Kiwi hip-hop trio High Beams' rise isn't slowing down anytime soon, releasing one of the most exciting albums of the year, and revealed as a headline act for the 2019 Laneway festival.
Appearing on TVNZ 1's Breakfast, two of the three members of High Beams spoke of their origins as a group, and their path to becoming one of New Zealand music's most exciting acts.
"We're all mates, we're mates before the music all came together," member Illbaz said.
High Beams came together from Melo and Raiza - who's absent today. They do mentoring and youth programmes at the Wesley Community Centre.
"I lived across the road, they would pop in after work and we would literally just make music."
The trio are a unique smorgasbord of ethnic backgrounds, containing Rwandan, Palestinian and Polynesian descent.
"It's like the hip-hop UN," Melodownz jokes.
"It's like the world news in an album."
High Beams' self-titled debut album also features collaborations with New Zealand music legend Che Fu.
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