Despite her casual attire of Chuck Taylors and a black shirt dress, excitement is bubbling beneath the surface for hip-hop artist Ladi6.
Balancing an upcoming 13-stop New Zealand tour of her chart-topping third album, Automatic, with overseas commitments, Karoline Tamati has a lot on her plate.
The 31-year-old artist from Canterbury is relieved. “It’s busy but it’s better than last year. I didn’t want to do much. I’m quite a lazy person really.”
With her producer partner Brent “Parks” Park, Tamati regularly flits between her home country, her studio base in Berlin and now her Brazilian fanbase. She’s soon to add the US to her stomping ground, with her first tour coming up.
It’s all great news for Tamati but she’s wary of not becoming overwhelmed.
“Success in America scares the s… out of me,” she says. “It looks like hard work. My ideal situation is to kick it with my family and do a little bit of work.”
Tamati and Parks are parents to 10-year-old Philly, who tours with them around the world.
Raising a son and juggling an international music career are a challenge, but at the same time Tamati’s enjoying her boy being at an age where she can balance the two.
“We worried about it but he’s really bright, we’re really lucky. I kind of don’t want to chance it in the lottery by having another one,” she laughs.
In saying that, she wouldn’t say no to another baby at the moment. “My friends are at the age now where they’re getting married and having kids and I think I could fit another one in. You never know.”
It’s been a decade since Tamati teamed up with Parks, made some music and had a baby. In an industry full of egos and feisty creatives, making music with your spouse doesn’t often result in happy endings. But for Tamati and Parks, it works.
“We’ve been doing this 10 years, we’ve been together the same amount. Of course we have same frustrations as any couple that don’t see eye to eye. I think that keeps us interesting.”
With the typical melancholic personality of a songwriter, Tamati says she takes herself far too seriously. That’s where Parks, the clown, comes in handy.
“Everything’s sarcastic and it drives me nuts because I’m so super-serious. I’m basically a worrying, over-thinking anxious mother and he’s the cool dad.”
Tamati is proud of her producer partner and is keen to see him have his time in the limelight.
“It’s crazy what’s happened in the hip-hop scene, MCs used to be at the top of the game and now producers are at the top of their game. It’s happening overseas as well where people want to know who’s behind a production. My partner’s a producer so I’m like, go babe!”
With lyrics like “Hold tight to me. If in this world you could be anywhere, this is where I would like to be”, there’s a refreshing vibe to Ladi6’s music which makes her stand out.
Sympathising with the “down and outer” – kids who grow up surrounded by drugs and not much money – Tamati’s music is designed to be uplifting.
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Without wanting to go into details, Tamati admits she’s had enough negativity in her own life to make her want to change the record.
“That’s the kind of person I am. I’ve always felt I wanted to say something, not wholesome, but something that might be helpful. A message that’s positive.
“My messages have always been messages that I want to hear in music. Affirmations like everything’s going to be OK and tomorrow’s going to be all right, we’re going to make it. My background leans to a need-to-hear-this kind of thing.”
Tamati wasn’t into hip-hop growing up. It was the 1990s, the era of grunge, so Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Morcheeba were in vogue.
Now she enjoys Australian rap artist Iggy Azalea and is “obsessed” with Swedish electronic band Little Dragon, who she was excited to see when she performed at Britain’s Glastonbury music festival recently. But Tamati wasn’t hanging out backstage to meet them. “I’m so useless with celebrities.”
She’s opened for the likes of 50 Cent, Alicia Keys and Kanye West but is yet to say two words to them. “I’m too scared. What would I say ‘Hi, I’m a really big fan’
She blubbed when meeting her idol, American singer-songwriter Erykah Badu once. “She was, like, will you support me in Berlin and I couldn’t talk, I just nodded. She was, like, ‘I’m sorry’ and hugged me. I was like, wow, I was a frickin baby.”
The Ladi6 with Team Dynamite tour kicks off in Auckland on August 1 and ends in Napier on August 30.
– Sunday Star Times
