''Proud: An Urban Pacific Streetsoul Compilation'' is a 1994 New Zealand hip hop and R&B compilation album. It was released in New Zealand by Second Nature Records and in Australia by

Volition Records Volition Records was a Sydney, Australia-based record label specialising in electronic music styles such as house, techno, synthpop and trance. It was founded by Andrew Penhallow in the late 1980s, but folded in the late 1990s. Amongst the ...

, and later rereleased in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

by Huh! Records in 2000. ''Proud'' has been described as "one of the most important NZ releases in the past decades" by New Zealand music industry figure Simon Grigg.

Background

The album had its origins with the work of record producer Alan Jansson. In his Freemans Bay recording studio, Uptown Studios, he was impressed with the young hip hop and R&B acts from South Auckland and West Auckland who were recording at the studio, and the initial success of the resulting singles. Encouraged by Andrew Penhallow of Australian label Volition Records, Jansson started work on a compilation album to showcase the new musical talent of Auckland. While the album was based around hip hop and R&B music, Jansson's production emphasised the Pacific sounds of the songs - log drumming, ukuleles and 'Maori strumming', though some performers felt their songs did not sound American enough. Breaking from the urban styles of the rest of the album, the final two tracks featured acoustic log drumming ("Pacific Beats") and an a cappella version of the

New Zealand national anthem New Zealand is one of only two countries in the world—the other being Denmark—with two official national anthems of equal status. The traditional anthem " God Save the King" is generally used only on royal and viceregal occasions. " God ...

. The resulting album was received well in both New Zealand and Australia.

''Proud'' tour

In 1994,

Phil Fuemana Philip Fuemana (6 January 1964 – 28 February 2005) was a New Zealand musician. Affectionately known as "the Godfather of South Auckland", he was highly regarded for his work in South Auckland in establishing the Urban Pasifika sound. Fuemana d ...

organised the national ''Proud'' tour, in order to promote the acts featured on the album. Fuemana described it as "like a modern version of Motown – taking the talent and travelling around the country with it." The tour included the Otara Millionaires Club (and singer Sina) and Sisters Underground. The tour lost money, but boosted the profile of the featured acts.

Legacy

The main breakout act from ''Proud'' was the Otara Millionaires Club. The following year, as the OMC, Pauly Fuemana had a worldwide hit single with " How Bizarre". Hip hop duo Sisters Underground had two tracks on the album, including " In the Neighbourhood", which is now regarded as a landmark single for both in the emerging South Auckland music scene of the 1990s and for New Zealand music as a whole. Musician and producer

made a heavy contribution to ''Proud'' and continued his work with the South Auckland music scene, developing the urban Pasifika sound. Hip hop performers Herman Loto (Ermehn) and Sani Sagala ( Dei Hamo) later had local success with their solo work. The album is now considered a hallmark of New Zealand music, and was one of the featured albums in music journalist Nick Bollinger's 2009 book ''100 Essential New Zealand Albums''. In 2022 Alan Jansson won the Taite Music Prize's Independent Music NZ Classic Record award for the album.

Charting singles

Two singles from the album charted in the New Zealand singles chart.

Track listing

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

''Proud'' listing at Discogs

''Essential NZ Albums: Proud - An Urban-Pacific Streetsoul Compilation'' profile (Radio NZ National)
Compilation albums by New Zealand artists 1994 compilation albums Hip hop compilation albums