Kiwi legend John Campbell has a hip hop and RnB playlist that he's been quietly curating for nearly four years.
It's named 'JC tryna be alive, a playlist by John Campbell' on Spotify and it's got some bangers on it.
When it comes to creating a mean playlist, John's not just adding and removing songs, he plays around with the order too and keeps a very strict'no shuffle' rule, which he sees as key to getting the ultimate listener experience.
Currently with 168 songs - totalling around 7 hours and 30 minutes of good tunes, the playlist has been saved or liked by 9,221 people.
The playlist's photo is also a skuxx selfie of him before work.
John Campbell's playlist's description reads:
"An obsessively curated, CONSTANTLY changing playlist of gorgeously fine hip-hop, r and b, and jazz tunes ( from Aotearoa and the world), gratefully, lovingly and joyfully worked and RE-WORKED into a smooth, smooth flow! NO WAY SHUFFLE! NO WAY! Aroha nui to the artists. And thank YOU for listening. JC"
After finding out about this epic playlist, Mai Morning Crew had to immediately get JC on the show to talk about it.
"I just love it. We all need stuff in our life that keeps us curious and makes our heart beat a little bit faster. And for me that's discovering new music. For me it's particularly around Hip Hop music" John told MMC.
JC also talked about how he got into Hip Hop and RnB, saying:
"It started back on Radio Active which was a student radio in Wellington when I listened to it a long time ago. And there was a guy who did a show called 'The Wednesday night Dan'."
"I remember hearing the first time the lyrics. 'Elvis was a hero, the most, but he never meant S to me, straight up racist. That sucker was simple and plain. Mother f him and John Wayne.'"
"And then the next two lines of 'I'm Black and I'm proud. I'm hyped on them, and most of my heroes don't appear on those stamps'. And I remember thinking what it would be like to come from a culture where your heroes don't appear on stamps. They existed on the margins when they weren't celebrated in the same way. And I just thought, 'it's just a stunning piece of song'."
"And that's only a song young black people could write. Young white people wouldn't write a song like that. I grew up in Roseneath in Wellington, for God's sake. So I just got to thinking, Wow, what's this? Was kind of an epiphany. It's a long time ago now, so I've been listening to it ever since."
Fame then asked DC what his current favourites are at the moment which instantly bonded the four of them.
The Kiwi icon also shared how much he loves listening to Mai FM and how much joy and happiness the music brings to him.
And just before the call ended, he made the Mai Morning Crew's day:
"Just before I go, hey Tegan, Fame and Storme, I just want to say you give a lot of pleasure in the morning and that's a good thing to do. Who doesn't want to start their day feeling good about the world, right?"
