JUNK magazine : ART AND KRAFT

“It’s one of the richest art forms out there. It’s musical. It’s cultural. It’s historical. It’s a business. It’s a lifestyle.”

Kraft, the new up and coming MC that’s been tearing up Malaysia’s hip hop scene in recent months, is enthusing about why hip hop is not just another genre. His brashness is a little unsightly, sure, but you can’t put down the enthusiasm of a man that sounds like he really believes in what he does.

Kraft is one Aman Dhillon, a patriotic KL-ite and rhyme-thumping rapper who’s earned his chops by sweeping the #1 spot at the finals of MC Vandal’s freestyle/rap battle Think You Got Skillz? in April. Prior to this, most of Kraft’s tracks were collaborations with other MCs such as Ad Voc, MC Rishi, Jeevz and even songstress Melissa Indot. But now, the man’s working on some singles that should be hitting the airwaves soon. “Hopefully they will be on Malaysian radio as soon as possible,” he says. “Besides that, I got a few other projects and ventures I hope will materialise really soon, once my top priority to-do list is done with.”

What this “top priority to-do list” is isn’t immediately clear, but it’s probably not going to stray too far from Kraft’s ability to string together some smart lines, like his MySpace description of himself that reads, “Rare character, so pardon my swagger. Your neighborhood’s blockbuster. College dropout. Enjoys networking and conversations. A sweetheart without a sweet heart. Hustler entrepreneur.”

That “sweetheart without a sweet heart’ bit isn’t entirely true. Kraft gives endless props to his fellow MCs, overloads his blog with classic videos of Malaysian hip hop acts, and appears to have a distinct respect for the history of the scene that he’s currently elbowing around in. “Altimet, since his debut, is probably one of the very few hip hop figures who owned his own business ventures from the very start,” he says. “Then there’s Too Phat. As a group, Malique and Joe Flizzow set standards for commercial hip hop music locally. They did it again with their solo albums. And of course there’s Vandal. He was the first guy I heard freestyling on Malaysian radio.”

Kraft is definitely a “hustling entrepreneur”, however, building his curriculum vitae up from dust to street-cred notoriety, and even bagging some awards [Best Hip-Hop Song and Best Collaboration at the Voize Independent Music Awards (VIMA)]. But accolades aside, what sets Kraft apart is his almost-philosophical obsession with the mode by which he has chosen to operate in. “Personally at this point of time, I’m making ‘spoilt brat turned hustler’ music,” he says. “I’m talking about stuff you know and I know, stuff that you probably should know that I know, stuff that you and I would love to know more about.” Yeah, got it.

WORDS THE GEEK PHOTO HAMZAH NAZARI

www.myspace.com/kraftonline

*Taken from Junk's June 2009 issue

KLUE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW: INTRODUCING KRAFT

Picture courtesy of Hamzah Nazari.

Taken directly from http://www.klue.com.my

“NY needs Jay-Z, MY needs Kraft”—strong words for a young man at the beginning of his career. Rappers are not known for their humility and Asian rappers are no exception. As the current champion of Think You Got Skillz? and U.O.X. Play Freestyle Battle and winner of Voize Music Awards Best Collaboration with singer Melissa Endot, Kraft has reason to be confident. But isn't hiphop dead commercially? Can audiences relate to a local rapper speaking through, essentially, an African-American invention?

“People associate the word ‘poyo’ with hip-hop. They go like, ‘Aaah, you know! All that!’ But sometimes some people forget that hip-hop is actually a cultural thing. When MTV puts black rappers on, everybody wanna be black. But black rappers are rapping about what black communities are going through. Some like to flash about what [its] gotten, you know, ‘I rap about the hustle and the ghetto, I got the million bucks… and the Bentley, you should see me, I’m Elvis Presley!’ They go on that road. Over here… it's just that when you rap and [somebody] knows what you are saying irregardless of what [he] wears or what you wear but if [he] feels you, he doesn’t have to live the life you live—the whole ‘I gotta wear baggy pants and air force ones and crop my hair and braids.’ No, if you can rap to accommodate what the market likes and what the [common person] likes then you’ve probably done your job, as an artist, you’ll get your awards ‘cos they’re gonna like you.”

