Blog 4: Hiphop Culture in Hawai'i - Koko

Analysis of the Socio-historical contextualization of the emergence of hip hop culture in Hawaiʻi (the 1980s and the early 1990s).

           
“Keep in mind when brothas start flexing the verbal skillz, it always reflects what’s going on politically, socially, and economically.” – Musician Davey D, Hip Hop Journalist



    
          

Hawaiian sovereignty groups began petitioning for Native self-governance and self-determination in Hawai`i in the 1980’s. Emergence of hiphop culture in Hawai’i began around the same time in late 80’s and early 90’s with artists like Sudden Rush who 100 years after the annexation of Hawai’i, on August 12, 1998, played their song Ku’e in front of ‘Iolani palace along with other Hawaiians fighting to get their rightful land back (Imada, 85). The Hawaiian word Ku’e means to resist, oppose, and stand different. This song with strong bass talks of the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani by the white missionary descendants on August 12, 1898. 

              Hiphop culture in Hawai’i is extremely important due to the long history of oppression that can be seen still to this day.  Hawaiians are disempowered in their own land only making up 20 percent of its population with the lowest life expectancy, highest cancer mortality rates and incarceration rates, and being the ethnicity that is least likely to complete four years of college (Imada, 88). Their land has not been returned and Hawai’i is still the fiftieth state of United States, meaning Hawai’i is still a stolen land. Sacred Hawaiian land that was ceded to the US government after the 1898 annexation was supposed to be held in trust and used for the benefit of Native Hawaiians but the state has violated this trust by denying the use of these lands to Office of Hawaiian Affairs. People of Hawai’i started to rise and petition and with that came the hiphop culture in Hawai’i. Hiphop gave a voice to the oppressed and strength to stand for what is right. It was much needed in Hawai’i and was found at the right time.

  

          

 Many youths of Hawai’i have gained knowledge of their culture through the emergency of hiphop culture in Hawai’i. Some would have never known the dark history of their stolen ancestral land without the some of the first hiphop artists in Hawai’i like Sudden Rush. Hiphop has always been the voice of the oppressed since the day it emerged from the South Bronx. Hawai’i’s hiphop scene in the late 80’s and 90’s used this voice to bring the local community together and create a powerful, positive change.

Writer's Workshop, Aug. 1st, 2014

Writer's Workshop with Aea4m (TrueStoryTextiles), Paul Skee (Mighty4), and Syze-1 (Legendary!!!), showing us tag, throw-up and piece. Aug. 1st, 2014.  Photo courtesy of Waku.

Dont Dance with the Devil (by Waku)

One rap song that I consider to have a tremendously powerful message in both an imaginatively eloquent way and at the same time vividly grotesque way is, ‘Dance with the Devil’. This song, according to www.complex.com (hip-hop magazine), is ranked #10 in their list of 25 most violent rap songs of all time. When people first listen to this song, the content of the lyrics can make one puke their brains out or make their knuckles white from sheer anger. The face value of this rap song is down right scary, where it talks about a boy who is trying to “being the illest hustler that the world ever seen”, raping, and killing. But the deeper meaning of the song holds a valuable message that I believe every men and women should know.

Felipe Andres Coronel, better know by his stage name Immortal Technique, is a Peruvian rapper raised in Harlem, New York. His stylistics of rapping incorporate the controversial issues in global politics, such as class struggles, Marxism, poverty, religion, government issues, imperialism, and institutional racism.

The story portrayed in the song speaks of a young man named William who comes from a background of living with a single mom and the struggles of his own life. He seeks an escape of his struggles through the life of drug dealing, having material objects, and hustling. He finds this escape by joining a gang, but to become a part of the crew he would have to go through a brutal initiation of raping a random woman. He in fact, goes through with the raping so that he could join the gang, but only to find out that he had raped his own mother.

The story that was depicted within the song is very stomach-churning, but holds a very deep message. Many people on this earth live very much like William, where they live in a life of struggle and are trying to find they’re escape from it. Much like William, they would go out and join gangs thinking that it would bring them more riches and freedom. By finding their easy way out, they hustle and steal, and succumb to murderous crimes. But the worst that they can do is to initiate rape. Immortal Technique emphasizes that the women of this culture are the ones that create everything that we will be. It is down to us to honor and respect our women if we want to seek change in ourselves and our world.

Break-ing Workshop

Skill Roy (legendary!!), B-Boy Manu, Tyler, and Joshua showing us the art of breaking on July 11th, 2014.  Images courtesy of DJ Koko.

