Editors’ Notes
Individually, their fearless approaches to heavy topics and experimental sounds have made REMI and RAIZA BIZA two of the most compelling boundary-pushers in Australia and New Zealand’s respective hip-hop scenes. Together, they’re a Trans-Tasman force to be reckoned with. Black Hole Sun, which springs to life atop an assortment of beats produced by Detroit rapper Black Milk, is testament to just how far the genre has come in this corner of the planet. Sydney’s Sampa the Great guests on two tracks, showing off her grimiest side on the snarling “Jiggy”: “Say we’d never make it, but we conquered all that…Young, gifted, and black.” “Freeman” grimly reflects on racial violence and poverty over tinkling piano, while “P.O.M (Piece of Mind)” is a scathing attack on cultural appropriation in both countries.
