Aotearoa hip hop celebrates its 32nd birthday this month. That's how long ago Upper Hutt Posse released their groundbreaking track 'E Tū', New Zealand's first ever hip hop single.
We're celebrating by introducing you to five new voices who're doing the genre proud: Ranuimarz, Wax Mustang, CHAII, ABRZY and Gino October.
ABRZY, Ranuimarz, CHAII, Wax Mustang and Gino October Photo: Supplied
1. Ranuimarz
Ranuimarz hails from the West Auckland suburb of Ranui, one of the city’s most notorious. He started writing poetry and raps when he was 13 as a way of coping with his parents’ break up.
After reading the late Tupac Shakur's book of poetry, Ranuimarz's rhymes started to have political angle as he noticed "the system" was unfairly impacting on "Māori and Pacific people" around him.
"I came from nothing... just living in poverty seeing that difference [from how other people live] opened my eyes: where I come from and where I belong is a place I don’t want my kids to grow up. It’s an environment that disgusts me.
"I want to change our people to make us more motivated to be more successful.
"Before I made 'A New Beginning' I was in a really bad mind state, I was going through a lot of things - I lost my little brother in 2018 and I suffered a lot with mental health issues and just being really down.
"It was New Year’s this year by the time I wrote [this song]. I sort of wanted to capture the hardship.
"I just want people to take the mana that I have in me and just take it away and rethink and reevaluate the thoughts that they are going through."
2. Wax Mustang
Dunedin rapper Wax Mustang’s quick rise has seen him play big festivals like Rhythm and Vine, rub shoulders with All Blacks, and clock nearly 200,000 You Tube views. He was booked to perform in Australia too, before Covid got in the way.
The 24-year-old recently signed to Sony, quitting his day job as a carpet salesman to rap full time.
“It was almost a half fired situation," he says, "Half, 'You should leave,' half I was like, 'I only care about rapping for now.' I’m happy with my decision.
"I’ve always loved rap music. That was always what I was into, I was one of only one or two in my group that were so passionate about it. The Dunedin scene was pretty barren for a while, but there’s a few more coming through now."
Wax Mustang's music has a laid-back party vibe, but he says there's more to his rhymes.
"When I'm making fun of myself or things that have happened to me, underlying that is usually quite a sad and serious story. Of the songs I’ve released so far, and there have only been a handful, they’ve probably dealt with love more than anything."
3. CHAII
CHAII moved to New Zealand from Iran as an 8-year-old and learned to speak English by rapping to Eminem. Her debut single 'Digebasse (Enough)', with lyrics in both English and Farsi, reached one million views in its first week of release.
Her debut EP Lightswitch, which came out in July, has earned her a Best Producer nod at this year's Aotearoa Music Awards, and tracks from hit have been featured on the FIFA21 soundtrack, a global campaign by fashion brand FENDI, and on the soundtrack of the Charlize Theron film The Old Guard.
CHAII’s whole creative project is a reflection of how she sees herself as a person of multiple cultures: she was brought up in New Zealand, while still being very connected to her Iranian roots, and speaking Farsi at home.
“I’ve got that inspiring all my music so it’s not 100% a reflection of one thing," CHAII says.
Hip hop helped her to fit into her new life: “For a lot of people, it’s a therapeutic thing to do. You’ve just moved to a new country and you don’t know how you’re feeling and you need to express yourself."
4. ABRZY
Abid Rahman is a 27-year old hip hop artist from Wellington. Originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh he goes by the stage name ABRZY.
By day, Abid works as an accountant at XERO: "Eevery musician in New Zealand has some sort of job," Abid says, "Whether it's hospo or the barbershop, I don’t see myself in any different scope just because I'm an accountant.
At school Abid wasn’t very good at sport, or very academic, but when he found rap, he thought, "This is me!"
Abid incorporates Bengali culture into his music. "There aren’t Bengalis here. I’ve got no family here except my mum and dad, and my brother. Everyone else is back home.
"I put my culture in my music not to bridge the gap, but more like I just want to represent that part of the world. The South East Asian diaspora is so underrepresented in hip hop and mainstream music," he says.
It's ABRZY's goal "leave the door slightly ajar" for others from his part of the world who want to make music.
5. Gino October
Gino October has just released his first single on a major label. It’s a big deal for Gino who left Capetown, South Africa when he was 12 years old.
"I don’t think I did very well at fitting in. I went from being somebody that looked like everybody else to being the smallest kid with the biggest backpack and afro at school.
"I gravitated towards hip hop because it reflected me. When I was at high school my brother had a little DJ rap group that used to perform at parties around Auckland and I wanted to be part of the crew.
"He said I had to rap to be part of the crew, and I couldn’t just tag along. So I rapped for him and Kurt Murray (Gino’s current producer) and they were impressed. I got the bug for it instantly.
"My song 'Better For Ya' is really my story and my family’s story of coming to New Zealand from Cape Town. It’s a story that anybody that’s come from another country or anybody that’s immigrated anywhere in the world can relate to.
"Most of the time the decision isn’t yours, it’s your parents’. This song really talks about how confusing it was as a kid to leave everything we know behind.
"The message I want people to go away with is to understand what their parents are trying to do and the same thing with the parents, so they’ll know where the kids are coming from."
