A LEGACY BEYOND MUSIC
After 30 years of creating powerful music that challenges the status quo, Upper Hutt Posse are welcomed into Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa and recognised with the Tohu Whakareretanga
FOR THREE DECADES, Upper Hutt Posse have fought for social justice in New Zealand. Tonight, the band – comprising 18 Kiwi musicians – will be acknowledged with the Legacy Award and inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Founding member Dean Hapeta (D Word / Te Kupu) says: “After three decades I welcome this esteemed accolade because it accords with the appreciation and respect shown us all along by grassroots hip hop heads and lovers of conscious music – whom I acknowledge first and foremost.
“Furthermore, in today’s increasingly interconnected world where environmental degradation, war profiteering, misogyny, police brutality and white privilege can no longer be denied I see our being recognised as according also with progressive activism over the last decade – from Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and protests against that miserable good-fornothing skirt-chaser in the White House.”
Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan applauds Upper Hutt Posse for their revolutionary sound and commitment to championing the rights of Māori for the last three decades.
“Upper Hutt Posse were so uniquely different when they debuted ETū and were – and remain – trailblazers for hip hop in Aotearoa. They are an inspiration for young musicians and also to all New Zealanders to keep fighting for what they believe in.”
Upper Hutt Posse made waves with their debut single ETū – the first original hip hop track recorded and released in Aotearoa, a commanding statement striking out against racism and injustice. The song combines revolutionary rhetoric with an explicitly Māori frame of reference, paying homage to 19th Century Māori warrior chiefs who fought against European colonialism; Hone Heke, Ka Witi, Tītokowaru, Te Kooti, Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata.
Phil Bell, aka DJ Sirvere, says Upper Hutt Posse are “one of the most important groups in the history of music from Aotearoa. Real, indigenous, compelling, righteous and quality – UHP were trailblazers that forced the nation to sit up and take notice – and also inspired countless rappers and singers. Musically pushing barriers on countless levels, they are true pioneers.”
Hapeta first started a reggae band, playing keyboards and singing, alongside his brother Matthew (MC Wiya) on bass, Aaron Thompson (Blue Dredd I Knight) on guitar/vocals, and Darryl Thomson (DLT) on drums.
Adding into the mix the Roland TR505 drum machine, a turntable, vocalists – Bennett Pomana (MC Beware), Teremoana Rapley, Stephen Rameka (Acid Dread), and a manager with a Roland TR-808 drum machine, George Hubbard, the roots of Aotearoa pioneering Hiphop group were set. This foundation line-up combined singing, rapping and reggae toasting over live and programmed instrumentation, making them unlike any other group in the world at the time. After releasing their debut album
Against The Flow in 1989, the group were invited by the Nation of Islam to play in Detroit, USA before returning home to Aotearoa to open for the political rap group Public Enemy in 1990.
During this period, the group faced challenges from mainstream media who were coming to terms with rap music as a political tool, with false accusations of causing a ‘racial punch-up’ and blocking Pākehā students from attending their shows.
Throughout all this, UHP remained committed to equality for tangata whenua in Aotearoa. Their 1995 album
Movement In Demand saw a retooled live band with core members Earl Robertson on drums, Kiki Marama on guitar, and Taki Matete on bass, joining D Word and MC Wiya. Emma Paki sings on three songs, and it was released on their own label Kia Kaha, with strong political messages and educational blurbs about the Māori leaders pictured on the CD cover. Maaka McGregor (Maaka Phat) toured with the group playing drums.
In 1996 Hapeta decided to further commit to learning te reo Māori and enrolled at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, the first modern wānanga/Māori university in Ōtaki. A solo album entirely in te reo under the name Te Kupu (with an English language counterpart) followed, influencing future Upper Hutt Posse releases.
The 2000 album Mā Te Wā (which brought in Te Kupu’s then six-year-old daughter Ātaahua, and also Katarina Kawana (Voodoo Chile), the 2005 album Legacy, and 2010 album Tohe all heavily feature Te Reo Taketake, as well as a remix project called Te Reo Māori
Remixes that revisited and reconstructed 10 Upper Hutt Posse tracks with Māori language vocals and received an award for ‘Best Mana Māori Album’ at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2003.
In 2011, Upper Hutt Posse released
Declaration of Resistance that once again pushed their sound to evolve, solidifying their legacy as one of the country’s most thought-provoking groups and a committed outlet for social justice and equality in Aotearoa. It includes musicianship from alongside others, drummer Des Mallon, keyboardist Kevin Rangihuna (Kevy Kev), (who both had performed four years earlier with UHP in Australia), and saxophonist Jeff Henderson. For the national tour that followed Te Kupu played guitar/keyboards, and MC Wiya was back on bass, alongside a fluid line-up of musicians.
Tonight, Che Fu and The Kratez will celebrate Upper Hutt Posse with a tribute performance to close the awards ceremony. Che Fu says: “I’m hella stoked to be performing a musical tribute to honour this years Legacy Award recipients, Upper Hutt Posse. Their landmark debut song ‘E
Tū’ was the battle-cry in which signalled the arrival of a new era in Aotearoa music. I as an artist, am a direct product of that wave. Thank you UHP. Mauri ora!”
Looking forward, Upper Hutt Posse will continue creating music that challenges the status quo, and champions the human rights of the oppressed in Aotearoa and around the world.