P-Money began his musical journey as a celebrated Turntablist, winning the New Zealand ITF three times consecutively, the New Zealand DMCs and going on to place third overall in the World DMCs. P-Money has also received numerous awards across Australia and NZ as a DJ, Producer and Songwriter, cementing himself as one of the most important musicians New Zealand has produced yet.
Growing up on a steady diet of 90s American hip hop and earning his stripes w/ DJ Sir-Vere, DLT & Slave on 95bfm’s True School Hip Hop Radio Show in Auckland NZ, P-Money was surrounded by hip hop from an early age. P-Money co-founded the record label Dirty Records on the back of his World DMC placing, immersing himself in the local scene and beyond which would ultimately open New Zealand hip hop to an even more international audience, building on the foundations before him of Upper Hutt Posse, Dam Native, Moana and the Moahunters, King Kapisi, Che-Fu amongst others.
Teaching himself how to make beats shortly after high school on a financed MPC2000xl led to P-Money contributing to NZ emcee Che-Fu’s chart-topping album the Navigator before releasing his own debut album Big Things featuring a host of NZ’s finest, including Scribe, Savage plus more. His successful debut was followed up by Magic City, again also featuring a collection of NZ heavyweights (Scribe, David Dallas) but also a more international sound with appearances from Mad Skillz, Capone, Akon, Grandmaster Roc Raida (RIP) amongst others as it was created significantly in NYC.
Years of touring, producing & DJ’ing overseas resulted in a break of a few years release-wise before 2010’s Everything dropped with a more broad, varied New Zealand focus. His musical talent is undisputable with a series of #1 hits and platinum-selling albums to his credit, co-writing and producing five of the biggest NZ singles of the past decade; “Not Many”, “Stand Up”, & “Stop The Music ft. Scribe”, “Keep On Callin ft. Akon” and “Everything ft. Vince Harder” (the latter of which featured heavily on UK airwaves on BBC1 and was dubbed Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record in the World). P-Money’s scope of production work spans from hip hop into the worlds of Pop, Dance, R&B and Soul music, notably producing the award winning retro soul album “Treble & Reverb” by NZ soul sensation Aaradhna.
In 2013 P-Money teamed up with Duck Down Music to release the album Gratitude, which includes features from Talib Kweli, Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano, M.O.P., Havoc, Buckshot, Aaradhna, Fashawn, Skyzoo, Monsta G plus more. The year after, P-Money released the Backpack Travels alongside legendary Brooklyn MC and Duck Down Music founder Buckshot (of Black Moon / Boot Camp Clik) featuring Joey Bada$$, Steele of Smif-N-Wessun and NZ’s own David Dallas. Mid-2014 also saw the release of his collaboration with UK reggae artist Gappy Ranks, resulting in ‘The Baddest’ EP, further demonstrating P-Money’s unique production abilities in being able to smoothly negotiate numerous styles with ease.
P-Money has extended his talents in recent years to music supervision and composing for motion pictures (notably Born to Dance with Parris Goebel), lending his production talents to a wide array of musical endeavours all to great success. P-Money continues to tour, DJ, produce extensively and expect to hear a lot more big things to come out from New Zealand’s finest in the years to come. P-Money has recently worked with the likes of RaizaBiza, Yukmouth (of The Luniz), Hau, Smoke and continues to break new talent while still rocking crowds from club sets to festival stages.
