely. - # I have nobody # to call my own. # - Akon was just blowing up as an artist, you know? Yeah, that was my first time in the US, was when we flew over to do Moonshine. It was exciting. We're in New York. And it's day two of the video shoot. Honestly, it's fucking freezing. Filming that video clip was like a dream. And the cool thing was, I was there to share it with Mareko. - Bro, just... It was just a surreal feeling, knowing that far, we had something real big on our hands. (crowd scream, cheer) Man, they had to get extra security, just to kinda hold everyone off so we could shoot. - (Akon) # Where's my moonshine? # You know, I spend my last dub for you. # Yeah. # So where's my moonshine? # And I feel so nice with you, yeah. - (Mareko) I was the third wheel. On that trip, everything was on him to perform. - # Uh! Yo. - # I snuck into this club when I was 15 # and I met my girl at the bar, such a sweet thing. # Every time I held her, she would always kiss me. # Every touch of her lips would always make me tipsy. # I told her, 'Man, I love you,' pulled her to the dance floor. # And that's when she whispered, 'Be careful what you ask for.' # Grabbed her by the waist and I sat her on the table, # explained how the heartburn she's giving me is painful. - (Andy) In New Zealand, Moonshine was ten weeks at number one. We simultaneously released it in Australia. Gold record in Australia ` 45,000 records sold. - # You are my life, and the reason is # I can't go nowhere. - Seeing him with Akon and that, of course it was that feeling of, 'Yo!' You know? 'It's my uso up there. Yo, yeah, nah.' And then all the memories of Savage come back, and you're, like... (laughs) You know? It's cool. - I represent to the fullas, ya big dummy. Yo. - (Mareko) When one wins, we all win. - (Akon) # Right here by my side. # - I thought it was dope. I thought it was really dope. Seeing him there in New York on the stoop. He was taking a little piece of South Auckland that could be exported to other markets. That song Moonshine for Savage was one that opened the door that he could be a commercial artist. He could be someone with hits. - # Big! # Bigger than the one before this. # Big like the late Notorious. # Big! # - (Andy) Everyone was digging in for Savage. And ambition just kicked in another gear for me and Brotha D to hustle harder. Who's got the ace in the poker game? Who's got the ace in the poker game? - It's a true story. There are times when, um, we go to sign a contract. Andy will always do the deal. And then right at the end, he would go, 'Hang on. I'll just get my business partner, 'and he can sign off for it as well.' (laughs) To us, it was a game. We played that game. - (Andy) Universal Australia offers us a six-figure cheque to sign a label deal with them. So the day we decide to sign, the phone rings. It's Warner Music. They're like, 'Don't go to Universal. We'll do anything.' And they go, 'What do you want?' And I'm, like, I'm looking at D, like, for direction. Like, I don't know. Like, we're happy with the deal terms. And I looked at him, and he just goes like this with his eyes. (laughs) He just put up, like, two fingers, like, 'Double it.' - (laughs) - And I go... (clears throat) 'If you double it, we'll come to Warner.' - (laughs) - They faxed a blank contract through. And without legal representation, I signed it and sent it back. (bassy music) 'And we need an office in the Sydney office.' (laughs) We got given an office on the Sydney waterfront. We can have different label deals in different territories and get different cheques? - It was a crazy time for us. - (Andy) We signed a six-figure deal with Footlocker for Dawn Raid clothing throughout Australia. - It was like we couldn't do any wrong. - (Andy) The Boost Mobile got to a huge, ridiculous deal. There's commercials of us on TV, sponsorship from Converse. I never felt like it was too big. This is what we wanted. You know? I wanted to go bigger. I kept getting validated, because Saatchi cut the cheque, because Universal cut the cheque. - Make some noise for Savage, everybody! - All of that went into Swing being released in January. - And then it went to number 1. - # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! # Now drop it low and let me see your hips swing! # Down to the floor. # Now let me see your hips swing! - I'm gonna say... that's when we took our eye off the ball. - # Uh-oh! # (brooding atmospheric music) - (Mike) I guess probably, when you look back in hindsight, it was starting to get a little bit uncontrollable. Maybe we probably needed to pause, and to re-evaluate that we had just come from the markets only six years ago, and now we're, like, million-dollar CEO guys and travelling the world and all that. - (Danny) We made records, and we were getting tens of thousands of dollars. Then we start moving into hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then we