Kapiti-based DJ and promoter Mickey Poppy-Lees, a.k.a. DJ Pleez, is making waves in the next generation of New Zealand hip hop.
“Hip hop as a genre is so huge – all the different sort of areas of hip hop pretty much make up a really large area of popular culture, in the western world at least,” he says.
And on the Kapiti Coast, a lot of the scene is due to Pleez and his focus on bringing artists such as Raiza Biza, Third3ye, Team Dynamite and more to his home town.
“I didn’t even know where Kapiti was like last year,” says AmmoNation rapper Blaze The Emperor. “I saw it on an ad, and the only thing I knew about it is they make ice cream. A year later we’re with this dude called DJ Pleez to perform our craft in front of all these new faces in this small town that we’ve never been [to before].”
Photo: Unknown
For Pleez, a quiet night is still a busy one. As promoting is a numbers game, the local profile of his band The No Problemos means he’s able to sell out a bar in Raumati just off the beach. His dedication shows when after the show, many are invited back to his home for the afterparty – that is, if everybody’s happy to pitch in $10 for a keg.
For Pleez, being able to promote yourself comes part and parcel with being a musician in the digital age. It’s the friendships and the sense of community gained that appeals to him the most: “It’s a perfect stage in my life and my career where I’ve got an opportunity to sort of grow with it,” he says. “The people I’m building relationships with, we’re all on the same level, all working together and have this really positive and open concept of really wanting to band together and get an outcome for each other. I think strength in numbers is huge.”
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