Why poetic ammo split

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Overall though, was a pretty quiet year for hip-hop. However, below their radar, a scene was slowly developing. Very little information about the underground hip-hop scene at that time is available today, but we do know that two groups were active at the time: Poetic Ammo with Yogi B as the sole member after MC E. These two groups would later converge to become Poetic Ammo, with the final piece of the jigsaw coming from the thenyear-old Wu- Tang Clan-devotee from Ipoh, Point Blanc Nicholas Ong.

We invested a lot of money in the album. Especially when good hip hop references and expertise when it came to producing and cooking up the beats were almost non-existent back then. Lyrically, it was evident the quartet did try to keep it as local as possible, which they did to a certain extent, especially on songs like Everything Changes and Peluru Puitis. Of course, there were glaring weaknesses — feeble selection of words in the rhymes here and there, not-so-fluid song arrangements — but compared to anything that was released earlier, the album was the best at its time and remains a seminal release.

The group, however, had to wait for almost a year before they could reap the fruits of their success. The first local underground hip-hop gig took place in Malibu Cafe in November The organiser, believe it or not, was Nazri Noran of now-defunct pioneering rap-rock group Projekt AK and who is now with the hitz.

The seed of the group can be traced in when a then year-old Subang Jaya kid called Joe Flizzow and the then year-old Muar-based Malique decided to form a creative alliance after an infamous rap battle on the Net. In November that year, after completing his A-Levels, Malique migrated to KL, and together with Joe and another guy, Doctah K Kevin Felix , they embarked on a journey that would take them beyond their wildest imagination.

When a sound engineering friend wanted a group to record for his course assignment, the group jumped on the opportunity. The result was a demo that would soon make its round in the local underground hip-hop circuit. Released by Positive Tone on Dec 22, , the main highlight of the song compilation had to be the comeback tune by Naughtius Maximus M. Other highlights include the fact that it broke Ferhad into the mainstream scene with Soul In Me and Believe.

But to those who were familiar with the underground scene, the inclusion of Too Phat would have made the set more comprehensive. But it was us, nevertheless. That was what one-half of Poetic Ammo, Point Blanc, told this writer in an unpublished interview back in Feb in the wake of their comeback-of-sorts album, Return Of Tha Boombox. In the Malaysian hip hop scene, if the years to were all about Ammo, the period to this day is all about Too Phat. There were many reasons for this power shift — by , Ammo were more well-known for their endorsement deals than their music.

Flashback to with a reputation as the hottest thing in the thriving local underground hip hop scene, the trio Malique, Joe Flizzow and Doctah K were offered a deal to record an EP by the now defunct Strange Culture Records SCR , which was then the label for local fringe music.

The group recorded two songs, Give It Up and Whutthadilly? In between recording sessions, they were also actively performing on the underground gig circuit. The first single off their yet-to-be-released debut was premiered and went down well with the 2,strong crowd that day. The buzz on Too Phat on the street was at an all-time high but the duo had to wait until their debut album was 90 percent complete before they could get a record label to notice their potential.

Word has it that Izham was completely blown away and demanded a meeting with the group immediately. Finally, after almost a year-long struggle, Whutthadilly?

Produced by Illegal, G-Soul, Haze and the boys themselves, the track album established a whole new set of standards for production, image, presentation and most importantly, rapping in the local hip hop scene. To call it the perfect hip-hop album by Malaysian standards at that time may be an overstatement, but considering how very few missteps were made by Malique and Joe, Whutthadilly? Musical genius aside, there were two other interesting things the boys did.

The duo roped in and introduced up-and-coming underground cats by inviting them to guest on the album. Their other, less generous act was to put down Poetic Ammo in one of the tracks. In bo-M. What triggered that was hard to tell as both parties naturally had their own version of stories, but oh, what fun it was for the fans. The roots of rap in Bahasa Melayu can be traced back to the year First to be released was the self-titled debut album by seven-piece rap combo, 4U2C.

