Nelson flair in rap parodies

BY PHILLIP ROLLO

Nelson might not have the gangsta reputation of Detroit or New York, but that hasn't stopped high school student Paul Williams bursting on to the rap scene.

"50 Cent grew up in a hard environment and that comes through in his music. I have a great life and am really happy most of the time and hopefully that will come through in my music," Paul said.

The 17-year-old Nelson College student – brother of stand-up comedian Guy Williams – is making a name for himself via the internet for the parodies, with a Nelson flavour, he makes of hit rap songs.

Through YouTube alone his videos have had more than 70,000 views – 13,000 of which are on his hit song Nite `n' Day, a Kid Cudi parody about a dairy in Stoke.

"Nite `n' Day is the most viewed and is sung to me quite frequently by strangers in the street, but my favourite is probably Nelson State of Mind."

The first song to get Paul hooked was Lupe Fiasco's Kick Push, which he heard on a video game.

"I started listening to all his other songs and moved on to other artists such as Kanye West," he said, explaining that it was West who heavily influenced him.

"Kanye West has definitely been my biggest inspiration. I connect with Kanye West more than I connect with other rappers," he said.

"I don't quite have his ego or his ability to ruin award ceremonies, but apart from that I feel like he's my long-lost brother.

"He's a creative genius in my mind."

Paul recently played his first live set at Kayze, a dance party in Richmond, but had mixed feelings about his performance.

"I lost my voice after the first song and there was no stage so I couldn't really move around and get into it."

However, with plenty of confidence, he's hoping this year will be the start of something big for him.

"I'm really going to start focusing my efforts on writing fully original songs," Paul said.

He also hopes to get an original song on television channel C4 and to record an album in the near future.

"I don't know what it would be called, but I do know that it would be the greatest album ever made."

- © Fairfax NZ News