Frontline are a New Zealand hip hop music group formed in 2001.

History

Frontline is a two-man hip hop team: Samoan-European MC

David Dallas David Keith Dallas (born 28 August 1982) is a hip hop artist from New Zealand of Samoan and European descent. Early career Dallas began his rapping career under the name Con Psy as a part of the duo Frontline, a producer and MC group along wi ...

(also known as Con Psy) and producer and DJ Nick Maclaren DJ 41:30. Con Psy won the 2003 Auckland MC Battle for Supremacy, and 41 has won the 2000 Auckland ITF Championships. After meeting in 2001 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, the pair formed some tracks together and released a

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

, ''What You Expect?''. During this time Maclaren produced tracks for artists including the Deceptikonz and Mareko, while Dallas completed a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in computing. Without any formal broadcasting or distribution, the mixtape sold over 1000 copies. The duo hooked up with premier New Zealand DJ

P Money Paris Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his live pe ...

(also known as Peter Wadams). He signed Frontline to his co-owned record label, Dirty Records. He then offered Dallas' skills to

Scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

's multi#1 single "Not Many-The Remix!" featured on Scribe's five times platinum album ''The Crusader''. In 2004, P-Money's second album, ''Magic City'', saw three appearances by Dallas: "Get Up Slow", "Get Back" (also featuring Dirty Records labelmate PNC) and "321 Remix" (also featuring Skillz and PNC). He also appears on the Breakin Wreckwordz mixtapes ''Breakin Wreckwordz Vol 1.'' and ''Fuck Music'', Sirvere's Major Flavours collective and Breakinwreck artist Louie Knuxx's album ''Wasted Youth''. 41 produced PNC's mixtape ''Ohhhhh On The PNC Tip''. Frontline released their debut studio album '' Borrowed Time'' in October 2005. The album has produced the singles "Breathe With Me", "What 'Was You Thinkin'", "Hold 'Em" and "Lost In Translation". In February 2006 Frontline supported

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

and

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released t ...

on their NZ Tour. In March 2006, Frontline and

P-Money Peter Wadams, better known by his stage name P-Money, is a New Zealand hip-hop DJ and producer. One of his best-known works is "Everything", featuring New Zealand R&B singer Vince Harder, which reached number one on the New Zealand Singles ...

opened for

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda (; ja, 篠田賢治, Shinoda Kenji; born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and was the band's collaborative vocali ...

and his side-project/band

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, '' The Rising Tied'', was released ...

at the Australia and New Zealand shows. Frontline went on to win Best Hip Hop / Urban Album at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards for ''Borrowed Time''.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Singles

References

External links

Frontline Music
– Frontline Music
Dirty Music
– Dirty Music
HipHopNZ.com
– interview with David Dallas of Frontline {{DEFAULTSORT:Frontline New Zealand hip hop groups