Diaz Grimm. You may not know the name yet, but you should. Diaz Grimm has just dropped his debut album Osiris and is now headed on his first New Zealand tour. Following a sold-out show in Hamilton, Grimm is heading our way for the second show of the tour this Thursday.
Critic: First up, tell us a little about yourself. And what was the first album you ever purchased?
Grimm: Yo! So I guess an easy intro for those that don’t know me, my name’s Diaz Grimm and I’m on a mission to create a career for myself as a creative. I think the first album I can really remember purchasing would have been Gorillaz’ self-titled album in around 2000/2001. I remember having a lot of CDs before then, but as far as actually purchasing it myself, I’m pretty sure that’s the one.
Critic: You’ve teamed up with electronic artists ranging from CTFD, Beat Mafia and Mount Eden. How do you think they complement your style?
Grimm: I think because I got into DJing in such a big way, I became a big fan of electronic music. I originally really wanted to see my favourite rappers start collaborating with my favourite electronic producers. For me, rapping on more electronic-styled soundscapes just felt a bit more natural. I think more importantly than the sound, the fact that CTFD, Beat Mafia and Mt Eden are all just good dudes was the real reason we managed to complement each other’s creations.
Critic: I see in the New Zealand hip hop scene there is a huge willingness to collaborate, and you yourself have numerous artists. What do you put that willingness down to?
Grimm: New Zealand right now is in this great place where working together has became common sense. I think, back in the day, Kiwis were a bit more hostile towards others trying to chase the same dreams as there may have been a competitive vibe surrounding the scene. Nowadays, I think New Zealanders are constantly impressing each other with what they’re creating, and everyone wants to merge what they’re doing with others.
It’s a hard country to be a creative in as far as reaching as many people as you can, and I think everyone now knows collaborating and helping each other is the quickest means of spreading what you’re doing.
Critic: You are based out of Cambridge. Is there much of a hip hop following out there? Do you find it hard coming up from a small place?
Grimm: I’m actually up in the big smoke now. I’m from Cambridge but figured the place to be as a creative right now is Auckland. Cambridge never really had any hip hop following. When I first decided to start giving rapping a go, there were a couple of guys that liked the idea of it as well and we used to meet up for writing sessions, etc, but when there’s only 16,000 people, it’s hard to get much of a scene going for anything.
Critic: Your debut album is named Osiris, after the Egyptian god. What was the idea behind the title?
Grimm: Osiris was supposedly the god of life, death and rebirth. I really attempted to re-birth old ideas that to me seem to be common sense, yet I don’t hear much in music at the moment. Ideas like, you can do anything you want, be kind to other people and things will get better if you help others and work hard, etc. At one point in time, whether hip hop was dead or not was such a huge topic for discussion, and I’d like to think that regardless of what you thought, Osiris is the rebirth of the culture.
Critic: What’s up next for you?
Grimm: We’re about to release the official video for “Quarterbacks”, which I’ll hopefully have ready to show Dunedin when we come down. I’ve also begun work on the next album, 2077.
To anyone that’s supported me so far, I appreciate the support more than you know.
Be sure to catch Diaz Grimm performing on the As Osiris Burns Tour this Thursday at Refuel.
