Fast Crew

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Fast Crew
Background information
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Years active	1999-present
Members
Jerome Fortune (1999-) Kid Deft (1999-) Diablo (1999-) DJ Alias (1999-) Gemma Copas (2006-)
Former members
Becks (1999-2006)

Fast Crew (or fastCREW) are a New Zealand hip hop group consisting of five members - Jerome Fortune (Jeremy Kent-Johnstone), Kid Deft (Dane Rumble), Diablo (Brad Devcich), Gemma Copas (a replacement for former member Becks, who left the band in 2005) and DJ Alias (Josh Thorne).

Fast Crew have supported international artists such as Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Black Eyed Peas, D12, Chingy, and DMX, and played at the Big Day Out tours. Their third album is nearing completion.

1 History of the band
2 New album and single 2007
3 Discography

[edit] History of the band

Fast Crew was formed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1999, and after some experimentation, the group began playing live around Auckland. Their first single Mr Radio was released in 2002 and received high radio and television airplay.

In May 2004, Fast Crew released the single I Got which spent 23 weeks on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart and achieved gold status. As a result of the success of I Got, the group began to open for such international acts such as Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott on their New Zealand tours and were signed as the first act on new independent central Auckland based record label 'AKrite Records', who entered into a deal with Universal Music to distribute the group's singles and album 'Set the Record Straight'. I Got finished the year at #17 on the New Zealand Top 40 Chart for 2004.

While I Got spent time on the charts, Fast Crew began working on their first album Set the Record Straight and released their second single of the album, It's the Incredible, in November.

The album Set the Record Straight was released in December 2004 and achieved gold status within a week of its release and a peak position of #11. With the release of the album the group toured New Zealand to promote it]]. The album also reached the top 100 in Australia and continued to rise up the charts with the success of the latest single release in Australia, Suburbia Streets. The band also performed to rave reviews at music festival 'Big Day Out' Auckland and East Coast cities of Australia.

Fast Crew's third single from Set the Record Straight, called Suburbia Streets, was released in March 2005 and reached a height of #10 in NZ.

With continued success in New Zealand Fast Crew entered Australia with I Got reaching #22 on the ARIAnet singles chart in May 2005, following the rise and success of fellow New Zealand rapper Scribe. In August the same year, It's the Incredible was also released in Australia, reaching #41. Suburbia Streets debuted on 20th Feb 2006 at #39 in the Australian charts.

The Fast Crew's efforts in breaking the Australian market were dealt a small blow in late 2005 after it was found that the group had used an unauthorised 'Eagles' reproduced guitar sample in their track, It's the Incredible. The album and single were immediately withdrawn in both the New Zealand and Australian markets. The album was re-released into the Australian market with a remix (sample free) version of It's the Incredible.

Fast Crew received 3 nominations at the 2006 Australasian Urban Music Awards [1]: Nominations for Best Hip Hop Single I Got, Best Hip Hop Album Set the Record Straight and Best Hip Hop Group.

[edit] New album and single 2007

What Happened to Yesterday is the first single off the upcoming album due for release mid-2007. Due to the song's controverisal lyrics, which discuss the issues surrounding drug use, most radio stations (who are seemingly going through a conservative phase) in New Zealand have not put the song on high rotate.^{[citation needed]} The video for the single is played frequently on Juice TV, MTV and C4.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Discography

Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	Charted	Certification	Catalog Number
	2004	Set the Record Straight	Universal Music/Akrite	#11 (NZ)		99707

[edit] Featured appearances

The group have appeared on several compilations over the years in New Zealand and overseas. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by Fast Crew.

(2003) - The Grey Lynn Park Festival Compilation (Sane Recordings) - "I Got"
(2004) - Now That's What I Call Music 15 (EMI) - "I Got"
(2005) - The Wall Of Bass Technique by Baitercell & Schumacher (Sony BMG) - "F.A.S.T."
(2005) - Maximum Bass (Ministry Of Sound) - "I Got (Fsard remix)"
(2005) - Top Of The Pops 2005 (Universal Music New Zealand) - "I Got"
(2005) - Now That's What I Call Music 17 (EMI) - "It's The Incredible"
(2005) - Holla Hour (Universal) - "Oh Really"
(2005) - Now That's What I Call Music 18 (EMI) - "Suburbia Streets"
(2006) - More Nature (Sony BMG) - "I Got"

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Album	Charted	Certification
2002	"Mr Radio"	-	-	-
2004	"I Got"	Set The Record Straight	#2 (NZ) #22 (AUS)	-
2004	"It's The Incredible"	Set The Record Straight	#5 (NZ) #41 (AUS)	-
2005	"Surburbia Streets"	Set The Record Straight	#10 (NZ) #31 (AUS)