To Be Wreck

Near a decade ago, when myself and Dom (Tourettes) conceptualized Breakin Wreckwordz, the underground was thriving, the days of everyone rapping like Bone Thugs and Tupac had passed, and most had, to some degree, their own style. I wanted Breakin Wreck to be a label that championed the artist, giving full creative control from sound and direction, right thru to artwork and presentation, with the only real ‘rule’ was that we wouldn’t put out music referencing guns unrealistically like was so popular amongst our American influenced counterparts at the time.

Over the next 5 years I made a concerted effort to sign artists that covered as bigger spectrum of hip hop music as possible. And with the boom of commercial interest in hip hop, accompanied by every musicians dream of living off music revenue, I even went as far as militantly trying to avoid the tag of ‘underground’ being associated with our label.



When Pooja started working for me in 1996 she constantly tried to tell me of the importance of defining our style or what we stood for, to which I often replied that “our style was hip hop and we represent all factions of the music”. Recent reflection of what actually motivates me to keep doing this would indicate that my response was ignorant at best. We we’re losing direction.

Trends such as the ‘sped up vocal’, the ‘chop and screwed hook’ and the ‘auto tune effect’ have saturated the market to the point it appears being a follower is a pre-requisite for commercial success in hip hop. Radio stations that flout themselves as ‘hip hop and Rnb’ should really be using the slogan ‘pop that’s not rock’. Forget the term ‘internet emcee’; the only real hip hop is spread digitally now.

As I have spoken about in the last few newsletters, our direction is very clear to me now. I am not motivated by bright lights and dollar signs. The time and passion I invest into Breakin Wreck is fuelled purely by creativity and message. Artists seeking more conventional mainstream exposure are effectively wasting their time on our roster, as no matter what becomes of the mainstream, we will always be positioned to the left of it. That’s what Breakin Wreck is about.