These days consumerism is pushed as part and parcel of hip hop culture. This despite the fact that beneath a mainstream of gold, cars and moronic lyrics there are countless artists working away at there craft with little or no financial gain. Auckland based emcee, communist and factory worker Cyphanetik is one such artist who not only records and promotes his own music - but runs an independent record label Breakin’ Wreckwordz, based in his home in Onehunga, is stables to a diverse roster of artists. Founded in 2001 after a demo of I am the Slime made the rounds on local radio stations and his talents caught the attention of Shock records. After been offered a deal, Cyphanetik put his political beliefs into practice by negotiating a distribution deal and setting up Breakin’ Wreck to help other artists in New Zealand’s fledgling hip hop scene. Many of New Zealand’s top emcees have called BWW home over the years. The labels impact is well entrenched in to the NZ rap industry. Along with Tourettes, Cyphanetik started Auckland crew Insomniacs and made some noise with the track Hey Kids and their hype live shows. But it’s his solo endeavours that put him at the forefront of New Zealand hip hop. Aside from killing album features and mixtapes he was the Winner of the 2004 national battle for supremacy and runner up in the trans-Tasman battles in 2005, being the only person from Australia or New Zealand to represent in all 3 of the related battles. Having paid dues Cyphanetik set about recording his debut album Commercial Suicide. Always the perfectionist the album was over two years in the making, but the time spent shows though in a collection of solid and well thought out songs resulting in a varied album both sonically and conceptually. A notable strength as an emcee is his ability to keep his rhymes simple and to the point while never stating the obvious. Even his “club” tracks Blaze ‘Em and Rolling with Punches have an underlying wit and intelligence. Never one to sleep, on top of a full time day job and taking on the workload of the label ‘netik has been straight back into the studio and is already ready to release a follow up. His responsibility and dedication captured perfectly in his own words “right my own wrongs, write my own songs, if I don’t get played find my own job.”