Kiwi producer Jeremy Toy on his genre-bending album with US rapper Guilty Simpson

Hip Hop and psychedelic-rock might not be the most likely of music combinations, but one Kiwi producer has made it happen, despite the long road to get there.

Leonard Charles, also known as Jeremy Toy, has teamed up with US rapper Guilty Simpson for a new musical pairing dubbed the Leonard Simpson Duo.

"We connected really well through the creative side of the music, and from there on I thought it would be really cool to make a full record with him," Toy told Newshub.

From there, the pair's debut album L.S.D was born and it's a style the Auckland-based producer has never made before.

He calls it "60s and 70s psychedelic rock-inspired hip hop". 

Toy's already had a successful music career. He's currently in the band She's So Rad and has also produced award-winning tracks for Opensouls and Hollie Smith.

He composed the tracks in Auckland, while Detroit local Guilty recorded the vocals in a studio in the US. 

"There was not much back and forth. There was a lot of trust over who was doing which part of the music."

L.S.D is somewhat of a comeback for Toy. He suffered two life-threatening injuries and getting back into music has been no easy feat.

"When traumatic events happen, you can go one way or the other and I don't want to go the other way," he said. 

"I want to keep positive and keep moving forward. Most of the time, that does happen."

It seems his patience has paid off, as Toy says the album is doing better than he expected.

"I'm super super happy it's out and it's getting heard.

"It's reaching a lot further than my previous couple of records, which is great. It's really doing it's thing."

And while it's early days for the US-Kiwi duo, there's clearly more in the pipeline.

"I've got another good scheme with Guilty for another record, so it's just a matter of putting that into effect and making that happen. I've already got a game plan."