start moving into a million dollars. At Manukau Institute of Technology, they didn't teach me about the million-dollar turnover. - (Andy) We're in our own bubble, man. Life is grand. Like, we've never had nothing, and now we have everything. - Christmas! - (Andy) In our new house. You know, I'm a father of two. I've just bought a house, my family house. What are youse doing? I loved it. - We're just playing outside by the pool. - It was in Hill Park. It was a beautiful house with a swimming pool. Brotha D had his too. I should have checked my damn self. You know? I should have checked myself, and I should have checked D. Are we still following the same plan, or are we believing our own bullshit, you know? We never finished our diplomas in business. We never graduated business school. We dropped out after a year and a bit, and then just started making money. I remember one time we got, like, $30,000 out in cash,... (laughs) you know, and carried it around with us for a couple of weeks, just cos we'd never had it before. Stupid stuff like that. Life was fun, man. There was money in the industry then. Spent a fortune on my wedding. (laughs) 27 of us flew to Rarotonga. We drank the island out of Moet. It was crazy, dude. We didn't know the economic downturn was happening. We didn't know there was mortgage fraud all over the world, and everything was changing, and record labels were tightening up just as we'd had this massive winning streak. - The first thing where their level of concern arose was, um, realising that the music industry had changed. (dramatic music) Projects that we should have been making money on weren't happening, because people were starting to download music. - And at this time, this is when we start getting in trouble with the tax department. And, um,... things started getting rough. - (Danny) We were just so much in the spirit of just running. Sometimes you don't look back and do the bean-counter thing, you know? Make sure that, you know, you don't spend too much or overstretch yourself. - We had 27 staff, dude. Money was going out the door as fast as it was coming in. - (Mike) We had missed a payment on payroll tax. My dad was real clear about it ` 'You guys need to pay your tax.' We sit down with the tax department, lawyers on either side, and we work out an arrangement. We're gonna sort it out. We'll make the payments. We get back to putting out records. - # I know I've been spending a lot of time away from home. # I been busy; now I'm free. # Here to please you. # We were apart, but that's the past. - (Andy) It's all about Aaradhna. And we've been setting up the 'Princess of the Pacific' for two years. Don't worry about the tax man; this next record will come out. - # I love you. - Why wouldn't it continue? - # Ow, ow. # - (Danny) You know, we were confident. We just thought, 'Oh well. We'll just carry on as per normal.' - Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll be fine. - (Danny) There was a lot of things going on. Ahh! Duck, duck, goose! (all quack, laugh) Along comes this wonderful film called Sione's Wedding. - (Aaradhna) # The neighbourhood dudes think I'm no go, # but they don't know. - (Danny) Getting the opportunity to do the soundtrack to that. - # But they don't know. # I could be yours. - (Danny) Sione's Wedding was our movie. - You sure sounded sexy on the phone. - You too, Latifah. - Tyrique? - Aaliyah? - On Party Chat, you said you were 6'6'! - You said you were size 14! - I am! - Oh, your feet, maybe. (scoffs) - # The neighbourhood dudes think I'm no go, # but they don't know. # Girls at school think you's a fool, # but they don't know. # - This was gonna be the first blockbuster film for Pacific Islanders. And to be involved in it was really important for all of us. (smooth R&B music) - (Viiz) Oh man. Our song's made a movie now. In the most beautiful part of the movie, the wedding scene. - # I'm looking forward to a time # when I'll be down on one knee. - (John Barnett) Dawn Raid was plugged into that audience, and they were plugged into the culture. - # Will you marry me? # - D was like a godfather, and he was connected to all of the people. He had a good ear, and he had a good eye for what was going to work in the market. - # I'm searching for a new boo. - (John) But sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. - # You're really ringing my bell. # And baby I can tell... - (Mike) The boys put a lot of money out to make videos, particular with the Aaradhna project. It was picked to go platinum. - # Hold me. # - Can you blame the people that downloaded it? Not really. - The world had changed. So the income didn't come back to the artists; it didn't come back to us. - (Andy) We'd just been in National Business Review for, like, turnover of 4.6 million or something. Um, and even that ` turnover. Key word there, people, if you've never owned a business. You can turn over 4.6 and spend 