CRS Music Management

Music has always been central to the life of the Big Man. Ever since going to university in Christchurch, New Zealand and taking hip hop with him, he has been interested in the play between beats and words. While there he set up the legendary local crew ‚Beats and Pieces’, which inspired a generation of New Zealand soul and hip hop artists. At his house, known as the 432, he set up a veritable school of rapping. Anyone that came to watch New Zealand’s best rappers freestyling in the converted garage had to sit down and take part. As The Big Man says, ‘it may be a spectator sport, but it isn’t a freakshow‘. During this time he was active in the birth of online rapping websites, foremost of which was Sha-Key’s ‘Guillotine‘. Month after month he reigned supreme and would reach out and teach any young emcee who contacted him from the far-flung corners of the world.

Following his time in Christchurch he moved to Wellington, where he workied on a fledgling record label, as producer, with DJ Mu and Joe Dukie from Fat Freddy’s Drop. He also produced a Samoan hip hop record with tha feelstyle, the Pacific’s best Polynesian rapper. Having done this he hooked up with his old friend, Zane Lowe (BBC Radio 1) and made an album called ‘Roofers‘ under the moniker Breaks Co-op. This album went on to become a seminal album in the creation of an electronic music scene in New Zealand.

After finishing ‘Roofers‘ he took flight for London, where he plied his trade as a freestyle rapper in clubs that ranged from Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, the mighty Fabric and the legendary Apricot Jam in Portobello. It was in London that he met and collaborated with Ty and the Nextmen. He worked for a while as a sample digger, sourcing rare funk and soul samples for hip hop producers. He flew to Paris to work with French electro band Pills, alongside Lee Perry and Chuck D. He appeared many times at Jont’s famous Unlit parties, alongside such bands as a young Keane. He freestyled live at Shepherd’s Empire with The Who’s Pete Townshend and went on to help him write his Lifehouse Project radioplay. He flew to South Africa and performed with Goldie producer ‘Mark Sayfritz‘. The list goes on.

The heady mix of all these influences and a desire to make more organic music, led him to make another album, ‘The Sound Inside‘ with Zane Lowe (as Breaks Co-op) in 2005. This album gave birth to the largest radio song in 2005 in New Zealand, single of the year ‘The Otherside‘. On the strength of the album, Breaks Co-op were signed to Parlophone records in London, home to Coldplay and The Beatles. In 2006 the band toured the UK relentlessly. Appeared on the very last Top Of The Pops. Got Elton John ringing them on the phone to tell them he wanted to play some piano. Surreal.

Coming out of this extended period of writing and touring, The Big Man moved to East Berlin to cool his heels and think about what to do next. He decided Pop. He decided radio songs you can sing along too. Songs with deceptively simple lyrics and a barb hidden deep. ‘Heartbreaker‘ ist the first of these songs.

There’s a lot more where that came from.

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