Musicadium Blog

Kahibaloo (meaning “conscious” or “know”) are a two-piece production team that are breaking down boundaries between different musical genres and are gaining a solid reputation throughout the hip hop scene in the process. Jad Dapat and James Mangohig both have roots from the Philippines and together share years of musical experience with national tours and high rotation airplay in both the Philippines and Australia. Kahibaloo incorporate futuristic sounds with tribal rhythms brought together to create what they describe as a ‘Tribal Boom’. When asked how punters should dance to their music, the boys told us that some people want to ‘get all warrior’ and stomp around. Any kind of music that creates that kind of reaction has got to be a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Check out Kahibaloo and their party track ‘Fiesta’ which features Ozi Batla from Aussie Hip Hop crew The Herd – bound to get anyone stomping around all ‘warriorlike’ on a Saturday night. Availble at the itunes store.

Q.You guys are renowned for mixing elements of hip hop with other cultures and ideas. Tell us about your roots and how you incorporate them into Kahibaloo’s music.

A.Our Roots are from the Philippines and we both love mixing the traditional sounds from all of south east asia with big drums and synths. We’ve really gone out to develop our own sound. On our debut Ep we think the tracks “Umaga” and “Hanunuo Dub” sum up the sound of Kahibaloo best - the Tribal Boom. It’s awesome we could showcase other elements like the track “Fiesta” in which we produce for a specific MC.

Q.Touring with the Herd and recording a song with Ozi Batla must have been a great experience. Any crazy party stories from the road? (that you can tell without fear of defamation that is… )

A.Touring and playing with The Herd anytime is great because they are all laid back good guys. When we first heard Ozi rap in Spanish it was after we’d polished off the rider one night and the gig was over but we were still backstage with a guitar continuing on with a big jam…he kicked the dopest Spanish freestyles and I knew straight away I wanted him on a track rapping only in Spanish.

Q. If you could collaborate with any other artists (living or dead) who would they be?

A. We both have different artists we would love to work with, definitely would love to collaborate with Filipino artists and those around the industry pushing boundaries.

People like Chad Hugo from the Neptunes, Timbaland, Santogold, Diplo, Dj Qbert, Dj Babu, The world famous beat junkies, Madlib
MCs like Saian Supa Crew, Method man…that real raw punchy style with lots of character…we both would really love to work with M.I.A.

Q.What Aussie and in particular local Brissie hip-hop acts are tickling your fancy at the moment?

A. Dj Dexter is an amazing guy to watch play or even just spend time with due to his knowledge of music and the industry…his party sets are put together like no one else’s we’ve ever seen. The new crew Grrilla Step he’s put together is pretty amazing with Krumpers and log drummers. We did 5 nights with them at the Adelaide festival but even if we weren’t collaborating, I think we’d be fans for sure.
We both get into Reggae and Ragga DJs, dub step and Hip Hop. NEed to be more Djs droppin the world stuff….not the cheesy stuff but the Tribal warrior stuff.

In Brisbane we dig Impossible Odds, they recently got the JBT seed grant and it was well deserved. Fred Leonne aka Rival is one of the Best MC s in the country. He’s got that voice that makes you wanna listen!

Q. What has been your favourite gig so far and why?

Favourite gigs would be the Herd Support at HI Fi bar in Melbourne cos we got to perform Fiesta live with Ozi and it was a whole room full of people who’d never heard of us.
Also playing the after party at Soco Cargo at the Adelaide festival to packed room of people just wanting to party was so hyped and intense… we had this sound guy named Afro Dave on the mix and he delivers the serious bottom end.
Big Day out w/ Grrilla Step was also pretty crazy…we both got on the mic and rapped in language.

Gotta give a quick mention to our first ever gig at the U.Q annual Filipino dinner..that was classic!

Q. How should punters dance to Kahibaloo?

A. However they feel…we’ve had people say it makes them wanna get warrior… “warrior stomp”…other tracks we drop are pretty deep so I guess some thoughtful swaying is in motion…haha.. I think we both feel our sound can appeal to dance festivals as well as just Hip hop crowds so the new album will have a bit more for everyone still keeping the Kahibaloo TRIBAL BOOM sound.

Here’s a link from Jad if you want some dance ideas
Q. And finally.. can you tell us some words of wisdom in Visayan?

A. Pag Kahibaloo sa imong kultura!! (know your culture)

The name of the band alone is a message itself (quote/wisdom/advice). Encouraging people to go out there and know or learn something. Whether its about politics, music, social, or whether its about knowing yourself.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Featured Artist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.