Ladi6
Encyclopedia
Ladi6 is a singer-songwriter
/rapper
of Samoan descent
. She is currently based in New Zealand
, although she spent six months living in Berlin and touring Europe in both 2010 and 2011. Her debut album Time Is Not Much
debuted at number 4 on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart
. and her sophomore album The Liberation Of...
debuted at number 6 and was certified gold. Her single Like Water
was certified platinum in June 2011. She has won many awards, including Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards
. The current line-up of the wider Ladi6 group is Ladi6, her partner Parks (a.k.a. Brent Park) and Julien Dyne. Ladi6 has been called "New Zealand's answer to Erykah Badu
".
.
After Sheelahroc broke up, Ladi6 went on to form Verse Two with Parks, Julien Dyne, Mark Vanilau and Matipi Turua, as well as a variety of guest musicians.. They released the singles Danger and Gold (featuring her cousin Scribe
and produced by Mu of Fat Freddy's Drop
). Gold went to Number 1 on the NZ Alternative charts in its first week of play on the bNet stations
and was the 5th most played song on the bNet stations in 2003. Danger was re-issued as a bonus track on Time Is Not Much. Ladi6 was nominated for Best Vocalist/MC at the 2003 bNet Awards and Verse 2 won a bNet Award for Best New Act in 2004. Verse Two supported international acts such as The Roots
, De La Soul
and 50 Cent
.
was released independently in New Zealand in November 2008 and debuted at number 4 on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart, staying in the top 40 albums for 10 weeks.. The album was mostly produced by Parks and was released throughout Europe by London label BBE Records
in July 2010.
was released in New Zealand independently in November 2010, where it debuted at number six on the NZ Top 40 Album Chart. It spent 34 weeks in the top 40 and was certified gold in July 2011. The single Like Water
from this album peaked at number 9 on the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart
, spent 22 weeks on the charts and was certified platinum in June 2011.
It was co-produced by Parks and Sebastian Weiss (a.k.a. DJ Sepalot) of the German hip hop group Blumentopf
and features Myele Manzanza of Electric Wire Hustle, Toby Laing of Fat Freddy's Drop
and German singer Esther Adams.
The Liberation of... was released in Europe on German label Eskapaden Records in May 2011. The single Jazmine DL has been in a big hit in Europe, reaching the 2nd most downloaded song in France and across all of Europe. The song is a tribute to her cousin, who passed away. In London, Metro Magazine said Ladi6 was "One to Watch". "She knows how to make an impression - including a recent wow-inducing support slot for Gil Scott-Heron
at London's Southbank Centre".
, the 2011 Taite Music Prize and Best Urban Album and Best Female Artist at the 2011 Pacific Music Awards. She was nominated for six awards at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and won Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Hip Hop Album.
, Scribe
, Shapeshifter
, Jon Toogood
, Solaa, 4Corners
, The Opensouls, 50 Hz and Riki Gooch (a.k.a. Eru Dangerspiel) of TrinityRoots
and Fly My Pretties
.
Ladi6 is a spokesperson in the Not Our Future
anti-smoking campaign.
She is the cousin of other prominent Samoan New Zealand
musicians Scribe
and Tyra Hammond of The Opensouls.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
/rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
of Samoan descent
Samoan New Zealander
Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities...
. She is currently based in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, although she spent six months living in Berlin and touring Europe in both 2010 and 2011. Her debut album Time Is Not Much
Time Is Not Much
Time Is Not Much is the debut album of Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6, released in November 2008. It won Best Urban/Hip Hop Album and Ladi6 was nominated for Best Female Solo Artist at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards...
debuted at number 4 on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
. and her sophomore album The Liberation Of...
The Liberation Of...
The Liberation Of... is the gold-certified sohphomore album of Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6, released in November 2010. It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards...
debuted at number 6 and was certified gold. Her single Like Water
Like Water (song)
Like Water is a single by Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6. The song originally appeared on her album The Liberation Of... released late 2010, and was subsequently released as a single in March 2011....
was certified platinum in June 2011. She has won many awards, including Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards
2009 New Zealand Music Awards
The 2009 New Zealand Music Awards was the 44th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical artists based in or originating from New Zealand. Finalists for the three technical awards were announced on 6 August 2009, with winners announced on 2 September at the Langham Hotel....
