Urban Pasifika (also known as Urban Pacific and Urban Pacifika) is a New Zealand

subgenre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a Category of being, category of literature, ...

of hip hop, that developed primarily among

Pasifika New Zealanders Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself (also known as Pacific Islanders). They form the fourth-largest eth ...

South Auckland South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though not ...

. Drawn from alternative hip hop and R&B influences, it was quickly blended with

Pacific Island Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

instrumentation and traditional songwriting (such as

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

samples) and

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

in a variety of Polynesian languages, such as

, Samoan, Niuean and Tongan. The genre's genesis in the 1980s blossomed into a unique, globally enrapturing cultural scene in its homeland of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, especially in the next decade. Urban Pasifika is one of the most popular music genres to arise from New Zealand, and helped cement Auckland's reputation on the world stage as a major cultural centre, and the most ethnically Polynesian city in the world. It originated within the Pasifika community in Auckland, specifically its heavily Polynesian southern suburbs; the genre quickly gained traction, with a major scene in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

's suburbs of

Lyall Bay Lyall Bay is a bay and suburb on the south side of the Rongotai isthmus in Wellington, New Zealand. The bay is a popular surf beach, featuring a breakwater at the eastern end. It is home to two surf lifesaving clubs and has also been the site of ...

, Newtown,

Aro Valley The Aro Valley forms a small inner-city suburb of Wellington in New Zealand. It takes its name from the stream which originally flowed where modern Epuni Street is. The stream's Māori name was originally Wai-Mapihi, but it was commonly called Te ...

and

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

within its Cuba Precinct (such as

Fat Freddy's Drop Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by mus ...

King Kapisi Bill Rangi Urale is a New Zealand-Samoan hip-hop artist. Music career He was signed up as an artist with Festival Mushroom Records (NZ). In 2000 he released his critically acclaimed debut album ''Savage Thoughts'', followed by a second album, ...

and

Upper Hutt Posse Upper Hutt Posse (UHP) is a musical band in Aotearoa. The progenitors of hip hop music in the South Pacific originally formed as a four-piece reggae group in 1985, the Posse emerged at the forefront of the local response to emerging rap cultur ...

) and, to a lesser extent,

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

(with the globally successful rapper

Scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

). Two of the best known examples of the genre are

In The Neighbourhood "In the Neighbourhood" is the 1994 debut single by the New Zealand hip hop duo Sisters Underground. The song peaked at #6 in the New Zealand singles charts and is now regarded as a landmark single both in the emerging South Auckland music scene ...

by the duo

Sisters Underground Sisters Underground was a New Zealand hip hop and R&B duo best known for their 1994 single "In the Neighbourhood". Background Group members Brenda Makamoeafi and Hassanah Iroegbu originally met aged 13, at Hillary College in Ōtara, South A ...

, released in 1994, and OMC's How Bizarre and

On The Run On the Run may refer to: * "On the run", a phrase often used to describe a fugitive, a person fleeing custody Literature * ''On the Run'' (novel), by Nina Bawden * On the Run (novel series), by Gordon Korman * ''On the Run'', a novel in the S ...

, the former of which became a smash hit worldwide, topping the charts in multiple countries. The 1990s were the heyday for Urban Pasifika artists, and icons of the genre went on to become legends of

New Zealand music The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including b ...

and within the greater New Zealand diaspora.

History

Māori music, and Māori cultural in general, went through a renaissance in the early 1980s, both in terms of revival of traditional styles and political self identity. Many Māori came to identify with the politics and rhythms of the

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

music of the Caribbean, leading to the development of a distinctly New Zealand reggae style, led by groups such as

Herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

and Dread Beat & Blood. In 1983, Māori singer

Dalvanius Prime Maui Dalvanius Prime (16 January 1948 – 3 October 2002) was a New Zealand entertainer and songwriter. His career spanned 30 years. He mentored many of New Zealand's Māori performers, and was a vocal and forthright supporter of Māori culture. ...

recorded a song, "

Poi E "Poi E" is a New Zealand 1984 number-one hit song by the group Pātea Māori Club off the album of the same name. Released in 1984, the song was sung entirely in the Māori language and featured a blend of Māori cultural practices in the song a ...

", with

kapa haka Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. It literally means 'group' () and 'dance' (). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identi ...

group

Pātea Māori Club Pātea Māori Club is a New Zealand cultural group and performance act formed in the South Taranaki District, South Taranaki town of Patea, Pātea in 1967 as the Pātea Methodist Māori Club. In 1983, the group began to release Māori language, ...

combining

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

rhythms with traditional Māori music, which became a surprise hit - the biggest hit in Te Reo Māori for 25 years.Bourke, Chris
Māori and Pacific music, 1980s and 1990s
" ''

Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first s ...

''. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2020. In the late 1980s,

became the first New Zealand band to record a bilingual rap song, " E Tu", which combined western pop-rock styles with more obvious Māori influences. The influence of Upper Hutt Posse's music, and that of other bands experimenting with cross-cultural popular music, led to increasing interest in hybrid Pacific/western pop and rock, particularly among urban Māori. The new genre's name, and a more solidly defined style, date from the 1994 release of the compilation album ''

Proud Proud may refer to: Music * ''Proud'' (Heather Small album), the debut album by Heather Small ** "Proud" (Heather Small song), a song by Heather Small that was the official song for the London 2012 Olympic bid * ''Proud'' (compilation album), ...

'', assembled by Alan Jansson, which merged hip-hop beats with acoustic instruments. A track from the album, "

In the Neighbourhood "In the Neighbourhood" is the 1994 debut single by the New Zealand hip hop duo Sisters Underground. The song peaked at #6 in the New Zealand singles charts and is now regarded as a landmark single both in the emerging South Auckland music scene ...

" by

became the first top ten single in the style, gaining it a wide audience in both the New Zealand Pacific and pakeha communities. Other breakout acts to appear on the album included OMC and Semi MC's.

Phillip Fuemana and Urban Pacifika Records

The sound developed further in 1998 with the release of the album ''Urban Pacifika Records - Pioneers of a Pacifikan Frontier'' on a short-lived

based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

started by

Phillip Fuemana Philip Fuemana (6 January 1964 – 28 February 2005) was a New Zealand musician. Affectionately known as "the Godfather of South Auckland", he was highly regarded for his work in South Auckland in establishing the Urban Pasifika sound. Fuemana ...

called Urban Pasifika Records. Phillip Fuemana's influence on NZ music was significant, he started a music movement that continues today, he on worked and produced many albums and singles and directed a number of music videos. He was also influential in the development of the independent South Auckland label Dawn Raid Entertainment. Phillip was one of the founders of the band OMC. Phil started OMC as an outlet for his instrumentals but passed it on to his younger brother

Pauly Fuemana Paul Lawrence Fuemana (8 February 1969 – 31 January 2010) was a Niuean-New Zealand singer, songwriter and musician from Auckland. One of the first globally successful pioneers of his country's unique style of hip-hop, Fuemana was one of New Z ...

who then went on to work with Alan Jansson as a partner, creating the song " How Bizarre", which became an international hit. OMC went on to sell over 4 million records.huh! Records
/ref>

Urban Pasifika artists

Main artists active in the Urban Pasifika subgenre include: *

Che Fu Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand hip hop, R&B and reggae artist, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of ...

Dei Hamo Sanerivi "Sani" Sagala (born 24 August 1974), better known by his stage name Dei Hamo, is a New Zealand hip hop artist, producer and director. Dei Hamo, which can be translated as "The Samoan", has won various awards for his chart-topping music a ...

Adeaze Adeaze are a New Zealand R&B/soul duo comprising brothers Nainz and Viiz Tupai. The group's debut album, ''Always and for Real'', was released in 2004 and topped the album chart in New Zealand. History Brought up playing music in the church, t ...

Savage Savage may refer to: Places Antarctica * Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land * Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Savage Ridge, Victoria Land United States * Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community * Savage, Minnesota, a city * Savage, Mi ...

Deceptikonz The Deceptikonz are a New Zealand Hip hop group formed in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa in 1996 which consists of Savage, Devolo, Alphrisk and Mareko. Their debut album was ''Elimination'' released in 2002. History The group's de ...

Nesian Mystik Nesian Mystik was a New Zealand Hip hop music, hip-hop/Contemporary R&B, R&B group which formed in 1999. The cultural backgrounds of its members united a remarkable diversity of Polynesia by bringing together Cook Islands, Cook Island, Tongans, ...

Other New Zealand bands, such as

TrinityRoots TrinityRoots (1998–2005, 2011–present) are a band based in Wellington, New Zealand. Although they are commonly associated with New Zealand reggae they also embody a stripped back, jazz and soul-influenced rhythmic sound, which often ...

Katchafire Katchafire are an all Māori New Zealand roots reggae band from Hamilton, New Zealand. History Katchafire formed in Hamilton in 1997, originally as a Bob Marley tribute band.Campbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)Katchafire keeping NZ reggae scene ...

Shapeshifter In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

, and

Salmonella Dub Salmonella Dub is a dub/ drum n bass/reggae/ roots band from New Zealand. The band was formed in 1992 by Andrew Penman, Dave Deakins, and Mark Tyler. The band has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, including the UK ...

include elements of Urban Pasifika in their style.

References

{{hiphop Hip hop genres New Zealand styles of music New Zealand hip hop