All Black fandom has hit a new high with Big Daddy Jimmy Love turning his support into music.
Thomas Matea is sitting hunched over, a black cap casting a shadow over his face. He's clutching pages of lyrics, whispering to himself, getting the flow right in his head.
"You're up," says the producer, sitting at a nearby computer. Matea stands, adjusts his cap, touches the lucky silver medallionhanging around his neck, and steps up to the microphone.
As the beat kicks in, Matea nods his head in time, catches the beat, and delivers his introduction.
"Yeah, it's your boy, Big Daddy Jimmy Love," he hollers, waving his free hand in time with the music while spitting lyrics out as fast as he can.
Thomas Matea in the recording studio where he records his All Blacks songs.
"Big Daddy Jimmy Love" is his rap alter-ego, and Matea has the same routine for every song he records. He jots lyrics down into a well-thumbed notebook in his Papakura flat, eating mints while surrounded by pictures of his favourite All Blacks players who are pinned up on the wall.
When his rhymes are ready, he catches the train into Grey Lynn, walks up to the Toi Ora Live Art Trust, and waits for his turn in the small upstairs studio.
Over the past 10 years, he's amassed quite a collection of songs, penning tributes for his favourite actors, action movie stars like Jason Statham, The Rock and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Matea's favourite thing to rap about, the one subject that trumps everything else, is the All Blacks.
Most years, he records a "Tribute to the All Blacks," a song dedicated to the season's best games, Matea's favourite tries, his top players - and, if it happens, he'll also include details about a rare loss.
He started in 2006, recorded his last one after the All Blacks' successful 2015 Rugby World Cup Campaign, and he's already storing up material from this season for his 2017 tribute song.
But Matea has a bigger dream: he wants to make an entire album dedicated to the men in black. But red tape means i's not allowed to happen.
And Matea says he's ready to abandon his favourite team over it.
"It's been a dream for a while but I'm not really getting anywhere with my All Blacks songs and album," he says.
"I'm not going to keep writing songs for the All Blacks if they're not interested."
Matea first approached the team about recording an All Blacks album in October, when he met coach Steve Hansen and several players at the Heritage Hotel in a session organised by All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka.
"Steve Hanson comes into the hotel. He goes, 'This must be the man, the rapper, Thomas, Big Daddy Jimmy Love'," remembers Matea proudly.
"He shook my hand and gave me a hongi. It went alright ... I think they were excited to meet me."
Photos show Matea being embraced by the team, with Hansen's arm wrapped around him, giving the thumbs up to the camera.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen with Thomas Matea in October, 2016.
Other snaps show Matea posing alongside Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Ben Smith and Israel Dagg.
But Matea says their attitude changed when he approached New Zealand Rugby about recording an entire album about the All Blacks.
"The rugby union don't ... really comply or give me their consent to make an album," he says. "I don't know why."
NZ Rugby head of marketing, brand and commercial development Todd Barberel said they loved hearing about fans showing their support by making videos, songs and stories.
However developing an album or selling music leveraging the All Blacks' brand commercialised the product.
"We are obliged to protect the interests of our licensed partners who have invested the right to be associated with the brand.
"We also believe that it is too difficult to peg the All Blacks to one style of music when the team actually represents a wide range of music tastes."
Thomas Matea writes his lyrics down on paper before entering the studio.
Entertainment lawyer Chris Hocquard says an album bearing the All Blacks name and branding would be covered by trademark restrictions.
"They've had a trademark for years ... it basically protects them from anyone using it for any reason, effectively," he says. "By registering a trademark, they can control how it's used."
Matea says he could rip through the entire album in just "a day or two at most" in the studio, and it would only cost a few hundred dollars.
He confused as to why New Zealand Rubgy won't let him record an album, claiming they initially gave him the go-ahead.
"I've asked them. First they said yes, in 2011. A couple of years later they said no. I don't know why ... they're my songs."
Thomas Matea at work recording 'Tribute to the National Party' in a Grey Lynn studio.
So Matea's changing tactics. Until he gets permission from the All Blacks, he's found something else to rap about.
As he steps up to the microphone in the Grey Lynn studio, Matea alters his intro. This time, he says: "This one goes out to Bill English and the National Party."
He's written and recorded two songs for competing political parties ahead of this year's election.
One's called, 'Tribute to the Labour Party,' the other's called, 'Tribute to the National Party'.
So who's Matea going to vote for?
He laughs, and says: "Whoever supports my song first."
