NZ Musician
2008 (Vol: 14, No: 3)

By Martyn Pepperell

There is something different about the tone, delivery and content of Flowz' vocal performance as a hip hop artist, and a similar irregularity lies within the 'east-coast boombap' meets 'southern crunk' driven backing tracks he rhymes over. Similarly in the selection of artists featuring on his recently released debut solo album 'In The Heart Of The City'.

It is perhaps a blend of very human contradictions we could call 'art imitating life'. A blend of undeniably homegrown Polynesian quirks and themes, underpinned by a commitment to depicting his story and the world he has witnessed in a forthright manner that suggests light is always at the end of the tunnel for those willing to work hard. Actually, scratch hard. When you think Flowz, think relentless.
 "My life is in a new location", Flowz is quoted in the album's press release, and it's a telling statement.
 
Over the past couple of years, despite experiencing numerous roadblocks and setbacks Fiso Siloata (his real name), has formed his own record label, recorded a solo album, with production from DJ Raw and Chong Nee, secured a management, publicity and distribution team and assembled a live backing band called The Uso's.

It was back in the early '90s in Lyall Bay, Wellington (still his home) where, through hanging with a group of Pacific Islanders on the local basketball court, Flowz discovered a love of hip hop. That group included the likes of King Kapisi, The Feelstyle, DJ Raw and Kos 163. While shooting hoops with the boys Flowz crossed paths with the soundtrack of the streets of New York and LA circa '93, and formed his own opinion of what it meant to be a New Zealand hip hop artist.
"That's how I met hip hop, all these local dudes. I always referred to them as my reference for how cool I should be, how I should look, how I should flow... you know, what kind of emotion you need for certain songs. I used to listen to their rhymes, to the detail, the delivery, the flow. I suppose those are the dudes who really schooled me up, then the American culture kind of came later for me."

Flowz teamed up with Kos 163, DJ Raw and later MCs Shogun and Ali to form The Footsouljahs, a pioneering underground hip hop outfit that carved themselves a vicious reputation on both sides of the Tasman, between the mid '90s and early 2000s, with an undeniably raw, rugged and uncompromising DIY local sound. The Footsouljahs established a clothing line and record label, 2Much Records, through which they released an EP 'Styles, Flowz, Deliveries' and eventually their 2004 debut album 'Putting in Work'. Although 'Putting in Work' won underground acclaim, the hip hop public impact was not what had been hoped for, the Footsouljahs had become an anachronism. Flowz however already had his sights set on a solo career.
 

The music industry had already taught him a couple of lessons and Flowz knew he had to change the way he did a few things.
"There was no point making an album I knew I couldn't push myself. I also made a conscious decision that I didn't want anything to do with that [promotional] shit. I just wanted to make music. I looked all over Wellington [for management] and got pointed to Auckland. No one was keen, so I came back to Wellington."
In his thwarted hunt for a manager one person Flowz kept coming back to was Nicole Duckworth from The Drop. At that stage she was too committed to consider taking him on.
"I begged the fucking shit out of her for a year, I'm serious!" he laughs.

Flowz started recording his album, primarily with DJ Raw on production duties, meanwhile teaming up with Sarah Hunter of Transmit Ltd for publicity and Rhythmethod for distribution. 
"We recorded the album on SP-1200, the old school Roland 808 drum machine and MPC 2000, with Digi001 Pro Tools that was all in Raw's garage."
With input from the likes of Joe Dukie and Savage, externally things looked good but from the inside it wasn't right.
"The record was just making me sick aye, I knew it had to be revamped. I didn't know what to do. I was in unison trying to get a manager and trying to get these people to push the album, but the album wasn't even straight."
 
A solution emerged after the 2006 NZ Music Awards.
"I'd never been to the NZ Music Awards before in my life... I made a big effort to get to that show because I really wanted to hook up with some people to try and get my music off the ground. Me, Sarah [Transmit] and Peter [Rhythmethod], had a meeting organised that weekend. I saw Nicole and them [Fat Freddys Drop] there and Nicole was like, 'What are you doing up here Fis?' I was like, 'I just came to watch the show and I'm up here trying to hustle me a manager'. Nicole just laughed, 'Okay, okay, come hang out with us'," he relates.

The next day Duckworth showed up to the arranged meeting, and offered to take him on. "You push and you get turned down. Then you push again and you get turned down again. Then, you push and suddenly, boom, it happens. It all just came together." 
Collectively they started making decisions about what needed to happen with his project.
"There was one dude I knew could really get this album off the ground musically and that was Chong Nee. The album had all the components, but musically my lyrics were carrying it, you know? The beats weren't quite pushing the limits. I went straight to Neezy and went through everything."
Flowz spent the next nine months between Wellington and Auckland finishing his album off with Chong Nee, who provided additional production, revamped old tracks and mixed the album, followed by mastering at Kog.

"Nicole thought it would be a good idea to get a band together for me. I suppose she felt like it would really help me revamp my whole show. I thought I'd really like to try that, I'd never done rap live with a band and I had a few friends I wanted to work with I'd had in mind."
The Uso's consists of the Savalii brothers Lafaele (keyboard) and Sefo (bass), a mutual friend Des on drums and guitarist ADT.
After nine months their occasional get togethers had become once a week rehearsals and the band were getting tight. A monthly jam session at Sandwiches Nightclub in Wellington served as the opportunity for Flowz and The Uso's to prepare for two high profile performances opening for Fat Freddys Drop at Music Mountain Matakana in late February. Performances that, despite the deluging rain, were well received and hinted at some promising possibilities for Flowz after the release of 'In the Heart of the City'.
"It's been a hell of a mish' bro, but it's been choice," he reminisces. "The missions that I've been on, positive and negative, I've learnt things from all of them. I'm real blessed and I just want to keep learning, keep progressing."