4.7. Do you know what I'm saying? But when you're in the hood, it's, like, 'Andy has 4.6 million? Probably in a safe.' You know? No, we never had a million anywhere. We'd turned it over. There's a big difference, you know? - They had their back against the wall. (chuckles) - # Shake! - # Another Saturday alone. - # Shake! - # Ooh, this thing just keeps rewinding. - # Shake! - # Over, over, over again. - # Shake! - (Andy) Every one of our top-tier artists had big money spent on them. $50,000 video, $20,000 video. - # Shake! - We probably weren't listening - not listening to our accountant, not listening to the advice of my dad, you know? Using our mouths too much and not our ears. - # Shake! - We spent too much. What the artists didn't know was, we were damn near broke at this point. - # I'm gonna dance for my love. - # Shake! - I told Aaradhna years later, I said, 'You were on the set making the Shake video, 'and me and Brotha D didn't have enough to pay for the video.' You're doing the photo shoot for your album cover; I don't know how we're gonna pay for your album cover. But I'm not telling you. - When I sell a million records... - (Aaradhna laughs) - ...I'm gonna, um, buy me a house. - (Danny) We deliberately didn't tell any of the artists what was happening, because, you know, that's not their concern. - (Andy) We've run through all the money. The next deal hasn't come. Go hard, dogs. Get in there. Part of the problem too ` me dipping into our company funds to hold up our community trust. Everything costs, eh? - During that time, Brotha D got married. If you see the wedding photos, it's like the happiest day on earth. But then it got bad. The IRD got heavy on us, again, and came back round and were, like, 'You're missing your payments and stuff.' And we're, like, 'Well, we have to pay our staff.' So we made the choice to pay our staff, but not pay the PAYE. - And sometimes, delaying payment on something brings a penalty. (robot clanks) - We weren't very smart. - (Andy) I now know, as a businessman, you pay IRD before God. - (Advertising voiceover) Remember ` 7 March for provisional tax. - I am 27 at this point. (laughs) I'm a baby, dude. I'm a total baby fighting the government. - We tried to work with them. We tried to highlight, they had adverts at the time that said, 'Tell us about your problems. If you've got a problem, tell us.' - (Voiceover) Lots of you say you're having problems. And I'm here to tell you that Inland Revenue is listening to what you're saying. - (Voiceover) Because at Inland Revenue, it's our job to be fair. - We thought it was fixable, because we were already in a settlement case with them where we were paying it off. (coins clink) - And we had a six-figure repayment plan. You know, we thought we were good. - The level of debt, initially, was actually not very much. But of course, very quickly what happens is that they put penalties on. And so the debt just absolutely blew out, because every month, there's a new amount put on to the top of it. (Andy) By the time we understood, it was too late. Within the first two weeks of January, we get a phone call from our lawyers saying that the Inland Revenue is gonna put us into voluntary liquidation. - (Danny) I'm not too sure if anybody understands voluntary liquidation, but these accounting people, they take over, and they literally shut it down and strip it down and sell it off to whatever creditors we had. And our biggest creditor was IRD. - (Andy) Both the computers, Pro Tools system, mixing desk, Yamaha speakers, TV. - It felt like everything had come to an end. - (Andy) Guitar amps, fans, heater, both the guitars. - You know, IRD couldn't just go, 'OK, boys, 'you know, we see the good you've been doing out there in the community.' Cos you know what? Nobody else gives a shit. I don't see anybody come here to South Auckland and grab our kids and start working with them and change their lives. Dawn Raid brought a new level of pride in the community. And IRD couldn't give us a little bit more time to pay it off. - Like, you know, it got weird for me, cos I'm just, like, 'Why are they doing this to us?' - I couldn't see why they were pursuing this thing so violently. Too much positivity in the ghetto. (chuckles) (brooding atmospheric music) - (Danny) They didn't have to do that. - That day when he said, 'That's it, Vitaly, I can't pay you any more.' (laughs) 'You can go home.' For me it was like the end of an era. Something you got used to, all of a sudden it's just gone. - It was hell, bro. My parents, Brotha D, me ` we all lost houses. - (Mike) Because of the personal guarantees, I lost everything. I rang up Andy, and I said to him, 'Mate, you're gonna have to come and pick me up.' And he said, 'Why? Where are you?' And I said, 'I'm sitting out on the gutter outside the screen-printing factory.' He said, 'Well, where's your car?' And I said, 'Oh, this very pleasant