Dawn Raid Entertainment is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

based in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, in New Zealand. It has signed many New Zealand Hip-hop and R&B artists such as

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Adeaze Adeaze are a New Zealand R&B/soul duo comprising brothers Nainz and Viiz Tupai. The group's debut album, ''Always and for Real'', was released in 2004 and topped the album chart in New Zealand. History Brought up playing music in the church, t ...

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, The

Deceptikonz The Deceptikonz are a New Zealand Hip hop group formed in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa in 1996 which consists of Savage, Devolo, Alphrisk and Mareko. Their debut album was ''Elimination'' released in 2002. History The group's de ...

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and Ill Semantics. The founders of Dawn Raid Entertainment announced the closure of the recording label on 19 April 2007 due to liquidation. By June 2007, due to new owners, the label started operating again. Artists represented include

Mareko Mark Sagapolutele (born 15 June 1981), best known by his stage name Mareko, is a New Zealand rapper and hip hop artist of Samoan descent from South Auckland. Career Mareko's career began as a member of the Deceptikonz, a South Auckland rap c ...

, The

, Horsemen Family, Sweet & Irie. At its peak, Dawn Raid Entertainment was home to many gold and platinum-selling New Zealand hip hop and R&B artists.

History

School friends Danny "Brotha D" Leaosavai'i and Andy Murnane founded Dawn Raid Entertainment in 1999. The label's name was a reference to the dawn raids of the 1970s and 1980s that disproportionately targeted members of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

community in New Zealand. They started selling T-shirts at a market in Otara to raise capital. In 2007, the label went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

for a few months. In 2020,

Oscar Kightley Oscar Vai To'elau Kightley (born 14 September 1969) is a Samoan-born New Zealand actor, television presenter, writer, journalist, director, and comedian. He acted in and co-wrote the successful 2006 film ''Sione's Wedding''. Biography Kightley ...

directed the documentary ''Dawn Raid'', to be distributed by Universal and released in New Zealand cinemas on 21 January 2021.

Sponsorship

In May 2004, Dawn Raid became a sponsor for the Telecom subsidiary company Boost Mobile and released a single

Hook Up "Hook Up" is a collaborative single by the artists signed under New Zealand record label Dawn Raid Entertainment under the name Dawn Raid All-Stars Dawn Raid All-Stars are a musical collaboration between Dawn Raid Entertainment Dawn Rai ...

featuring both the prominent and the unknown talent of Dawn Raid Entertainment. Currently, Hook Up is still the theme for Boost Mobile with some of their signed musicians doing voiceovers for the ads.

Label Artists

*Monsta Ganjah (The Regime) *

*Sweet & Irie (Reggae Band) *

* FRISKO *Brotha D *

* DJ Peter Gunz & Tikelz *Horsemen Family *

*Ill Semantics *

DJCXL DJCXL, is a New Zealand hip hop DJ, producer and member of the band Ill Semantics. He was the 2003 NZ Disco Mix Club Champion. He has collaborated with many New Zealand and international artists on tracks including King Kapisi's "Second Round ...

*R.E.S. *K.A.O.S.

Discography

Albums

The following is a list of albums and singles released under the Dawn Raid label. The first album released under Dawn Raid was a compilation titled ''Southside Story'' which was released in April 2000 and featured undiscovered artists such as Ill Semantics, 4 Corners, Native Sons, K.A.O.S.,

, Live Live and the co-founder of Dawn Raid, Brotha D.

Singles

References

*http://www.dawnraid.co.nz *https://web.archive.org/web/20110720114400/http://www.dawnraid.co.nz/DAWN-RAID_SMC-DEAL-PR.pdf *https://web.archive.org/web/20110720114422/http://www.dawnraid.co.nz/SavagePressUniversal.pdf * DFUNIVERSAL REPUBLIC RECORDS SIGNS MULTIPLATINUM SOUTH AUCKLAND, NEW ... File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View 12 May 2008 ... UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC RECORDS SIGNS MULTIPLATINUM ... Dawn Raid and Savage have entered into a deal for Universal Republic to helm the project ... www.dawnraid.co.nz/SavagePressUniversal.pdf - Similar

External links

Official site

New Management
{{Authority control Dawn Raid Entertainment, New Zealand record labels Record labels established in 1999 Hip hop record labels New Zealand hip hop IFPI members 1999 establishments in New Zealand