Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing.
Many popular songs for a large part of the genre's history in New Zealand have been performed with mostly English lyrics; however there has been a inverse trend in recent times towards prioritizing of rap in the indigenous Māori language by artists such as Mā.
Amongst these were releases by Urban Disturbance featuring a young rapper, Zane Lowe, now a UK radio personality, and MC OJ & Rhythm Slave.
By the late 1980s, the South Auckland and West Auckland hip hop scenes were thriving, with dozens of young acts, many promoted as part of the Voodoo Rhyme syndicate which featured acts such as the Semi MCs, MC Slam & DJ Jam, Total Effect, Sisters Underground, Enemy Productions (which featured a very young Dei Hamo), Boy C & the BB3 (which later became Three the Hard Way), the Chain Gang and others.
Other notable related releases include Semi MCs' "Set Your Body Free & Trust Me" and MC Slam & DJ Jam's "Prove Me Wrong", both of which achieved Top 40 success in New Zealand.
Upper Hutt Posse's DJ, DLT, also influenced the local scene in Auckland, including Joint Force, Che Fu and Dam Native.
[3] With two other New Zealanders, Kosmo started the hip hop group called "The Mau"; their name paying homage to Samoan independence.
[4] Wellington's underground scene was vibrant in the late '80s, from whence arose the local supergroup Rough Opinion and a wave of performers like The Wanderers, Temple Jones and Hamofide.
Pauly Fuemana as OMC with Alan Jansson took the urban Pacific sound into the world's charts with the multi-million selling "How Bizarre", in 1995.
Many top hip hop artists are signed with Dawn Raid Entertainment, a Polynesian-run record label based in Manukau.
He began his career at high school with a group of friends and they eventually formed the Low Down Dirty Blues Band, which went on to be the legendary Supergroove.
Che Fu's fame continued through the 90s with his involvement with DLT in the number one hit song Chains in 1996, and in 2002 he won album of the year in the New Zealand music awards.
Classic artists such as Che Fu and King Kapisi are still very much current in the music scene and perform regularly also, and have been a major influence on the sound of hip hop in this country.
He also spoke and wrote about the appropriation of Black American culture, including hip hop ghetto culture born from the oppressed minorities the South Bronx in the 1970s, and the lack of exposure for New Zealand Black African hip hop artists compared to Māori and Pasifika artists.
In 1999, King Kapisi became the first hip hop artist to receive the Silver Scroll Award for his single Reverse Resistance.
The term "bopping," for example, comes from a Samoan pronunciation of popping, one of the elements in breakdance, where a dancer will move in a stilted fashion, isolating their limbs robotically.
[18] New Zealand-born choreographer and dancer Parris Goebel, who is of Samoan descent, has worked with artists including Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, BIGBANG, CL, iKON, Taeyang.
[22][23] As elsewhere, New Zealand graffiti art takes two forms: bombing (usually large scale and multi-coloured, using paint and generally requiring some artistic skill) and tagging (stylised writing of the tagger's 'tag' name).
Many female artists have gained recognition for their work, including Diva, Misery (Tanja Thompson), Flox (Hayley King), Erin Forsyth, Ikon and Mica Still.