. The current line-up of the wider Ladi6 group is Ladi6, her partner Parks (a.k.a. Brent Park) and Julien Dyne. Ladi6 has been called "New Zealand's answer to Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
".
Early life, Sheelahroc & Verse Two
Ladi6 was born and raised in Christchurch, but her family moved to Africa for a year and a half when she was a teenager. This is where she says she first started to write and play music. After she returned to Christchurch in the mid 90's, she started her entertainment career as a break dancer. When she was 16 she formed her first music group, Sheelahroc, with her cousin Tyra Hammond and Sarah Tamaira (a.k.a. Voodoo Child) in May 1999. Sheelahroc released the hit single If I Gave U Th' Mic and won the award for Most Promising New Act at the 2001 bNet Music AwardsBNET
BNET was an online magazine dedicated to issues of business management.It was owned by CBS Interactive and was a part of its business portfolio alongside ZDNet, TechRepublic, SmartPlanet before it was folded into CBS MoneyWatch, a sister personal finance site that was launched on April 6, 2009.BNET...
.
After Sheelahroc broke up, Ladi6 went on to form Verse Two with Parks, Julien Dyne, Mark Vanilau and Matipi Turua, as well as a variety of guest musicians.. They released the singles Danger and Gold (featuring her cousin Scribe
Scribe (rapper)
Malo Luafutu better known by his stage name Scribe, is a New Zealand hip hop rapper and recording artist of Samoan descent...
and produced by Mu of Fat Freddy's Drop
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-piece band from Wellington, New Zealand, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy’s Drop...
). Gold went to Number 1 on the NZ Alternative charts in its first week of play on the bNet stations
BNET
BNET was an online magazine dedicated to issues of business management.It was owned by CBS Interactive and was a part of its business portfolio alongside ZDNet, TechRepublic, SmartPlanet before it was folded into CBS MoneyWatch, a sister personal finance site that was launched on April 6, 2009.BNET...
and was the 5th most played song on the bNet stations in 2003. Danger was re-issued as a bonus track on Time Is Not Much. Ladi6 was nominated for Best Vocalist/MC at the 2003 bNet Awards and Verse 2 won a bNet Award for Best New Act in 2004. Verse Two supported international acts such as The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
and 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
.
Time Is Not Much
Ladi6's debut album Time Is Not MuchTime Is Not Much
Time Is Not Much is the debut album of Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6, released in November 2008. It won Best Urban/Hip Hop Album and Ladi6 was nominated for Best Female Solo Artist at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards...
was released independently in New Zealand in November 2008 and debuted at number 4 on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart, staying in the top 40 albums for 10 weeks.. The album was mostly produced by Parks and was released throughout Europe by London label BBE Records
Barely Breaking Even
Barely Breaking Even is a British record label started by two DJs, Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. The name BBE comes from The Universal Robot Band's 1982 track `Barely Breaking Even'. It has two sublabels: Deep Funk, and Urban Theory...
in July 2010.
The Liberation Of...
Ladi6's second album, The Liberation Of...The Liberation Of...
The Liberation Of... is the gold-certified sohphomore album of Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6, released in November 2010. It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards...
was released in New Zealand independently in November 2010, where it debuted at number six on the NZ Top 40 Album Chart. It spent 34 weeks in the top 40 and was certified gold in July 2011. The single Like Water
Like Water (song)
Like Water is a single by Christchurch-born singer/songwriter/rapper Ladi6. The song originally appeared on her album The Liberation Of... released late 2010, and was subsequently released as a single in March 2011....
from this album peaked at number 9 on the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
, spent 22 weeks on the charts and was certified platinum in June 2011.
