Sugar James | Te Ahi Top 10

This week’s Te Ahi Top 10 winner was Sugar James with his track ‘Hit It’

The track Hit It is the debut release from Christchurch artist, Sugar James! The track was originally going to be a single from his first upcoming EP, The Main Thing, due to be released late November, but it was decided that the single stood better on its own!

This one’s my first official release and was one of the first rap songs I actually finished writing. Really it was just a fun take on the climate of rap music at the time. I wanted to test myself with a bit more pace, and the initial source of inspiration was some of Big Daddy Kanes old stuff. As far as the beat goes, generally I like to just have a broad direction in mind, play around with some sounds and see where it ends up. That’s basically how this one came together.

Sugar James aka Callan O’Connor has found himself in Ōtautahi after making the call to quit the daily 9 -5pm grind and study music at MAINZ. After writing rap music for a couple of years, he’s recently moved on to using some completely legitimate software to create and record beats…

I really don’t have a specific idea of what music I’m going to make – and unlike every other career I’ve had, it’s actually been beneficial to have a lack of direction. What I love the most about writing music is that you can just get to work with no compass or guideline insight and end up standing in front of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Keep an eye out for The Main Thing due to be released on November 26th.