gentleman came and said to me, '"I'm sorry, mate, but we're taking your car."' - That hurt. That hurt a lot. - You spend all your life trying to build something, and then, you know, in a moment's time, it's just gone. (country hip-hop music) It was hard for us to come to grips with it, but the artists didn't have any idea. - # Don't fuck with me. - # Don't fuck with me, son. - # I won't fuck with you. - # I won't fuck with you, son. # - That came out of the blue for us, the whole IRD thing. We're creatives. We're musicians. I just remember seeing Andy and D on TV, and they were explaining their situation. - But I guarantee you, if you read the paper today, seven businesses, eight businesses got put in liquidation today, and tomorrow and the next day and the next day. - I felt like an outsider, like part of the New Zealand public, hearing it for the first time. - (Danny) We're taking a massive hit. - We haven't anticipated the change... - (Andy) In the market. - Yeah, in the market, and in the industry itself. - (Savage) We didn't see any of this coming up. To watch them go through it was hard. And it was sad. And at the same, it's like... It was like everything that we'd worked for was slipping through our hands. - I mean, I think for all of our artists, um... We definitely didn't explain it properly. I wish I could have... explained our hearts better. - (Mareko) There was, like, a bit of disbelief, like, 'Fuck, what are we gonna do now?' You know? We grew up in this family. It's like they're evicting us from our household. - (Viiz) There were politics going on within the label. We felt like there was money that was owed to us that we never got. Um... there were deals made with our money. There were projects that were funded with the money from our album. Always & For Real was still the most successful album on the Dawn Raid label. Guys that we trusted, don't trust any more. - I think if he felt like he was getting wronged, then he would act on it, Which is all good, which is fair enough. - The most hurtful thing I ever hear is that we ripped off the artists. - We never ripped anybody off. - (Andy) The Herald and the media just reported whatever they like. They took a photo from an Aaradhna press shoot, where she's looking down and angry, and they used it like they'd interviewed her, and that she was upset. - That tax stuff, it would just make you not feel like you could trust them. Like, that's how I felt. - We created the hope, and for all those people who believed in us, we let them down. - I felt the disappointment from South Auckland. I was a fat redhead kid. And the only place I ever felt I fitted in, in the world, was in South Auckland and in hip-hop culture and in Polynesian culture. That's where I'm at home. So it was just, like, a massive blow. Massive blow. - I started applying for jobs, and, of course, nobody wants... the ex-owner of a hip-hop company. (laughs) So, um... And in the end, I had to declare personal bankruptcy. So, um... Yeah, it's not the best thing to do when you're, sort of, in your 50s. - The local music industry says the demise of record and clothing label Dawn Raid is a huge blow to New Zealand music. - It was so hard, you know? Cos we felt like we had unfinished work. - (Andy) All I knew, honestly, was dust off. Dust off and do it bigger than ever before - that's the only way you can redeem yourself. - (Danny) Everybody thought it was over for us. (cheering) - (Andy) Success fixes everything. You know? That's all I could think of, is, like, you know, if you lose the rugby game and you get knocked out in the boxing ring, you lose at anything in life, the only thing is to come back. (bell dings) - (Mike) Andy's a fighter, he's an absolute fighter, and he was gonna get through this. - And everyone ran. (running feet patter) I mean ran. All the accountants were gone. All the lawyers were gone. (door slams) Saatchis were gone. Everyone was gone. And that was, like, four months, I think. I can't even tell you what I did in those four months. I think I just lifted weights and prepared for jail. The only person that was standing there saying that me and D were any good was John Barnett. - (John) After Sione's Wedding, I was quite well-disposed to D and Andy. And they came to see us, to see whether we could help them out. - Local kings of hip-hop Dawn Raid Entertainment have announced that they're back in business. - # Say you wanna know where I live. - (Danny) Six months after the liquidation, John and his business partner bought Dawn Raid and said, 'We want you guys to come back and run it.' - # Take it, take it, take it. # Take it from the south. - And that led to what we call Dawn Raid 2. - # Take it, take it, take it, take it from the south. - The first album we did was Brotha D & the Dawn Raid Family. - # Now I walk with my head held high to the sky. # My T-shirts say, 'Southside till I die.' - (Andy) We came back