The album then went on to sell more than 40, copies and opened a lot of eyes on the potential of rap music here. Their music may be leaning more towards pop than hip hop but no one can deny the fact that songs like Kami Rappers and 2BD 1 gave us the first taste on how rapping in Bahasa Malaysia would sound like. Another group, Nico, may not achieve the same amount of success and attention like 4U2C and KRU, but they were the first group to succeed with their attempt to excellently flow to properly written rhymes in Bahasa Malaysia.

In the following year, one of the first English-medium hip hop groups, Krash Kozz had a minor hit with the song Berhati-hati Di Jalanraya. The rap in Bahasa Melayu boom anyhow was a very brief one. By , most of the acts are nowhere to be seen, well apart from KRU, who would later enjoy success as a pop group.

I re-enacted what happened when I was 16 in the Ipohmali music video. It was exactly how it was in the video. Did the financial part of it cross your mind? If you make it big, you could be financially well-off. Of course. It was more like, hopefully, this music could help me support my family. We were lucky because at the peak of our popularity, we started getting sponsorship deals from Coca-cola and DiGi.

That journey took us about two years to get there. When I first moved to KL, it took us about a year to record our first album.

Back then, we were sleeping in studios and eating instant noodles. We grinded. The music somehow translated those emotions. So, the group technically has not broken up. It was never official.

Then, you started your solo career with the single, Ipohmali. Was that your only source of revenue? In the entertainment industry, there are a lot of ways to monetise, even though the options are fewer today.

But back then when I was still doing it attentively, there were a lot of ways to do that. One of them is music publishing. Every time your song is played on radio, or used in shopping mall, TVC, or movie, you will get your royalty at the end of the year.

I did the degree business plan based on the blueprint of African American hip hop business. You create a brand where the music is the core. Then you leverage with a clothing line. Now it has become a standard cookie cutter path, but back then, it was quite a novel business model. In business, there is always a lifespan. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must know when to let go. Like any other investments, you must know when to sell.

Who knows, with the money you get from selling, you can do something else that can make you even more money, if money is your focus. What is the biggest lesson you learnt from your career in the entertainment industry? Life is all about learning from your mistakes. The same goes for me. So, at that point, I was young, coupled with my poor background, I indulged in a lot of stupid and ridiculous things when I started to see money coming in.

You need to reinvest, and not just reinvesting into the same thing or business. You need to invest in something else too as back-up. Too many people lost everything they had by putting all their money in the same basket. My biggest indulgences were expensive shoes, caps and clothes.

I was quite a himbo. I invested in a couple of stupid businesses. I opened a Magic: The Gathering card shop, invested in some family businesses. But I also made life better for my parents. After Poetic Ammo, you started your recording label, Voyeur Records and a clothing line. What else did you delve into? My music publishing company, So Fly Publishing and also a company providing entertainment solutions, such as event organising services, and consultations.

The whole business plan was done by leveraging on the existing network that I had. Long-term, it would be music publishing. It is intellectual property. That is sometimes more valuable than properties and other investments. It is forever. It could be picked up for a movie or TV show. Right now, no. No matter where you are from, or your background, if you have a dream, you stick to it with a passion, you go all out, and you can make it happen.

Ipohmali is about that. Poetic Ammo was about that. We did something that seem impossible at that time, Asian boys doing hip hop. But we localised it. Why Poetic Ammo was successful was because we had substance.

We talked about things that are relatable to the local market. Not initially, when I was 16 or However, when I get older, yes, obviously it does. I come to the point in my life where my whole existence does not revolve around money anymore.

You make RM, today, that money may translate into RM1, or whatever in years. Money is not real. Obviously you need to work hard to be able to support yourself and be comfortable. It was really terrible but it meant the world to me. After splitting the money into four, it was somewhere in the region of RM to RM It was the most money of mine that I had ever seen. But the feeling of satisfaction was priceless.