WITH his own style and tactical nouse, Dave Lavaki, AKA Mr Grin,was a central part of a hip-hop explosion which hit Fiji several years ago.
This group of mostly Suva rappers broke new ground by being the first Fijian hip-hop artists to record and release tracks with localized lyrics, some of which has received airplay.
Formerly a radio and television personality working for a local Fiji radio station, Lavaki blew into the local Fiji rap scene when he performed Suva City in 2008 with Fiji’s ‘rap Godfather’ Sammy G
Tracks like Suva City, which Lavaki co-wrote alongside his Wailekutu homie Sammy G, with local slang yet cut with studio precision, showed them to be the real deal.
Yet after an impressive fronting by the group of rappers, which included artists like Red Child Samisoni Nabilivalu and the X-9 Crew, there was a distinctly lacking emerging hip-hopsters to continue the rap revolution.
“After Sammy refaced on business and Red Child went to India. The follow up after that is essentially what was missing,” explained Lavaki, as he took time off a busy schedule.
Like most other practitioners of hip-hop in Fiji, he still has to hold down a “normal” job, working five sometimes seven days a week except that in this instance his time is dedicated to First Fighter Video and Audio, an initiative he established recently.
Lavaki has come into his own in the studio, a talent honed during his stint as Creative Director at Communications Fiji Ltd and more recently as Music Coordinator the University of the South Pacific’s Oceania Arts Centre. In recent times Lavaki has been doing sporadic recording with hip-hop artists and even those that tackle a different unidentified sort of genre.
In April last year he collaborated with a serving prisoner at Nasinu Prison, working once a week for two months recording five tracks inside the prison complex. He was approached by a prison based pastor who sought him out on recommendations and Lavaki saw this as a calling of sorts.
The work was done on a laptop but the raw sound was enough to convince that Taito Rabaka does have talent.
The proposed body of work is yet to be completed but it is an indication of the passion Lavaki has for music— that he sacrificed his personal time just to hear what Rabaka had to offer.
Lavaki said the advent of technology has made recording much easier, particularly with the hip-hop genre.
In recent times Lavaki collaborated with, among 8 other artists, Justin Wellington and Peter T on a track “Handle That”
The former Suva Grammar School student, while not boasting of any major family musical influences was exposed to the live Suva music scene.
His parents ran a bar, The Lighthouse, on the Nasese foreshore and which is essentially where the youngster met up with musicians like Bill Beddoes, Horace Whippy, David Stephens, Akuila Qumi and Steve McCumber,
This started a love affair with music and Lavaki has a range of genres to fall back on as inspiration.
He still listens to groups like the Red Hot Chillie Peppers, reggae, blues and Motown soul.
“Actually when I first started getting into music I was heavily into the blues,” said the native of Lakeba in Lau. I actually started putting it into song structure and recording in 2007,” says.
The next year he co-wrote and co-produced Suva City and also went on to assist Red Child, with Gone Sisi.
Once bitten by the rap bug though, Lavaki started writing songs seriously and to date he has penned over 20 songs, 7 tracks having received airplay.
His rap songs cover aspects of his life from a party oriented one to family life, an indication Lavaki’s coming of age as person foremost and a musician.
With a very genre like hip-hop performing live on stage is no walk in the park with the rapper admitting that he normally” zones in and zones out of performances” in order to put on a good showing.
Having established himself as a solo artist, Lavaki has now joined hands with three other hip-artists from the capital, working on newer projects for the future.
These artists are Mindless Me, Raiwaqa boy Faga Timote, Sekove Naqiolevu AKA J Deuce and Curt Ram, who goes by the stage name of Rabbit.
With much experience behind him now, Lavaki is determined to make music primarily for himself every-time he heads into the studio.
In that sense local rap aficionados can expect nothing but true hip-hop passion grounded by earthy local lyrical influences.
“It’s about getting satisfied first and then making the music fit into any genre,” said the 32 year-old.
“For me music is foremost a means of expressing myself truly and freely and then as an avenue to make money.”
