(Inertia)

Australian Hip Hop is only just beginning to win acceptance from the listening public so how is a producer from NZ gonna go? Well his production is tight, he’s number three in the world as a battle DJ and his guests rock, Lets just call him an Aussie!

Hailing outta sunny New Zealand is P – Money who as a long time producer and DJ on the local NZ scene thought he and his countries scene deserved some recognition, well what better way to do it than in 2001 placing third in the world ITF finals. That wasn’t enough however as here is a debut album full of world class production that has people the world over (read Fat Joe & Roc Raida) sitting up taking notice and more importantly wanting beats.

As with most Hip Hop from this side of the world the beats here provide a NY type of sound with cuts and scratches fitting nicely alongside rolling bass and perfectly crafted to fit the guest MC’s and there is no shortage of them. Featuring NZ’s finest first up is Scribe on the tight Scribe 2001 and popping up later on Synchronize Thoughts, The Freshmaker & my personal favourite Remember.

The star find for me however were Deceptikonz and not just for the Transformers reference, again hailing from NZ their track Touch Something is a standout as the MC’s bounce off each other and all over P- Moneys pinpoint production definitely a group ill be checking for in the future. The absolute highlight of the album for me is the mega posse cut Big Things I have always loved a track with MC’s going rhyme for rhyme and hear 10 or 11 (I lost count) let loose again over a wicked track the different styles and verses are arranged perfectly and it had me reminiscing about early Wu – Tang tracks where wicked MC’s combine over a dope beat. Closing the album is a bonus in a P – Money remix of the only NZ MC I had ever heard of Che-Fu.

After the first listen I could understand why so many people world wide are after his production, after the second I was looking for albums from all the guests and after the third I was telling friends about it, next listen round I will be doing the honourable thing and calling him an Aussie! Hip Hop fans get this and get it soon.