It feels like hip-hop is in such a healthy place in Aotearoa New Zealand right now.
Melodownz just dropped BRON, one of his very best albums; Brandn Shiraz’s incredible link-up with producer Caru took them to The Others Way 2025 and earned them an Aotearoa Music Award nomination; MOKOMOKAI are also in with a chance of winning at the 2026 AMA, with the ceremony following a successful Australian tour for the trio; and it’s officially ‘RNZŌ SZN’ on Rolling Stone AU/NZ as we included RNZŌ in our Future of Music 2026 series.
Church & AP have long been Rolling Stone AU/NZ favourites, too, featuring in two of our major lists last year: the exhilarating “Ready or Not”, still their biggest hit on Spotify, made it into our Best Australian & New Zealand Songs of the 21st Century So Far list, and we also hailed POSTAL as one of the 80 Best New Zealand Albums of the 2020s So Far.
Church & AP are part of ZIPS (+++!), a Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-born collective that also features RNZŌ, deadforest, and producer/engineer Dera Meelan.
Their new album, ZIPS GALORE, is one of the most confident collections of 2026 so far.
As the album’s bio on the Holiday Records website states, ZIPS GALORE is “an ambitious body of work designed to push the boundaries of sound across Oceania.”
The record, which came together across Auckland and Sydney, “lives at the intersection of culture and innovation. Where familiar influences are reimagined through the lens of emerging diasporic voices,” and showcases the current strength of Polynesian hip-hop on both sides of the Tasman, because the ZIPS collective is far from an exclusive members’ club.
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Like Shiraz and Caru’s lively Back 2 Back EP, which is powered by their shared love of old-school UKG, ZIPS GALORE refuses to stay in one lane; to do so would be boring.
Instead, the collective’s record fuses the energies of grime, hip-hop, and dance together, with droll lyrics, composed flows, and production wizardry enhancing every distinctive track.
ZIPS GALORE is bolstered by sick guest turns from Zion Garcia, Sollyy, and many more, indicative of the communal spirit of current Australasian hip-hop. There’s a real ‘one for all, all for one’ mentality out there right now, which has been sometimes lacking in past generations.
“Really, it’s [ZIPS] just a fancy name for our friend group. I don’t think you can do this music thing if you don’t like who you’re doing it with — so it’s worked out so far,” as Dera Meelan said in a Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview last year.
That interview took place ahead of the collective’s visit to Australia for shows in Melbourne and Sydney, where local talent like Zion Garcia and Sriracha played as support, strengthening the collective’s bond with their Aussie contemporaries.
“We stay tapped into the city — the people, the scenes, the sounds. Tāmaki Makaurau’s got its own energy, and we try to bottle that in every track,” Church told us in the same interview, and the success of ZIPS GALORE lies in its specificity too.
A deep sense of place can be felt throughout, whether it’s the hilarious call at the climax of “False Profit” (“Yo man, what’s up?” “Sup G, up to?” “What do you mean ‘up to’?! It’s bedtime, bro. It’s after 10, I’m going to sleep.” “Fuuuuck… Reckon you can pick me up?” “‘Pick me up,’ not this shit again. Where? From where?” [Suspenseful pause] “North Shore.” Cue laughter.) or the accompanying music video for album standout “don’t take the bait!”, in which Church and co. embark on a whistle-stop tour of Auckland landmarks (a Sensational Chicken joint, the new Karanga-a-Hape Station, and the chaotic On the Run gas station at the corner of K’ Road and Ponsonby Road all feature).
“I don’t fuck with the club anymore / I’m not paying 15 on the door / If I take one more loss, Imma be on WINZ for sure,” Church languidly raps at the start of that track. He & AP first broke out in 2018, which means they’re fast approaching 10 years in the game. Their consistency over that lengthy period, from the unforgettable “Ready or Not” all the way through to POSTAL and ZIPS GALORE, has been remarkable. They’re always pushing themselves as individual artists, while simultaneously supporting those around them as much as possible. That’s what makes the ZIPS collective work; that’s what makes ZIPS GALORE such a bountiful record.
The album, which you can stream in full above, is available to pre-order on vinyl via Holiday Records. The solid yellow vinyl drops next month on June 12th. Go support local hip-hop. (It’s NZ Music Month, so you legally have to follow this directive.)
Pre-order ZIPS (+++!) Collective’s ZIPS GALORE vinyl here.
