Some time ago in the “myspace heyday”, I ran across Goonie Hodges AKA Haz Beatzmyspace page. I was blown away by the tracks I heard from this Auckland, New Zealand sound wizard. After reaching out, Hazand the OkiZoo crew have collaborated on a few projects and have a few more on deck. Of course this isn’t where the story ends. I found out that he actually had a crew named Home Brew that was on the rise. Home Brew consists of emcees Tom Scotch and Lui Silk and are backed by the production of the after-mentioned Haz Beatz. My first listening exeprience was the “Last Week EP” which was 7 tracks with each track serving as a day of the week in the lives of the Homebrew Crew.  As a listener, the first thing I noticed (besides the soulful backdrops that Haz is known for) was the common everyman lyrics and storytelling. If you have ever hated your job, or lived paycheck to paycheck, or just wanted to party hard on a Friday night, this is the crew for you. To quote Haz directly, “We’ve released 4 EP’s now all underground & FREE & to me I think the people appreciate us for putting in the hard work in our songs.I mean our songs actually relate to most of the people in our community & the things we see & do.” OkiZoo has decided to spotlight the “Last Week EP“ on our blog. Yes it’s a free download, but I encourage the listeners that if you like this project, to purchase it from the crew and support them if you really dig it. You can purchase it at http://homebrew.bandcamp.com/ for a donation of whatever you want (How cool is that?!?!). Support good Hip Hop!!! Cheers!!!
So I guess it’s about time to spring a leak. Some might think we are taking our sweet time to complete our album The PuZZle PrOject: OliO FuZiOn. Remember this… we are WORKING CLASS musicians. So until a big pay day comes, or a money tree is invented, or we win the lotto, you’ll just have to wait. Just know that when it drops, it will have been worth the wait. We decided to give you guys a little something. OkiZoodusting em on the track (literally) with the help of Auckland, New Zealand’s own Goonie Hodges AKA Haz Beatz. With Nations, Dunn-D, E@5e 95, and EL3G passing the baton to each other. How can they lose? Click the link below to download.
The OkiZoo crew was recently invited to perform at the 2nd annual Photosynthesis music fetival in Trout Lake Washington. This 4 day festival (yes 4 days, be prepared to camp) is a gathering of talent within the worlds of Electronica, Techno, Drum N Bass, Hip Hop and Turntableism. More than just a party, the Photosynthesis Festivalalso hosted workshops, classes and discussions on the topics of permaculture, renewable energy, water conservation, holistic healing, waste reduction, yoga and wild crafting. Lots of artists painted live throughout the festival and showcased their gallery pieces. Acts such as Amon Tobin, Daedelus, and Kid Koala headlined the bill this year. Armed with his Flip Cam DJ Alphadecided to take in some Seattle culture. After that, he gets his reporter on and got the peoples take on this on the verge festival. Assisted by Nations they give us a quick tour of Photo and what goes on.
OkiZoo in Seattle, WA Part 1
OkiZoo in Seattle, WA Part 2
Photosynthesis Festival 2.0 Interviews and a short OkiZoo performance
The driving force of the emcee are the words that they choose and how they choose to put them together. OkiZoo emcee/poet Nationsknows how to string words together in ways that would leave your typical emcee tied in knots. Nations has been in Seattle scribing in his black book for 2 different projects. The “Continuing of the Continuum” project and his long awaited solo album “Student Driver”. This leak is from his “Student Driver” album and features production from Squil of Germany. Click the link below to download.
OkiZoo’sE@5e 95(pronounced ease nine five ) has been in Seattle concocting witty oddball rhymes for two projects. “LoOp Dre@mZ” for the lovers of the traditional stylings of  hip hop(which just means dope beats and dope rhymes), and “The AdventureZ of Tom FoOlery” for the fans ready to step into a comical and outlandish unknown. This leak comes from the “LoOp Dre@mZ” project and is appropriately titled “Late Night LoOpin” and is produced by OkiZoo‘s Dunn-Dand features scratches by DJ Jam On . The foolery commences once you click the download link below.
OkiZoo’s PreCise and Dunn-D have been hard at work on a collaborative effort called “The Burnout”. Unlike PreCise’s previous works, Dunn-D will man the boards for the entire project. “Eisa meets Afro” is the first leak from the “The Burnout”. Click the link below to download the goodies.
OkiZoo and Hip Hop Slam’s DJ Alpha has been deep inside his Lab Insomnia studios for the last year creating his turntablist debut album “This way or That way”, a magnum opus of his technical ability to use the power of the record and the turntable to create music. This promises to be a bizare journey from beginning to end featuring a few special guests including fellows DJ’s like Dust One, Dawgisht, and Jimmy Penguin . It also features guest emcees, Nations and Dunn-D of OkiZoo and Skahlah of The Life Penciled Crew. Set for a fall release, Alf is ready to show us all why the DJ is essentially the backbone of music. California’s Amoeba Music recently interviewed Alf to find out how he became a turntablist, about his time in Okinawa Japan, and what “This way or That Way” is all about. Click the link below.