Kraft’s talent is evident. On Diamonds his voice throbs against the music. His delivery is flowing, musical. On Ayoh Joget, the upbeat, playful tone belies the desperate ennui of Malaysian youth. His swagger is matched by genuine respect for his peers. Bravado reveals the thrill to explore his ability. There’s maturity in there too. As the conversation winds down, it leads to observations about themes within rap and how the audience responds. Like the rhymes he so easily slips into, Kraft is fluid, complex and clever. MY will be listening. Get more Kraft at www.art-kraft.blogspot.com*** and www.myspace.com/kraftonline

*** this website formerly had that url link

Text Kamariah Rahman

Article taken from KLue Magazine June 2009, Issue 128

AYOH JOGET with KRAFT & The Voize Creative Music Fund

(L-R) Kraft, Adam from PopFolio, Hardesh from PopFolio and R Records, Siva Chandran, Editor of Voize, and Premo of Voize Music Factory

Taken directly from:
http://voize.my/music/a-chance-for-budding-musicians

For budding musicians who have just discovered their calling, and have finally found the courage to submit a music piece, here’s a chance - The Voize Creative Music Fund! The initial fund of RM 10,000 will seek to identify independent bands and acts who dare to venture beyond the norm and is willing to experiment with new sounds.

“We want to co-create with independent acts. We want to encourage bands out there to dabble with different genres like electronica, acid-jazz, world music, ambient music and hip-hop to create mash-ups that will bring about a fresh sound to the Malaysian and Asian crowd.”

“Most songs from the local market tend to focus on pop and r&b and after a while this tends to be a little monotonous. Melissa Indot and The Otherside Orchestra are daring acts that have dared to transcend traditional borders and we want to assist more acts out there to be more adventurous.” said Siva Chandran, editor of Voize.

Working together with the Voize Creative Music Fund is R Records, a project founded by local sensation Reshmonu and Hardesh Singh. R Records is open to submission from any local artiste, with or without any experience in the music industry. What’s even better is one does not need to submit an entire album of songs, merely one single will do. The revenue is also shared with the artiste, and as long as R Records retains its digital distribution rights, the artiste is free to sign up with any other record label for physical distribution rights at the same time.

Voize.my caught up with Kraft, a local rising hip-hop ingenue who is also the first ever recipient of the Voize Creative Music Fund, who has used the money to produce a new single, a “Malay club banging heavy sample based song”, called ‘Ayoh Joget’. It is due for radio play and also other promotional mobile download campaigns soon.

The last time Kraft came over, he climbed our rooftop wall at Voize. Will he continue to climb anything else? “I’ll try to stay off the wall, I’m trying to climb the walls for radio charts,” he says candidly. “With Kraft, I’m more of a hip-hop enthusiast, and with Aman Dhillon, I’m more of an independent music-maker.” Does he get a lot more attention now? “I’ve always gotten attention - its only (about) what sort of attention. Something that works in my favour.”

“We are absolutely delighted to be associated with this truly young talent. After he put up an amazing performance during the VIMAs (Voice Independent Music Awards) with Melissa Indot, and walked away with two awards, we knew he was unique and had the attitude to push the boundaries of hip-hop music. He was the first recipient of the Voize Creative Music Fund, and the release of the song “Ayoh Joget” is a stomper, blending hip-hop against a background of hard-hitting beats. It could easily be turned into a dance track, and we are exploring the possibility of doing a dance remix of the song. We truly believe that ‘Ayoh Joget” is going to be a local hit for Kraft and has the potential to be marketed on the international scene.” said the Managing Editor of Voize, Siva Chandran.

