To celebrate the final week of NZ Music Month, Rolling Stone AU/NZ asked a selection of musicians to name their favourite Aotearoa artists and explain what makes them so unique.
Hans. has been impressing for a long time – he first broke out in 2017 with a dreamy collaboration with future indie pop star Clairo – but 2023 is set to be a breakout year for the Korean-New Zealand rapper.
In October, Hans. will make the journey to Australia to showcase his talent at the inaugural SXSW Sydney alongside friend and collaborator hanbee.
When Rolling Stone AU/NZ asked Hans. who his favourite New Zealand artist was, he picked another rapper currently gaining prominence in Aotearoa and beyond; as NO COMPLY recently said, the country’s hip hop community has probably never been more supportive.
Below, Hans. explains why he admires Brandn Shiraz:
Naturally my intro to NZ hip hop was listening to Scribe and David Dallas on the radio and watching C4, but around my high school years I got immersed in music blogs. Locally, Ayebro was a really big part of discovering new NZ hip hop music. It was through Ayebro that I discovered Home Brew, Raiza Biza, Third Eye, Spycc & INF and so many more artists that I’d go on to be fans of.
I think I first heard of Shiraz & LSJ through Ayebro. As I did more digging, I became immersed in the output of The Grow Room collective in general. Out of all the Grow Room artists though, I think I drew a connection to Brandn Shiraz the most.. I really admired his lyricism and especially his flow, the way he delivers it all was always so, so smooth to me. I’ll never forget hearing “SUMTYMES” for the first time – it was something I hadn’t heard out of NZ ever. I remember listening to it and really feeling like I had to up my game… I actually ended up getting a feature not too long after – and he washed me on my own song!
There’s a lot of really talented hip hop artists in NZ, but I always looked at Brandn as a sort of bar. I really respect the consistency in quality and how each project/release feels like a level up. I feel as though my music doesn’t always fit in conventional boundaries of ‘rap’, sometimes I feel a bit awkward labelling myself a ‘rapper’, but the inner hip hop head in me definitely sees Brandn as a huge inspiration.
