Dawn Raid Entertainment
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Dawn Raid Entertainment is a record label based in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, New Zealand. It has signed many New Zealand hip-hop and RnB artists such as Savage, Adeaze, Aaradhna, Ill Semantics and The Deceptikonz. The founders announced the closure of the label on 19 April 2007 due to liquidation. At its peak it was home to many gold and platinum-selling New Zealand hip hop and R&B artists. The label is back in business as of June 2007 with Savage, Mareko, Deceptikonz, Horsemen Family, Sweet & Irie plus more new artists to be announced.
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[edit] History
Dawn Raid Entertainment officially started in 1999 which was the year its first album was recorded. However, in 1996 Brotha D and YDNA met for the first time and Dawn Raid became their brainchild which started coming to fruition in 1997.
Brotha D and YDNA formed Dawn Raid to record undiscovered artists from their home town of South Auckland, and to expose these artists to the public, building them into local and international stars. Dawn Raid felt at the time that none of the major music labels catered to the discovery and nurturing of talented artists and the founders saw a niche in the market that they could develop upon.
Since the first release in 2000, Dawn Raid has released 18 full length albums, and helped build platinum and gold stars out of artists Savage, Mareko, Adeaze and Aaradhna. Dawn Raid is the only label in the history of NZ music to achieve 10 consecutive top 10 singles and has over 17 gold and platinum plaques representing 250,000 units sold worldwide.
After the liquidation Dawn Raid rose from the ashes in 2007 and reformed a new company, Dawn Raid Music 2007 Ltd, which still trades as Dawn Raid Entertainment. Since then albums have been released by Brotha D & The Dawn Raid Family, Horsemen Family and Aaradhna.
[edit] Closure
On 19 April 2007 Dawn Raid founders announced they had placed the company into voluntary liquidation, and blamed low revenues, high overheads and illegal downloads for the company's demise.[1]
The company released the following statement... "Dawn Raid Entertainment founders Brotha D and Andy Murnane have placed the iconic music label into voluntary liquidation today (Thursday 19th April) They cite, a downturn in the label's revenues as the reason resulting from a shift in the local urban music market, compounded by the label's high overhead structure and increased activity in illegal downloads.
"The music industry has experienced rapid change in the last two years with the new digital-driven content formats. Unfortunately we were expanding into Australia at a time that we should have be consolidating our local operation," states Andy Murnane.
Dawn Raid Entertainment was registered in 1999 and has been home to New Zealand's leading urban artists including platinum and gold stars Aaradhna, Savage, Adeaze and Deceptikonz. The company was primarily engaged in signing, recording and releasing albums of undiscovered urban artists. Over the course of the 10 years Dawn Raid expanded into Australia and was involved with fashion wholesaling, retail operations, graphic design and publishing.
"Dawn Raid has been an exciting and fun journey for us, our artists and our dedicated fans over the last 10 years," says Brotha D. "We're extremely happy with the many milestones & achievements we have made. However, it's a sad day for all involved and we want everyone to know that we view Dawn Raid as a success and we look forward to new opportunities in the future."
Dawn Raid Entertainment would like to express our sincerest thanks to all our friends, fans and associates in the music industry & business community. Although this is an unfortunate event that has been difficult for us, we believe that all music fans can look forward to a robust local music scene in the future that seamlessly combines the best of the physical and digital music worlds." [2]
[edit] Sponsorship
In May 2004, Dawn Raid became a sponsor for the Telecom subsidiary company Boost Mobile and released a single Hook Up 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.
[edit] Beach Day Out
In 2004, Dawn Raid sponsored the summer music festival Beach Day Out. The festival features many of their own musicians and other New Zealand musicians doing an annual beach-city tour of New Zealand. Some major ports of call were Mt. Maunganui and Gisborne. 48May, Scribe and The D4 were among some of the acts that played that were not signed under Dawn Raid.
[edit] Other avenues
Dawn Raid had also branched into other avenues which include streetwear, graphics, promotional prints and a community trust.
[edit] Current/fomer artists
- Aaradhna
- Adeaze
- Alphrisk
- Brotha D
- Deceptikonz
- Horsemen Family
- Mareko
- Savage
- Ill Semantics
- DJCXL
- R.E.S.
- K.A.O.S.
- Sweet & Irie
[edit] Discograpy
[edit] 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., Adeaze, Live Live and the co-founder of Dawn Raid, Brotha D.
| Date of Release | Title | Artist | Charted | Country | Catalog Number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums | ||||||
| April 2000 | Southside Story | Various Artists | - | - | ||
| May 2001 | Southside Story 2: International | Various Artists | - | - | ||
| March 2002 | Elimination | Deceptikonz | - | - | 99122 | |
| November 2002 | Theory of Meaning | Ill Semantics | - | - | ||
| July 2003 | White Sunday | Mareko | - | - | 99662 | |
| May 2004 | Always and For Real | Adeaze | - | - | ||
| October 2004 | Red Eye Society (also under Clientele Records) |
R.E.S. | - | - | ||
| October 2004 | The Best Kept Secret (also under Clientele Records) |
Alphrisk | - | - | ||
| April 2005 | Moonshine | Savage | - | - | ||
| January 2006 | Street Dreams | DJ Peter Gunz & Tikelz | - | - | ||
| March 2006 | Sione's Wedding OST | Various | - | - | ||
| May 2006 | I Love You | Aaradhna | - | - | ||
| 2 October 2006 | Good Musik | Ill Semantics | - | - | ||
| October 2006 | Heavy Rotation | Deceptikonz | - | - | ||
| EPs | ||||||
| May 2003 | Mareko Is The Future - Dawn Raid Mix Tape | Mareko | - | - | ||
| May 2003 | Blood On The BBQ Mixtape | Mareko & Savage | - | - | ||
| December 2003 | 12" Street Rap | Mareko featuring Inspectah Deck | - | - | ||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Artist | Single | Album | Charted | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Ill Semantics featuring Betty Anne |
"Watching You/Highway" | Theory of Meaning | - | - |
| 2003 | Mareko | "Mareko (Here To Stay)" | White Sunday | - | - |
| 2003 | Adeaze | "A Life With You" | Always and For Real | - | - |
| 2003 | Mareko featuring the Deceptikonz |
"Stop, Drop and Roll" | White Sunday | - | - |
| 2004 | Adeaze | "How Deep Is Your Love" | Always and For Real | - | - |
| 2004 | Dawn Raid All-Stars | "Hook Up" | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Adeaze featuring Aaradhna |
"Getting Stronger" | Always and For Real | *#1 (NZ) | - |
| 2005 | Savage | "Swing" | Moonshine | *#1 (NZ) | - |
| 2005 | Alphrisk | "Sunshine" | The Best Kept Secret | - | - |
| 2005 | Savage | "Moonshine" | Moonshine | *#1 (NZ) | - |
| 2005 | Savage featuring Aaradhna |
"They Don't Know" | Moonshine | - | - |
| 2006 | Aaradhna | "Down Time" | I Love You | - | - |
| 2006 | Tha Feelstyle featuring Mareko, Flowz Manuel Bundy & Lapi Mariner |
"I Do Believe (Tha Remix)" | Sione's Wedding OST | - | - |
| 2006 | Aaradhna | "Shake" | I Love You | - | - |
| 2006 | Aaradhna | "I Love You Too" | I Love You | *#5 (NZ) | - |
| 2006 | Deceptikonz | "Don't Front On Me" | Heavy Rotation | - | - |
| 2006 | Ill Semantics | "On And On" (featuring Lemuel |
Good Musik | - | - |
