Rapped nearly entirely in Samoan, Tha Feelstyle’s 2004 single ‘Suamalie’ was a tribute to the islands of the artist behind the track, Kas Futialo, and helped inspire Pacific artists in Aotearoa to incorporate their native tongue into their hip hop.
Produced by DJ Raw on his garage set up in Wellington, Futialo finished the final lyrics for ‘Suamalie’ and recorded them in an hour and a half. With the song, the Samoan artist saw it as a tribute to the ancestral land that he’d left as a kid.
“As a hip hop artist, the dream is to go to New York, the home of hip hop. For me, my dream was to go back to Samoa and say I did something good,” Kas says. And with Suamalie’s music video, he got to do exactly that.
Returning to his hometown, the filming trip was ‘more than a music video’ for the artist. Directed by filmmaker Chris Graham, the music featured scenes of Kas Futialo rapping across the picturesque surroundings of his Samoan hometown.
When released, the track made it into the Top 40 and went on to win Pacific Song of the year. But even bigger than the impact that the track made on release was the pathway it unlocked for other artists who heard Kas’ unique Samoan rapping.
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