Artist Profile – SWIDT
by Sarah Kidd
You can smell it. Taste it. The sweet tang of summer on the whispers of the cool spring air. It’s coming, and with it comes long hot nights, cold beverages and of course summer concerts. If you are one of the lucky you will already have your hands on one of the hottest concert tickets of the impending new year; a concert that has literally made history as Six60 become the first New Zealand band to not only headline but completely sell out a show at the iconic Western Springs Stadium, a venue that has hosted some of the biggest acts in the world from David Bowie to AC/DC to the Foo Fighters. But while the infamous six from Dunedin may be taking centre stage – and rightly so – there are a few other names on the bill that make it just that oh so much more tantilizing, one in particular currently on a headline tour of their own…
From the streets of Onehunga, Hawaiian shirts at the ready and more style than Richard Fliehr himself (see what I did there?) the ‘312’ collective formally known as SWIDT took over Auckland’s The Studio for a taster of what’s to come…
Made up of individual powers to form one cohesive collective, Spycc, Smokey Beatz, INF, JAMAL, AZA and Boomer are more than just another hip-hop crew. They are creatives; producing, tagging, dancing and delivering more comedic inside jokes than Chris Rock and Kevin Hart’s love child. What grew from Smokey Beatz’s initial project entitled ‘SWIDT vs Everybody’ was the debut album STONEYHUNGA, an album featuring tracks that breathed new life into both the genre of hip-hop and the community itself. Yes, SWIDT are all about the letter ‘C’, community being one of their biggest loves.
Their debut album was not only a window of insight into their lives and the neighbourhood they hold close to their hearts but their influences both past and present. SWIDT are international quality with a distinctly poly-kiwi flavour, their presence being felt across the world by names such as Kendrick Lamar himself an artist that the fans who have filled out the dancefloor of The Studio tonight know well judging by their co-ordinated rapping to ‘m.A.A.d city’ that is blasting from the decks of IllBaz. As a green tinged skull bearing a SWIDT cap leered from a curtain hanging across the stage, fans whooped, more than ready to get the party started with the ‘312’ crew. Dropping to the floor the curtain revealed a central mixing desk semaphoring patterns and symbols in led’s, JAMAL at its helm.
A SWIDT live show is an experience from start to finish, from the talented vocal skills of SPYCC who often leads the charge to the comedic interludes which are never scripted but flow naturally between the life-long friends to the shirtless escapades of Boomer who by his own admission had a kingsize wedgie but carried on regardless, even dropping to the floor to give ten press-ups, SPYCC ribbing him for not delivering the ten burpies originally requested. But there is serious talk too, talk of how their hood, that of Onehunga is disappearing before their very eyes, gentrification turning beloved stores into yet another café “We don’t need another fuckin’ café!” Spycc cries.
Tracks such as ‘Little Did She Know’, ‘Player of the Day, and ‘Ric Flair (Wooo)’ with their infectious choruses had the crowd jumping in time, hands in the air and smiles stretched wide; the feel good vibes contained within those beats ensuring that the fans made up of multiple races and creeds were having the time of their lives; inclusivity generated organically by the collective onstage. But while ‘312’ was all about the chance to chant in unison, tracks from their latest EP The Most Electrifying released this year – while still containing that SWIDT magic – also have a more serious undertone. ‘No Emotions in the Wild’ addressing both toxic masculinity and NZ’s youth suicide rates, both topics personal to Spycc in particular; the SWIDT collective themselves often involved in community outreach programmes.
Paying their respects to artists before them such as David Dallas and Scribe they too are passing the torch around, a plethora of guests both established (Melodownz) and up-and-coming (dharmarat & Jinzo) joining them periodically on stage throughout the evening. Latest tracks ‘Mood’ and ‘Praise’ showed just how far SWIDT have come and will continue to go in NZ – that’s if the international market doesn’t start snaffling members up one by one first. Filling the stage completely with all who had performed on the night, along with a few friends and SWIDT powered out ‘Conquer’ to finish, a track befitting of their current and future status.
Believe the hype, dismiss the naysayers, NZ’s hip-hop community is more united than ever.
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