New Zealand hip hop
Hip hop is an African American cultural movement, composed of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 gangster movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there, in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch.
Many of New Zealand's biggest hip hop stars are Māori. These include Dalvanius Prime, whose "Poi E" was the first New Zealand hip hop hit, Dean Hapeta, and Upper Hutt Posse, whose 1988 E Tu was the first album of pure hip hop. Some rappers, such as the members of Upper Hutt Posse, became known for politicized lyrics in support of tino rangatiratanga (Maori sovereignty). Despite the style's burgeoning popularity, many New Zealanders hated hip hop, and some radio stations implemented a so-called "no rap, no crap" policy. It was Upper Hutt Posse's DJ, DLT, that helped lay the groundwork for a local scene in Auckland, from which arose Joint Force, Che Fu and Dam Native. DLT also began the influential radio show True Skool Hiphop Show, which joined Wellington's Wednesday Night Jam in promoting hip hop. Wellington's underground scene was vibrant in the late 80s, from whence arose the local supergroup Rough Opinion and a wave of performers like The Wanderers, Temple Jones and Hamofide. In the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, Maori hip hop musicians grew steadily more popular, resulting in a style called Urban Pasifika. Artists from this period included Che Fu, Nesian Mystik and Scribe, who became the first to top both the single and album charts at the same time in 2004, and also the most famous acts associated with the biggest record producer in the field, P-Money.
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