to a new Dawn Raid company that we weren't owners of. Like, I'm just an employee now. - But in your heart, you never think, like, it's not yours any more. - # Dawn Raid! # Take it! # - (Andy) We had to work and prove ourselves. We did a whole record to virtually no fanfare. You know, that was super-scary to, like, have something come out from Dawn Raid and no one give a shit. - Dawn Raid 2 emerged in a market that was completely different than even four years before. I don't know where the music business is going. - (Adam) It was really hard to make money. Piracy was at its absolutely worst. - (Andy) CD sales go down. - People were getting distracted by the internet. Social media was on the rise. It was the end of an old music industry, to an extent. So people were really looking for how we can actually survive in this world. - (Savage) Brotha D came around one night and said, 'I need youse to come back onboard.' And we're, like, 'Yeah, man, we're here.' - (Mareko) We're not just gonna leave the bros when they're down. We stayed loyal. - Loyalty is an important thing, man. A real important thing. (brooding atmospheric music) - (Andy) We had an incentive to prove everyone wrong. I just wanted to do it my way. So I made a Dawn Raid Publishing disc to push our catalogue in Hollywood. So this was a double CD, with about 40 tracks. Not for sale. It was just for movie studios. - (Mareko) How many chances do we get? We're down on our luck. Then this big Hollywood movie picks up a little song from a little label from the bottom of the world. And it's called Swing. - Then that Hollywood movie turns around and helps us sell a million records. - (Danny) The machine kicked in. And the rest of the world found out about it. - (Andy) This new funny thing called social media starts popping up. - Savage was on something called MySpace. Does anybody remember that? - (Savage) I didn't even set up the page. Pauly set up the page for me. He had to kinda sit me down and go through it. He was, like, 'Bro, your Myspace is blowing up.' - Savage's Myspace is growing by 10,000 every day. I'm, like, 'I don't know what is going on in America, but they really like Savage.' I do some more research. I'm, like, 'What happened to that move, man? 'Was that movie a success?' $220 million at the box office. It's this huge movie, and the main scene of the movie ` he does this little dance, that's when he gets her pregnant ` it's Swing. - # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. - # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! (Andy) Knocked Up was really just a game changer. - No, no. You know the, like, entertainment news channel? - E! - E! - # Now drop it low and let me see your hips swing! - Dude, I think he's doing the dice thing too much. That's really all he's got. - # Let me see your hips swing! # - Thank God we found a good song. It's always fun when you can break something new, and it's not just a song people have heard a thousand times. - I use Jew, it's called. - Swing made that whole sequence really fun, and it's a rare thing. It's hard to find that song. - (Andy) This how Swing became amazing. Seth Rogen and Judd made a cool comedy that everyone liked, right at the same time that social media clicked. Timing is everything. It's the first time this word comes out called, 'viral craze'. - Hi. - I didn't practise! - On the chair! On the chair! - It just started to take off. People started to do their own dance videos to the song, and YouTube, hundreds of different videos. - # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! # - Girls in New Zealand don't have the biggest booties in the world, OK? And rap videos are full of girls with big booties. So we make our New Zealand version of Swing with all of our beautiful Polynesian sisters, Maoris, white girls. Right? But they're slim. - How you going, G? White girls in America pick up on Swing. - # Uh-oh! Lean back. # Girl, you got some mean rags. # You got a mean ass. # And I really mean that. - We're thinking it's a hardcore, in the hood, black music. It wasn't. It was a white-college campus, drink, university... - # Oh shit! Shake that ass, ma. - ...viral breakout. - # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! # Oh, shit, shake that ass, ma. # Move it like a gypsy. # Stop. Whoa. Back it up. # Now let me see your hips swing! - We're kids from South Auckland. None of these things should be happening for us. - We didn't plan that. We didn't create that. That happened of momentum. - Andy definitely turned that frown upside down; let me tell you that. - (Andy) But Swing was not released in America. - I knew he was gonna pick it up. - I go up to Universal Records, to Adam Holt. - Bro, I knew all along, man. Andy is an evil genius, bro. - 'Adam, I know you can't call the shots on Universal America. 'But I think that movie has spiked Savage's MySpace. 'And if I'm right, that means we've got all the same fans in America. 