DJ Fuzzy Logic (Dr. Brian Chung, ES) breaks down the art of DJ-ing on July 18, 2014

Cyphering with his digital controller set up. 

Hawaiian's Hip Hop Culture

Matt Matches

Hawaiian’s Hip Hop Culture

It wasn’t until the 1980’s and 1990’s that the Hawaiian youth expressed their feelings and beliefs towards issues of race, class imperialism and culture through hip hop. But before all that, and before hip-hop truly arrived on the Hawaiian islands local hip-hop heads would transcended their emotions through “living the mainland narrative of hip-hop culture.” Once the hip-hop culture became popular on the mainland, well known artists such as Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J started coming out to the islands to perform. Hawaiian hip hoppers at that time were extremely influenced by the mainland rappers and emcees that played events on Big Island and in Honolulu, the locals acknowledged their liking and curiosity towards African American musical aesthetics, and began creating their own style. Hip-hop and rap music have been the latest in a long history of cross-culture music and dance in the islands.

From 1982-1985 the feature film Wild Style which utilized all elements of hip hop, blew up on the islands, it showcased America’s public spaces including rural areas, subways, malls and parks as a realm to express music, dance and graffiti art. Wild Style along with other films such as Flashdance and Beat Street which came out in the 80’s opened the eyes of Hawaiian hip-hop heads and was a powerful contributing factor to the emergence of hip-hop in Hawaii. After the films’ releases Hawaiian youth started to imitate the culture they saw in the movies. Kapiolani Park was used as a place for b-boys to dance and abandoned military ruins became a canvas for emerging graffiti artists. The culture began to grow and individuals began to show.

By the 1990’s Kutmaster Spaz a deejay from Oahu was on a mission to strengthen hip-hop culture in Hawaii. Xtreme Radio, where Kutmaster worked, sponsored underground artists to come out to hawaii and perform at small clubs and venues. The youth was enjoying the culture and in 1998 a non-alcoholic hip-hop club opened near the University of Hawaii, it was called The Source. Kutmaster Spaz would DJ at the club but it didn’t last long. Unfortunately crime and violence stereotypically linked itself to hip-hop and the police were on a mission to stop it. Before 2000 a city councilman closed down the club because of his image that preceded with hip-hop culture, which apparently wasn’t a positive one.

The hip-hop scene in Hawaii differs from the mainland because of the island’s remote location, but the emphasis on the culture and lack of mainstream music infrastructure keeps the scene local and expressive in original ways.   

Hawaii Hip Hop by D

     As we have seen time and time again, hip hop and reggae are genres and lifestyles that often emerge from social conditions that are less than desirable. In Jamaica, when reggae first came about, songs often reflected the oppression and poverty of the country. In New York, hip hop was born in a similar fashion. The living conditions were bad at the time. Young men and women were involved in gangs and violence because their family's were unable to provide the financial and emotional support that young people needed. As a result, they joined these gangs and made their own families. Eventually, however, they grew tired of the dangerous lifestyle and burying their friends. Hip hop was born when DJs like Kool Herc would throw block parties. They would highlight the breaks in different jazz, soul, and disco records and create their own flavors. These block parties, though people were often faithful to their favorite DJs, were opposite from the gangs because they incorporated different people from different neighborhoods. Soon enough, MCing or rapping would become popular. DJing is a form of expression by creating different and unique styles, while rapping allowed people to speak on the trials and tribulations, good and bad, and their own personal world views.    

      Similarly, when hip hop reached Hawaii in the early 1980's, people welcomed the lifestyle. As we learned from the BBoys that came into class, hip hop is a form of expression. It allows people to interpret and move to the music by using their own style and experience to the table. Skill-Roy was telling us that in 1983, when he first started dancing, they used waxy paper cups at super markets to practice their moves. This shows their interest to improve, and also that they didn’t need a lot of money to get going. 

This also happened to be around the time that Hawaii was starting its sovereignty movement. This is important to note because as we have seen, hip hop is a great way to express reform and change. Its beats, drops, and flow allow us to access and show a need for change. As we saw in the reading “Head rush: Hip Hop and a Hawaiian Nation ‘On the Rise,’ the music of Sudden Rush got the whole audience to interact and dance along. “Sudden Rush’s hip hop activism emerged from this self-determination and nationalist movement and in turn , their music has enlarged the terrain of political resistance in Hawaii (pg. 88).”