Pass the Mic (And Pen): A Brief History of New Zealand Hip-Hop Media

What if I woke up next Sunday and things weren't kosher/ Hip-hop culture in New Zealand hadn't blown up?/ Yo, what if Supergroove never broke up/ Che-Fu never went solo and never dropped 'Chains'/ Him and DLT never got paid/ And Dawn Raid Entertainment never got made/ No one ever heard the Decepikonz name?

– Mareko, 'Next Sunday'

Released in 2008 on his White Sunday 2 sophomore album, the lyrics in Mareko's "Next Sunday" unpack some of the crucial events that underpin the second wave New Zealand hip-hop rode in the early 2000s. What if, he asks, the late Phil Fuemana hadn't set up the Urban Pacifika label with the backing of industry influencer Kirk Harding? Or if P-Money had asked his dad for a guitar, rather than turntables? How would things be different if Corporate New Zealand hadn't chased the hip-hop dollar?

Parallel to Mareko's musings are further what-ifs that underpin any survey of New Zealand hip-hop media. What if Mark Cubey and Tee Pee never established the Uncut Funk Show? DLT and DJ Sir-Vere didn't migrate bFM's True School to Max TV? Omega B, Ayesha Kee and Sen Ski hadn't put hip-hop on the page in Back2Basics? Would New Zealand hip-hop as we know it live and breathe in 2016?

While the timeline of New Zealand hip-hop media is contested ground, Radio Active's Uncut Funk Show is indisputably New Zealand's first hip-hop radio show – even if its founder, Mark Cubey, is a little foggy on its exact beginnings.

"It started in 82 or 83; must check that," says Mark Cubey, now the manager of New Zealand Writers Week. "It morphed into the Wednesday Night Jam as DJ Rhys B and co came on board as guests, and I gradually withdrew and let the young bloods take it over."

Now New Zealand's longest-running hip-hop show, the Jam was followed by hip-hop shows across the student radio network, including Rhythm Method and later the Real Bro Hip-Hop Show on Dunedin's Radio One, Beats 'n' Pieces on Christchurch's RDU, and True School Hip Hop Show on Auckland's 95bFM.

DJ and broadcaster Phil 'Sir-Vere' Bell got his start with True School Hip Hop Show, and credits bFM shows from Murray Cammick (Land of the Good Groove) and Simon Grigg (BPM) as the first to introduce hip-hop to Auckland's congested airwaves. A NZ hip-hop perennial, Bell's had a hand in media of all stripes, bringing rap videos to Max, MTV and C4, taking over the reins at Back2Basics and Rip It Up, and joining radio station Mai FM as its content director.

"I finished up at True School and went to Mai because it was a Māori station," he says. "In Auckland it's delivered on a Ngāti Whātua frequency, which is really fucking important. The number one station in Auckland City is broadcast on a Māori frequency – that's massive."

Alternating with Sir-Vere and co-host Base during his True School days were founding Upper Hutt Posse member DLT and Mark 'Slave' James. James, a self-described "former-teenage rap star", flipped his early fame as one-half of MC OJ and Rhythm Slave (with Otis Frizzell) into TV work.

"Mo' Show was the greatest hip-hop TV show in New Zealand television history," James says, tongue firmly in cheek. "Me and Otis won Best Entertainment Series at the 2002 Film and Television Awards. I mean, it wasn't strictly hip-hop, but it definitely was in terms of its presentation and attitude."

Arriving in 1996, Mai Time was a bilingual, magazine-style show that gave Upper Hutt Posse's Teremoana Rapley her first break on the small screen. Also not exclusively hip-hop in content, Mai Time's deft presentation of Te Ao Māori ('the Māori world') and urban pop culture nonetheless marks it as an essential part of the hip-hop media landscape.

Slave and Teremoana weren't the only hip-hop artists to progress into mainstream media, with P-Money's True School tenure earning him a TV2 show with Full Clip, and Ritchie Mills' time with Aotearoa Television Network's Tuhono leading to a spot on What Now as DJ Vinyl Ritchie.
As television's influence waned in the early 2000s, New Zealand hip-hop began to transition online, with sites like phunkrepublic.co.nz and hiphopnz.com providing neutral ground for users to trade bars, exchange beats, and throw jabs. The Young, Gifted & Broke collective even threw its hat in the ring in 2013 with the short-lived interactive magazine, Something.

Hip-hop specialty shows across the bNet network continue to hold their own in 2016, and Mai FM, Flava, Niu FM, and stations across the Iwi Radio Network fly the flag. In the digital space, though, the last site standing is Ayebro.co.nz: 'That blog your cuzzin told you about.'
Run by Mas Paselio and a small team of contributors, Ayebro began as a forum in 2007 before shifting to a blog format the following year. It's become the go-to for homegrown hip-hop, spilling over with music from recognised heavyweights and scrappy contenders.

"Ayebro's unearthed so much talent since we launched, many who have transitioned from underground to commercial," says Paselio. "It's just as well, too – what if we'd never given the underground a chance to be heard?"

Illustration: Ben Thomson

Nov 21 - 27 is NOISEY New Zealand Hip-Hop Week. Head here for more NZ hip-hop content.