Hip-hop of a Different Hue

Cultural Appreciation and Identification in Oscar Kightley’s Dawn Raid

New Zealand hip-hop label Dawn Raid Entertainment has been a trailblazer since its launch in 1999, bringing a distinctly Polynesian sensibility to a traditionally African-American artform – a journey chronicled in Oscar Kightley’s new documentary. At a time when questions of race and identity are at the forefront of conversation, the film offers a fascinating insight into US cultural influence abroad, the local and universal struggles of disadvantaged minorities, and the art that emerges from these intersections, as CJ Johnson investigates. The first words we hear in Dawn Raid (2021), Oscar Kightley’s enormously entertaining feature-length documentary about the rise, fall and rebirth of Dawn Raid Entertainment – New Zealand’s first and, by far, most influential hip-hop label – are American. ‘Yo, yo, yo,’ says an identifiably African-American voice on an…

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Metro (Digital) - 1 Issue, No. 208

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