Turn on your TV, open the papers and it won't be long before you come across some reference to Poetic Ammo. The Malaysian four-piece broke hip-hop boundaries with their '98 debut album, It's A Nice Day To Be Alive. Malaysia's first full-length hip-hop release in English. The album included tracks sung in Malay, Cantonese and Tamil. A statement to an industry that tried to categorize them, the band's debut experimented with as many hip-hop genres as the group could manage. Listen to it today and it stands up beside many international acts of its era.

What the group have lacked in album sales so far, they've made up for in media presence. Sponsorship deals with soft drink manufacturers, video awards and magazine covers - turn on you TV and it won't be long before you see this multi-racial advertiser's dream.

Yogi B's bear-like presence occupies the interview. Principal rapper and songwriter, despite his sullen photographic image he's affable and charming, and clearly ready to take on the world. Land Slyde is suffering a toothache but ever ready for a quote. He and brother C.Loco provide a more considered foil to Yogi's open enthusiasm. Point Blanc remains a little aloof from the proceedings, speaking only to clarify issues.

The World Is Yours
Yogi B: When the first album came out, we were raw MC's rapping in the streets around KL. Now, we've had a little success, we've seen a bit more money, and life is much easier. People recognize us and love us for what we do. Now we're happier and that's what this album's about.
C.Loco: On the first album, we were more raw, more street, because that's where our mindset was. Now it's more refined.

Sponsorship
Yogi B: I wouldn't say it's a must, but helps a hell of a lot. We like to be associated with cool products that relate to our dreams. And what the hell…get some money as well.
Land Slyde: It's more like a business collaboration, a venture between this company and that company.
Yogi B: For one ad…We were shooting for one whole day, and when we were not on set we were sleeping by a drain. Sleeping like the beggars in Puduraya. No shit.

Money
C.Loco: For a group like us, doing English music, album sales do not generate very much income. In order o survive, we have to rely on paid shows, That's where the sponsorship come in and really helps - you can say, "I may not have a show this month but at least I've got something coming in."
Land Slyde: People tend to buy a foreign product as they think it's cooler than a Malaysian product. In Malaysia, for them to buy a local product…they feel it's a little low standard. If Malaysian could understand that our products are the same quality as international brands, then the market would be better. It is picking up…
Yogi B: The album has already generated a lot of hype and pre-sales. We're glad to be part of the process and the change, it's not like two years, three years ago.

Celebrity
Yogi B: It's altered out life. If you want to [take a piss] in the back alleys of Bangsar, you're going to be recognized! It's not like before. You've always in public, you have to be very aware of what you do. We do so much radio and TV that people recognize us, instantly.
Land Slyde: Most artists, when they become famous, try to avoid being seen in public. They try to leave it behind. We're used to being on the streets, at mamak stalls, so we don't avoid the public. We keep the same lifestyle, keep doing the same thins. We're still the same people, lah. Loco still takes the bus.
Point Blanc: Basically, we're just ourselves, no matter what happens, whatever the hype around us. It's nothing but a periodical [thing]: one day [our popularity] going to go down, and if you lose yourself along the way you're going to lose everything.

Pressure
C.Loco: We lose our privacy. There are always eyes on us, people watching what we do, so in the sense, the responsibility is on us. Some people see us as role model. We get email from kids saying, "You guys are an inspiration to us. We want to be like you." So we have the pressure of living up to that idol thing they have about us.
Yogi B: When kids come up in the streets, and say, "Oh man, I can't believe it's you", they don't know what a bunch of simple idiots we are…That's another thing, some of them think we're filthy rich. When we hardly own 100 percent of our cars. We have to think about the future, we've seen artists come and go. Artists who are now doing other kinds of jobs, and it scares the hell out of us.

Motivation
Land Slyde: We have the talent in hip-hop, that's what brought us together. No matter how it goes, even if it doesn't being us enough for a bowl of rice. It's the love, not the popularity and the glamour. It's the love, the challenge, the strife…
Yogi B: At the end of the day, you listen to your album and it's satisfaction…Right now the money is not bad, frankly. We don't want to piss off the guy upstairs but it's quite good. A lot of free stuff, the money comes in slow but it's worth doing it.

Competition
Land Slyde: The competition is not between other groups, it's within ourselves - what you have to prove to yourself to be a winner. We have to compete with our own credibility. The other hip-hop groups are all in the same league, it's more like a family thing.
C.Loco: People who buy Too Phat will also buy Poetic Ammo. Once the mainstream takes up hip-hop, then that's the time to talk about competition. For what we've done so far, the response has been great. We believe that from what we've done…younger groups are coming in and getting signed [to record companies].

Self-belief
Yogi B: Lice shows. That's when we pick up the Mic and kick everybody's ass. When we're on stage, our elemental forces take over. We know we're good. I remember watching a show on MTV on boy bands, and they asked Joey McIntyre how it feels to look at old footage on New Kids On The Block. He said, "I look stupid, I didn't know what I was doing." They were high school age and just doing what they were told. For us, it won't be like that. In five, 10 years, we'll pick up the first album and it will probably still be the only Tamil or Chinese hip-hop around.

The Future
Yogi B: We could push the music out to a wider audience, if we had the financial power. For example, any group in the UK or US will have very good marketing and promotion for their album. If we had their money and power, obviously we could [succeed abroad]. Seeing as this is a market that's substantially smaller, and not the most financially stable, it's hard for small boys like us to fight with the big boys over there. I f we had as much power as they do, and [could] arm ourselves with 30 million dollars, we could go to…
C.Loco: …Japan. We could go anywhere [to record].
Land Slyde: It's frustrating. ON the first album, It's A Nice Day To Be Alive, you can hear how frustrating it was. Yogi B: We call it the frustration album…