Many people would recognise a money cat statue, painted gold with a waving paw, as a common feature of Asian grocery stores and restaurants. Traditionally, a money cat is supposed to bring monetary wealth and prosperity into a business. International hip-hop duo MoneyKat, comprising Omar Musa (Australia) and Mighty Joe[/artist} (California), seek to flip that idea on its head. Says Musa, “some people see our name and assume that we are some sort of bling group. Really, we are the complete opposite.” Adds Mighty Joe, “the idea behind MoneyKat is that we are hoping to bring true wealth and prosperity into peoples lives- positivity, empowerment, knowledge of self.”

Mighty Joe and Omar Musa met at university in Santa Cruz, California. What began as a sporadic musical partnership blossomed into a fully formed group after a successful tour in Indonesia. Says Mighty Joe, “the tour really hit home to us what a worldwide phenomenon hip hop is. We wanted to represent the idea that our accents, styles and stories might be different, but our struggles are the same.” Both MCs had solo careers before this collaboration. Musa, the Australian Poetry Slam Champion in 2008, released World Goes to Pieces in 2010 as well as touring in France, China, India, the UK and as support for legendary Gil Scott-Heron in Germany. Mighty Joe released the Golden EP in 2010 and the Elevated EP in early 2011 and featured on the soundtrack to documentary Oakland: My Home, My Prison and My Freedom as well as soundtrack to internationally released video game College Hoops 2K7.

MoneyKat will release their debut album “MoneyKat” in September 2011.
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