24 September 2021 - 0 Comments

Who Shot Scott is the musical project of Zaidoon Nasir (he/him), a producer and experimental hip hop artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland).

Who Shot Scott's production packs a punch, with heavy 808s intertwined with bass that make promises to make subs groove. Lyrically he finely balances bravado and braggadocio with vulnerability and introspection, resulting in a brave creative philosophy that is present throughout his entire catalogue.

Today Who Shot Scott shares a new single Love We'll Never Know, a song born from trauma and heartbreak. "At the time of writing this song, I was dealing with the remnants of post traumatic stress caused by an abusive relationship from my past" says Nasir. "I was in a seriously bad place mentally and finally came to the realisation that I wasn't ever truly in love with this person, but instead, infatuated by the potential of the relationship getting better. I'm very blessed to say that I eventually got out of that situation safely, but the manipulation definitely had some longer lasting effects on me than I would have liked it to."

"For me - this song is my closure, this is me telling myself that what happened was not my fault and doesn't define me or my future. I was just seeing a love that wasn't truly there."

"For this video I really wanted to show just as much energy as the song" says video director Connor Pritchard. "Having Zee jump up and down with the band behind him helped us achieve that. Since it was a one take, we had to think of ways to keep it interesting the whole way through. So we shot it with a fisheye lens and incorporated lots of movement as well as moments where Zee would literally grab the camera too."

Love We'll Never Know know marks the seventh collaboration between the pair in less than a year. Nasir reflects "I feel so blessed to have met Connor Pritchard, who has become my right hand in creative directing the whole aesthetic of Who Shot Scott. Whenever I approach him with a project we always try to push things to be as unique as possible while also accurately representing the emotion within the music."

"We decided early on in our working relationship that we both didn't want to go down the typical big-production type music videos for my works, and instead opt for simple yet well executed one-take videos with lyric subtitles added in post. I feel like limiting ourselves to this formula has been vital because it forces us to find creative ways to keep the clip engaging from a more traditional filmmaking standpoint (via the performance, shot-type, lighting etc)."

Prior to migrating to New Zealand, Who Shot Scott and his mother fled Iraq for Moscow, Russia. After some time in the Russian capital, they packed their few belongings and traveled to New Zealand, where Who Shot Scott now calls home.

Nasir cut his teeth in Times X Two, a hip-hop duo appearing at festivals including Bay Dreams (along with Peking Duck and Cardi B) and Soundsplash, while also opening for international acts like Outkast's Big Boi, A$AP Ferg and T-Pain. However in 2019 his musical partner converted religion, abruptly announced he will no longer make music, and moved overseas. In the following months Nasir came to the realisation that he had to continue what he started, and Who Shot Scott was born.

Photo Credit: Connor Pritchard

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