item details
Jayrem Records Ltd.; publisher; 1988
Overview
‘E Tu’ (Stand Up) was Upper Hutt Posse's debut single in 1988, and is considered to be the first rap song to be released in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dean Hapeta (aka Te Kupu or D Word) wrote the lyrics which focus on historical Māori leaders who took a more violent approach to colonial aggression. The song came out of a frustration Hapeta bore that people still knew very little about the history of Aotearoa despite the visibility of the tino rangatiratanga protest movements in the 1970s (including the Land March, Raglan Golf Course, and Takaparawhau occupation).
The success of ‘E Tu’ led to Upper Hutt Posse being signed by Southside Records and releasing their first album Against the Flow. Issues of social justice and tino rangatiratanga have remained a key theme for Upper Hutt Posse’s work.
In 2018 Upper Hutt Posse was inducted into Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa (New Zealand Music Hall of Fame) as the recipients of the Tohu Whakareretanga (Legacy) Award.