From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

If you know anything about Polynesian hip-hop, you will have heard of ‘King Kapisi’. Hailing from the ‘Poly-town’ of Auckland, New Zealand, the 28 year-old Samoan who shot to hip-hop fame in 1998 with his hit track Sub-cranium Feeling, tore-up centre stage for the first time in Tonga in July.

Born Viliami Urale, ‘King Kapisi’ (King Cabbage) is also known as Doctor Kamikaze, and was dubbed MC Infinity in his formative rap years.

His musical background is not uncommon to Polynesians. Viliami says that he has been keen on beat since the age of four years when he would spend a lot of time with his uncle’s band.

Bilingual and multi-talented, the robust 6’ 3” and 250-pound Samoan plays “about seven instruments,” but, he admits, “I consider the turn-table an instrument. If I think of a bass line, I can play the bass, if I think of the drums, I can play the drums.”

Passion

Viliami lives music. It’s his passion. His musical arrangements and compositions are articulated as, “layer upon layer—creating a sound scape that is pleasurable to the eardrum.” The ‘King’ has also received awards for songwriter of the year as well as for best video. One of his more popular tracks in Tonga, ‘Homage to the Old Plantation’ spouts emphatic lyrical poetry of the respect and pertinence of culture in his identity.

In retrospect, Viliami recalls when he was a “very staunch hip-hop artist” in his younger days, he was warped into thinking, “HIP-HOP! Everything else sux, it’s useless!’

“But as I’ve grown older, I’ve sort of grown out of that mentally, and sort of grown up basically,” he says. “Hip-hop to me is a tiny fraction of the whole musical spectrum.”.

Wellington-born, Viliami scored his first record deal in 1998 with the Australian label Festival Mushroom Records.

“It definitely wasn’t easy. I got my record deal because I recorded a song independently, shot the video independently and went in and said, ‘we want you to distribute this,’” he explains. Eventually, after a lot of footwork, “I got signed”.

As an artist, the crowning moment of his musical career was performing with the controversial American rap group Public Enemy in the late 90’s.

“I’ve been listening to them probably since I was 13 or 12. And just being able to meet Chuck D who was a big influence on my music and rapping style was surreal.”

Other highlights include performances with artists like Janet Jackson, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Macy Gray.

King Kapisi currently runs a studio out of his home in Piha. He expects to launch his own clothing label Overstayer apparels later on this year. The Overstayer range will cover snow jackets and pants, T-shirts, shorts, and sun visors, but that is just a sideline.

“I would like to be known as a good musician, as someone that has not lost my integrity by making commercial stuff that is strictly for radio. I make stuff that makes my heart happy,” he said.