dark tower: born 1993. new zealands most unique, most concious and longest running hip hop crew!
"Born in the land of the long white cloud, Dark Tower; the story is ours: The glory is all of ours,"
The 'cultural cringe' factor is so strong in NZ that any reference to local culture gets immediately stamped with the 'kiwiana' tag and quickly filed under the 'still too local to take note of' sign.
Meanwhile anything American sounding gets lapped up by the advertising based media, our local contingent of capitalist lap dogs, subservient it seems to the distorted views of big daddy empire: The good ole' US of A.....
It seems local hip hop, in general, follows this same pattern, with most local MCs attempting to emulate their American idols, right down to their accents, code of dress and even styles of phrasing. One could almost be forgiven for thinking that New Zealand was a colony of the Americas with the amount of non-local accented rhyming prevalent on our airwaves...
Almost... except there is one group who refuse to bend a knee to this identity of cultural collusion: Dark Tower: New Zealand's own local heroes: the Real Zeal Men.
With intelligent rhymes delivered in a fresh and real accent the DT lads take the listener on an intense musical and lyrical journey, juxtaposing a Tolkienesque Dark World with our own more familiar Anglicized climes: Thereby sharpening the focus on the mythic stature and spiritual depth of our land: The sleeping giant which has informed and mystified many a generation of New Zealand artist.
This focus on our locality is not patriotic:
It's not nationalistic:
It's about identity:
Being who We are.
Being who You are!
This is the message of the Dark Tower: Be Your Self.
"Dark Tower are on a mission to remind us who we are," - Nick Bollinger, The Listener.
WARNING: old lofi videos follow! these were made in 1999 and 2000
