A lot can happen in just nine months. Back in March this year, three aspiring, young Bruneian hip-hop artistes – Zed Peace, The Kro and Khaos, who also call themselves ‘Micbandits’ – were discovered (perhaps unbeknown to a majority of people here) on the Net by the Vice-President of Malaysia’s Kartel Records.

By July, they flew to Kuala Lumpur for some important meetings as well as contract signings, even getting a chance to perform there and to showcase their undeniable talents. Fast forward to this present day and the dream team is organising an exciting event to thank their loyal local fans and followers.

“Micbandits Proudly Presents: It’s A Wrap” is happening tonight from 7pm onwards at the Rizqun International Hotel’s Songket Hall with only limited tickets available from its sponsors and supporters, Dunes Café and Wardrobes Inc, as well as the official website – www.microbandits.com.

Last weekend saw an afternoon Meet-and-Greet event at RBRC’s Dewan Muhibbah that was open to the public, especially for music enthusiasts, featuring a very special appearance by none other than Joe Flizzow himself, President of Kartel Records and formerly of the huge regional act known as ‘Too Phat’.

Over a fortnight ago, I sat with the Micbandits trio at a location in Jerudong for a private albeit informal interview. “Too Phat is definitely a big influence on us. They started out with English rap as well, but had these Malay raps in their later albums that sparked a big part of our style,” said Zed Peace.

“To meet Joe in person, and to be under his wings – I mean, that’s pretty cool! He’s pretty much a laid-back Malay guy, and we still can’t believe it.” “I always had this dream of working with Too Phat, but when we got that call from Kartel, it was like a big jump!” added Kro.

“I was very pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know that he was a business-minded person, and it just inspires me to become a musical entrepreneur. He really is an idol to all of us. It’s reassuring because he made it… His experiences, his success in this game – it’s something that we’ve tried to do.”

Work, in fact, has already started on a new, upcoming release under Kartel Records tentatively entitled “Heads or Tales”. “For the fourth album, the inspiration was after we got signed into Kartel, and the things that we learnt in KL were real eye-openers,” commented Zed.

“Mature,” Kro interjected. “It’s going to be very mature. We had this big self-realisation; we got ourselves into something pretty big. ‘Heads or Tales’ is going to be a reflection of that. It’s just a reflection of how we feel right now – like about the music industry and what’s going on in our personal lives…

“Hopefully, it’s going to be motivational, and we aim to inspire – that’s always the key, because I feel like some people are holding back their dreams.” Khaos also added, “In the fourth album, we’re definitely trying to put in more themes and stories into it this time.”

And as for their creative process? “We inspire each other,” answered Kro. “Sometimes, when I hear Zed’s verse, I feel like, ‘Oh no… I have to redo my verse.’ I mean, if someone steps up, the others have to step up their game as well. I think it’s just natural, though. When I write, I don’t think too hard.

“I just let it all flow out, but that doesn’t mean we don’t put a lot of thought into our songs. I would say there’s a certain mode that we get into, and that’s when we just ooze all these creative juices out. We don’t doubt it; all of us trust ourselves in our abilities, and we seem to click so well together.”

“If you listen carefully to our songs, you can actually hear Zed and Kro battling with each other in the tracks, like they’re fighting to see who could come up with the best lyrics,” said Khaos. “So we challenge each other and at the end of the day, we get a great quality track. I catch up with my beats!”

“Inspiration comes from everywhere,” replied Zed. “But it always starts with the beats… As for the song-writing, it’s trying to come up with the most creative lines, because there are technical aspects to it, like multiple-syllable rhymes, there’s swagger, and we try to find the best way to shape the verse itself.

“As for our featured artistes, we often start off with close friends who we feel are also talented. We all also met underground, in a sense. The people that we’re bringing in for this event (tonight’s) are the people we really believe can change the music scene.”

When asked what advice they may have for other, relatively newer hip-hop artistes, Kro remarked, “Keep it real. Never put out a statement out there that just contradicts what you do and who you are. Be honest to yourself, especially in your songs. Just keep on going…

“We got this far because we never actually wanted to stop, we never look back and we always keep on moving forward. It’s all about the progress. If you feel like there is progress, then you’re on the right track. Once you start doubting yourself, it just makes it harder for yourself.”

Micbandits’ members also collectively would like to thank all their wonderful followers and supporters in Brunei. “A very big thanks! We came into the music scene not knowing where we were headed but they basically shaped us. They made us feel like we could do it,” said Kro.

“We’ve really taken their feedbacks as well. We still don’t have a big fan base right now. We just have a target audience, but it is they who keep us going, pretty much,” stated Zed. “Thanks for supporting us. Without you, we really couldn’t have made it this far,” concluded Khaos.

This evening’s showcase will also include previews of songs from “Heads or Tales” featuring many other local acts, as well as the music video premiere for the national hit song from Micbandits called “Cantik Rupamu”, directed once again by Reza Mustaffa, of “Here Comes The Rapper” YouTube fame.

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