It was co-produced by Parks and Sebastian Weiss (a.k.a. DJ Sepalot) of the German hip hop group Blumentopf
Blumentopf
Blumentopf is a German hip hop band from Freising, near Munich.In the early days of the band, the members met irregularly and did not have ambitions to become professional musicians. Each week a new name was chosen . The band was invited to perform at a festival for their first live show...
and features Myele Manzanza of Electric Wire Hustle, Toby Laing of Fat Freddy's Drop
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-piece band from Wellington, New Zealand, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy’s Drop...
and German singer Esther Adams.
The Liberation of... was released in Europe on German label Eskapaden Records in May 2011. The single Jazmine DL has been in a big hit in Europe, reaching the 2nd most downloaded song in France and across all of Europe. The song is a tribute to her cousin, who passed away. In London, Metro Magazine said Ladi6 was "One to Watch". "She knows how to make an impression - including a recent wow-inducing support slot for Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
at London's Southbank Centre".
Awards
Aside from the two bNet awards she won as a member of Sheelahroc and Verse 2, Ladi6 won Best Pacific Female Artist at the 2009 Pacific Music Awards, Best Urban/Hip Hop Album at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards2009 New Zealand Music Awards
The 2009 New Zealand Music Awards was the 44th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical artists based in or originating from New Zealand. Finalists for the three technical awards were announced on 6 August 2009, with winners announced on 2 September at the Langham Hotel....
, the 2011 Taite Music Prize and Best Urban Album and Best Female Artist at the 2011 Pacific Music Awards. She was nominated for six awards at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and won Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Hip Hop Album.
Collaborations
Ladi6 has collaborated with many New Zealand musicians and bands, including Fat Freddy's DropFat Freddy's Drop
Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-piece band from Wellington, New Zealand, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy’s Drop...
, Scribe
Scribe (rapper)
Malo Luafutu better known by his stage name Scribe, is a New Zealand hip hop rapper and recording artist of Samoan descent...
, Shapeshifter
Shapeshifter (band)
Shapeshifter are a live Drum & Bass act from New Zealand. They have been heralded as a musical phenomenon for their ground breaking live shows and unique blend of heavy soul with drum and bass...
, Jon Toogood
Jon Toogood
Jonathan Charles Toogood is the frontman of the New Zealand rock band Shihad. He formed the band in 1988 with fellow Wellingtonian Tom Larkin...
, Solaa, 4Corners
4 Corners (hip-hop group)
4 Corners is a New Zealand Hip-Hop group formed in 1998.-History:The name 4 Corners originates from the 4 elements of the Hip Hop culture: MCing , DJing, breaking and graffiti art...
, The Opensouls, 50 Hz and Riki Gooch (a.k.a. Eru Dangerspiel) of TrinityRoots
TrinityRoots
TrinityRoots are a successful band based in Wellington, New Zealand. Although they are commonly associated with New Zealand reggae they also embody a stripped back, jazz and soul influenced rhythmic sound, which often builds up to highly emotional drum- and guitar-led crescendos.Like their...
and Fly My Pretties
Fly My Pretties
Fly My Pretties is a collaboration of musicians from Wellington, New Zealand that only records live albums, in various locations in New Zealand. The different musical backgrounds of the members make for an eclectic mix of songs on their releases...
.
Other Information
As well as producing most of Ladi6's music, her partner Parks also provides backing vocals for many of her tracks. In 2004, Ladi6 and Parks had their first son, Philly. He is their only child.Ladi6 is a spokesperson in the Not Our Future
Health Sponsorship Council
The is a New Zealand Crown Entity that uses health promotion to promote health and encourage healthy lifestyles.The long-term focus of the HSC is on reducing the social, financial and health sector costs of smoking, skin cancer, problem gambling, and obesity.HSC uses communication and marketing...
anti-smoking campaign.
She is the cousin of other prominent Samoan New Zealand
Samoan New Zealander
Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities...
musicians Scribe
Scribe (rapper)
Malo Luafutu better known by his stage name Scribe, is a New Zealand hip hop rapper and recording artist of Samoan descent...
and Tyra Hammond of The Opensouls.