Hip Hop Holiday

3 The Hard Way , Music Video – 1994

from the album Old School Prankstas (1994)

Shot in sepia tones with barely a level camera angle on offer, the video for 3 The Hard Way’s single has classic hip hop video written all over it. A cruise around Auckland in the back of a convertible culminates in a guest verse from Bobbylon of Hallelujah Picassos. Back at home, a rugby-loving audience assembles for the song’s second half. The unforgettable hook is inspired by 10cc hit 'Dreadlock Holiday', which proved lucrative for the English band when there were issues around clearing the rights. This was one of the earliest NZ On Air-funded videos for a song that reached number one.

The original melody from the 10cc song was re-recorded and the tune was moved into a different key, so the people at Deepgrooves believed there wasn’t any necessity to contact the original composers of the song. After all, this was just going to be a run of 500 singles that would introduce 3 The Hard Way to the local market …
– Gareth Shute on 'Hip Hop Holiday', in his AudioCulture profile of 3 The Hard Way