Hardesh Singh, who is from PopFolio and also from R Records says: ” Joget is the first single from Voize Creative Music Fund. It’s a collaboration between all of us, including Voize and PopFolio. Now that we have a masterpiece like Ayoh Joget, we’re going to help push it out to the market. On my side, because we have R Records, which is a digital label where we partner with a major telco, and we like the song very much as we feel it has a lot of potential, we decided to sign it up. From next week onwards people can buy it from the mobile download service.” R Records has a solution to the marketing problem that most digital distribution outlets face, says Hardesh. “That’s where R Records is very unique, because we have a relationship with a telco, where the telco then provides marketing and promotion for our artistes.”

There are two paths a recipient of the Voice Creative Music Fund can take. While R Records gears more towards radio-friendly songs, the Voize Music Factory will nurture more experimental musicians - both types of which will come out of this music fund project.

By Rachel Chan Suet Kay on June 11th 2009 at 2:00pm

AYOH JOGET SINGLE RELEASE!!!

AYOH JOGET ON X-FM !!!

X-FM has been very kind in giving it an exclusive premier on June 4th 2009 @ 8:45pm. The track will also receive rotation on June 5th 2009 once again in relation to that premier exclusivity between 10am-7pm. DO TUNE IN the following frequencies:

103.0 FM (Klang Valley) 106.5 FM (Penang) 98.5 FM (Ipoh)

CALL TO SUPPORT: (03) 9543 3388

AYOH JOGET ON Hot FM !!!

Hot FM will premier the song as well on June 6th 2009 at 11pm. DO TUNE IN the following frequencies:

97.6 FM (Klang Valley) 88.2 FM (Penang) 104.5 FM (Ipoh) 90.1FM (Melaka) 94.3FM (Kuching)

CALL TO SUPPORT: (03) 7710 8822

ALSO DO CHECK OUT KRAFT'S INTERVIEW IN JUNK & KLUE MAGAZINE, JUNE 09 ISSUE!!!

Chorus:

Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
Joget joget jom joget joget
Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
Ayoh joget joget, Ayoh ayoh joget joget
TAK BOLEH BLAH !

Verse 1:

Matahari terbit, tak bangun pagi
matahari benam, tak bangun lagi
yang 2x5 suka lepak kali lima
bersuka cita cita, tapi dengan duka cita
konon mahasiswa, bersekolahkan asrama
yang konon mahasiswi, disekolahkan asmara
cekap bercakap, sempat merangkap
gadis dara, cepat terperangkap
lain yang diminda, lain yang dibayang
lain yang dicinta, lain yang disayang
mula berkawan, lepas mengawan
cinta jadi benci, mula berlawan
kau aku yang punya, kau aku yang punya
tapi aku.. bukan kau yang punya
belum habis lagi, belum habis muda
takkan habis, walaupun sudah tua

Verse 2:

Matahari terbit, tak bangun pagi
matahari benam, tak bangun lagi
yang 2x5 suka lepak kali lima
bersuka cita cita, tapi dengan duka cita
lupa berakal, muka nakal
perangai nakal, mula menggatal
cerekarama, cinta pandang pertama
cinta pertama.. itu cerita lama
sepanjang hayat, panjang mengayat
yang pendek akal, tak panjang riwayat
berkata kata manis, untuk mana mana gadis
bukan casanova, ini kraftsanova
realitinya, bukan bintang selebriti
malah aku, bukan bintang realiti
hustler tempatan, idola jalanan
kraft!

Verse 3:

Malam malam tunggu, malam malam tunggu
malam malam tunggu, berjoget joget
Malam malam minggu, malam malam minggu
malam malam minggu, berjoget joget
Aku cuba cuba, untuk lupa lupa
tapi malam malam aku tunggu joget joget
Aku cuba cuba, untuk lupa lupa
tapi malam malam minggu aku joget joget
makwe telefon, telefon pakwe
nak joget joget, nak joget joget
pakwe telefon, telefon makwe
nak joget joget, nak joget joget

Terima kasih. Hehehe.. Kraft!