'I need to sell my song in America.' CDs are gone. iTunes goes live in America. It doesn't even exist in New Zealand and Australia. Adam knows someone at Decca ` you know, the Beethoven label in Europe. Decca, the classical music label, bootlegs in Swing into America, on a hunch from me, with no paperwork, no contract. (laughs) And that very next day, that phone rang. 'You're number 42 on Billboard.' Brrrrrt! 'Def Jam New York are on the phone!' It's, like, 'Hey. We're really interested in Savage and 'Swing'.' Brrrrrt! 'Andy, Jive is on the phone!' At the end of the day, I'm at $600,000 for the rights to Swing. I did the money dance, like, 'Oh!' Ahh! (laughs) - (Andy) We had a superstar. We tour America, all 52 states, over a hundred shows. We did every single Hawaiian island. Swing was just out the park, bang! I mean, this is a million already sold. What we're getting told is it's gonna do 1.5 to 2 million records, so, you know, this is history. This is the highest-selling New Zealand single. At the end of the day, we're all about home team. We're about New Zealand. We're about South Auckland. We're about our team. (applause) We flew home for the music awards. - Great to be here to present the International Achievement Award, because more and more of our people are getting phenomenal recognition off-shore. Ladies and gentlemen, Savage! - # Can't you see that I need a girl that can move, # make her hips swing and look just like you. # - (Andy) We had to sell 1.5 million records for New Zealand to recognise Savage. There was nothing they could do but go, 'Here's your international award, you little fuckers.' (laughs) (cheering, applause) - Get on your feet and get ready to party. Savage! - (Savage) There's never a time that I don't look back at where I came from. Being a 15-year-old kid, during the middle of winter, sleeping under a bridge. Yeah. So every time something crazy happens, or, like, something that would blow anyone out of the water, I would always reflect back to that time. # Where's all my peoples at? # Where's all my peoples at? Because I literally came from nothing. Know what I mean? So always count my blessings. # Where's all my peoples at? - (Danny) I truly believe in the industry and the public, they felt that this was gonna be a phase. You know, they thought that, you know, 'Oh yeah. They'll stop doing their hippity stuff and, you know, their hoppity, 'and they'll, you know, move on, 'and they'll start strumming their guitars again, you know, 'and sing their waiatas, you know?' But hip-hop is the voice of a generation that had the world vibrating. It wasn't just us; it was the world. The world was shaking. - (Mareko) We took every stereotype, all the negative stigma that was placed upon South Auckland, and we said, 'Hey, man, there's some go-getters out here. 'There's some actual talent and guys that have dreams and ambition.' - Make some noise for Savage, everybody! - Savage! - Oh! - Aaradhna! - Oh! - Deceptikonz! - Yeah! - Ill Semantics! - Oh! - Adeaze! - Oh! - DJ Peter Gunz! - Oh! - DJ Tikelz! - Yeah! - Dawn Raid! - Yeah! Don't forget, boy! - Dawn Raid Entertainment. - Thank you very much! (cheering, applause) - Hip-hop, which had been an outsider, had come right to the centre. - And Dawn Raid's a critically important part of that story. It's had a significant impact in the way that New Zealanders see themselves. It should be celebrated for what they did, for what it leaves behind. - (Kirk) They're original in so many ways. Dawn Raid is attached to a place. You know what I mean? Attached to a culture. - (Aaradhna) It's a beautiful dream to bring together all these Polynesian artists and help them achieve. - (Viiz) I'm thankful that we were part of something great. The good and the bad. It's funny how life walks hand in hand with those two things. - (Mike) People have said to me at different times, you know, 'So, what was it like, losing everything?' And I say, 'Well, I didn't. I just lost the money.' - Brotha D and Andy, together, were the yin and the yang. They balanced each other really well. Turned something negative into something positive. They were pioneers. - (Andy) I think of the cultural impact, and I think of all the smiling faces I used to see on the corner when we had the barbershop and the store and the studio. I knew in my heart that everything that Dawn Raid was about for all of us ` for the community, for the neighbourhood, for me and Brotha D, for my parents, for my wife, for my kids, we stood up to be counted. - (Danny) I still have an awesome relationship with Andy. You know, we built something that mattered - to, you know, not only ourselves, but to our community. This is our home. It has its good and bad, just like everywhere else. We can go to the world and do what we need to do, but we always come back here. I knew I was building a bridge, as well. And I know in my