But then, why should it be, given Smashproof's single Brother has just been confirmed No 1 in the NZ music charts for the fifth straight week, earning gold status.
"No 1 man, that feels awesome, it's ecstatic to hear that we're five weeks," Tyree says.
Since Monday, March 23, their debut album The Weekend was out as well and the group hopes that it will follow the success of the single.
Smashproof - the name is a play with the word bulletproof - are no newcomers to New Zealand's hip-hop scene.
Tyree, whose solo album Now or Never earned him Best Male Artist at the 2007 Australasian Urban Music Awards, teamed up with Young Sid, whose album The Truth was nominated for Best Urban Release at last year's NZ Music Awards and gained him a Waiata Maori Award for Best Urban Album, and Deach.
The three have known each other more than 10 years and started out as Smashproof in 2001.
"Young Sid comes with a real grimy sort of street feel whereas me, I come with a sort of commercial element," the rapper explains.
"And Deach brings an R&B feel, so when we come together it is a different sound altogether."
A formula that adds up, as the first single Brother, featuring singer Gin Wigmore, shows.
The co-operation came together by chance.
"If it had been up to us, we probably wouldn't have collaborated with her," Tyree confesses.
But their label, Universal Records, hooked them up with the award-winning singer.
"It was a long shot but it turned out for the best," he says and quickly adds that he has great respect for Gin Wigmore as an artist, "It's just her style and our style are totally different."
Wigmore is a 21-year-old singer and songwriter from Auckland.
Her highly acclaimed first EP, Extended Play, was released last October and made it into the NZ album top 10.
Her talent was recognised early, when she won the US-based International Songwriting Competition in 2004, beating 11,000 songwriting aspirants from 77 countries to become the youngest and only unsigned Grand Prize winner in the history of the ISC.
Her quirky style is often likened to singers like Macy Gray and Duffy.
Brother seems to have struck a nerve, winning praise for its honesty and relevant lyrics, with lines like: "Man, take away a kid's life, just because he tagged? Damn", referring to businessman Bruce Emery who stabbed 15-year old Pihema Cameron to death.
He was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison early this year.
"It's not just about that tagger, who died," Tyree says.
"There are heaps of issues that we address, from domestic violence to drugs and just everything in between.
"We are from south Auckland, that gives us sort of a green card to talk about what we are talking about because we are actually from there and know things from first-hand experience," he explains.
Deach and Young Sid grew up in Otara, Tyree in Papatoetoe.
The rapper thinks that this realism is one of the most important qualities of the group.
Although New Zealand hip hop recently found a lot of success with acts like Savage and Scribe, Tyree thinks that it is still in the shadow of American music.
"They can relate to us, our music, because it's about what actually happens," 24-year-old Tyree says.
But all the same Smashproof are eyeing the United States.
Smashproof are in talks about releasing Brother on Akon's label SRC Records.
But first the trio want to focus their debut album here.
Smashproof's The Weekend is a concept album.
It starts with Clocking Out and follows the trio through the weekend.
Going out, getting drunk, chatting up girls and ends with Ordinary Life where they fall back on to their feet and into the daily struggle of life.
The album closes with a motivational sermon to break the cycle of violence and depression with lines like "Only hard work and dedication will change that, take a good look at yourself and ask yourself the hard questions.
Am I really willing to change?"Although a lot of Smashproof's tracks can be seen as a social commentary, echoing the grim realities of growing up in south Auckland, the album is a far cry from preaching finger-wagging morality.
It is loaded with catchy R&B-influenced pop songs and street-smart rhymes.
Tyree says he feels honoured, that he is in a position to reach out to the younger generation and give some advice: "In a big nutshell, I want to tell them: You don't have to follow in anyone's footsteps you can just be yourself, just be your own man."
In the meantime, Smashproof are getting ready to tour the country. - Jule Schrerer