heart that, you know, one day some kid from South Auckland is gonna walk over that bridge. - # Cool chamber. # I get wild in the club. # Cha-hoo! # I get loud in the club. # Cha-hoo! # I get down in the club. # Cha-hoo! - # DJ! - # Cha-cha-cha-hoo! # Now wil-il-il-ild out. # Cha-hoo! # Get lou-lou-lou-lou-loud. # Cha-hoo! # Get down d-d-down down. # Cha-hoo! # Cha-cha-cha-hoo! # There's a war goin' on in the speakers. # That bass keeps slappin' the tweeters. # There's a war goin' on in the speakers. # That bass keeps slappin' the tweeters. # That shawty on the floor, she fine as hell. # I'm-a go step up and grind her tail. # Paint a picture and find the tail. # Shawty wanna roll, we might as well. # Hey, I let 'em goons come through. # Souls in the club, like... # Cha-hoo! # That's right, hell yeah, I said it. # Speak my roots, and yeah, I rep it. # Raised that way, man, without question. # Muscle my hustle, man, without flexin'. # In the lab, I grind it out. # Then I hit the club, straight wildin' out. # I get wild in the club. # Cha-hoo! # I get loud in the club. # Cha-hoo! # I get down in the club. # Cha-hoo! - # Cha-cha-cha-hoo! # (Mareko feat. Deceptikonz' 'Stop, Drop & Roll') - # Early in the morning, # it's all good to... # Stop, drop and roll. # And in the evening, # it's all good to... # Stop, drop and roll. # When the lights go out, # it's all good to... # Stop, drop and roll. # Cos when we're hot, Deceptikonz... # Stop, drop and roll. - # Yeah! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Come on! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Come on! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Yeah! - # Stop, drop and roll. - (Savage) # In the morning I woke up frozen and my arms are now broken. # If you look closer, you will notice # that my shoulders fold in. # It's too much stop, dropping and rolling since I took up aerobics. # Moving my hips side to side # and in a circular motion. # Cos I'm doing all I can just to lose some weight, # trying to feel healthy and get in shape. # Ain't no other feeling like feeling great, - # shaving, buzzing, sipping lemonade. - (Devolo) # My turn. Let me rip it up. # To the Horsemen, giddy-up. # Don't try this at home; please give it up. # See my drinks at the bar, come fill it up. # You're not feelin' us? We don't give a fuck. # Crews wanna bring it. # I'll pay for your minibus. # Work your skill, your style's not fit enough. # Coconuts with the leather chucks. # How does it feel that your fans would rather a bit of us? # Catching up to all those ahead of us, # champions in the game that will never last. - # Move back, it's the wolf pack. - # Awoooo! # Stop, drop and roll. - (Savage) # Early in the morning. - # It's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. # And in the evening, - # it's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. - # When the lights go out, - # it's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Cos when we're hot, Deceptikonz... # Stop, drop and roll. # Deceptikonz, we don't mind if you stop, drop and roll. # Come on, girlies, make us lose control. # We don't mind if you stop, drop and roll. # Come on, girlies, make us lose control. - (Mareko) Yeah! Yeah! # Hey, girls, Daddy's home. # Back with the pack of raps that's cold. # Still melt plastic rappers, though. # Like you cats were like Michael Jackson's nose. # Catapult, cos stakes is high. # So a taste of your gimmick is a waste of time. # I deface all your lyrics in the lake of fire. # And this ain't even the way I rhyme. # Take my time, you should know now, # horsin' is the way it goes down. # Auckland knows the name through the whole town - # Deceptikonz, stop, drop and roll out. - (Alphrisk) # Deliver raps sober, uh-huh, till it's over. # Make way, it's the stop, drop and roller. # Get drunk off some bourbon and cola. # Pass out on a comfortable sofa. # Smoked out, it's the no-seed smoker again. # Dropping your boys who are men by the ten. # One hit, to the chin. # One girl, one move, I'm in. # I keep it on the D-Low. # I don't wanna freak, though. # I just want a ride to get home. # But no, she wants to learn to... # Stop, drop and roll. - (Savage) # Early in the morning, - # it's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. - # And in the evening, # it's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. # When the lights go out, - # it's all good to... - # Stop, drop and roll. # Cos when we're hot, Deceptikonz... # Stop, drop and roll. - # Yeah! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Come on! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Come on! - # Stop, drop and roll. - # Yeah! - # Stop, drop and roll. # Deceptikonz, we don't mind if you stop, drop and roll. # Come on, girlies, make us lose control. # We don't mind if you stop, drop and roll. # Come on, girlies, make us lose control. # Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.