King Kapisi

King Kapisi is the stage name of Bill Urale, a Samoan hip hop artist from Wellington, New Zealand, born in 1974. He is identified as the first Polynesian hip-hop artist to receive the APRA Silver Scroll Award for Songwriter of the Year, which he wins for his single Reverse Resistance in 1999.

Albums and recording work

King Kapisi releases three albums: Savage Thoughts in 2000, 2nd Round Testament in 2003 and Dominant Species in 2005. These releases come out in Australia and reach gold sales there. He is also described as working on a fourth album titled Hip-Hop Lives Here, and he produces the debut album of Teremoana Rapley. In 2005 he writes three tracks for Chris Thompson’s album Discovery.

Awards and recognition

At the 2001 New Zealand B.Net Awards, King Kapisi receives 13 nominations and wins seven awards, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Music Video. His music videos also win awards from Flying Fish Music Video Awards, Mai Time TVNZ and Juice TV. Some of his videos are directed by him.

Performance and collaborations

He performs alongside Janet Jackson, Moby, the Black Eyed Peas, the Beastie Boys, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also performs at major music festivals and events throughout New Zealand, and tours in Australia, Japan, Fiji, Hawai’i, Tonga, Samoa, Canada, Germany, Ireland, England, Norway and the United States. In 2003 he represents New Zealand at Central Park in New York, then performs at an old-school hip-hop reunion in Crotona Park in the South Bronx with The Furious Five, Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay and The Rocksteady Crew. At that event he also records a track with Kay Gee from the Cold Crush Brothers.

International projects and travel

Kapisi performs at POPKOMM in Cologne in 2003 and again in 2004, and records in Germany with Smitty K, Trickski and Slope from Sonar Kollectiv. He is invited by the German government in 2004 as part of a cultural exchange initiative between New Zealand and Germany. He also produces tracks for hip hop artists in Berlin, Amsterdam, Dublin, Toronto and Sydney. In Toronto, he appears at the Planet IndigenUS festival and records with Slangblossom.

Other projects

In 2002 he starts the clothing label Overstayer Clothing. He wins the Westfield Style Pasifika Designer Award in 2003 and 2004, which gives Overstayer access to the 2003 L’Oreal and 2004 Air New Zealand fashion weeks. Overstayer Clothing becomes the first local urban street label sold nationwide in Farmers Trading Stores. Kapisi also works on music tied to Adidas International and the New Zealand All Blacks for a worldwide rugby campaign, and collaborates with Luciano on the track Stand. He records music and shoots videos in locations including Bangkok and Rarotonga, and appears at events such as The Dreaming, the Australian World Music Expo, Island Vibe Festival, the Honda Festival in Thailand, the Hip-Hop Summit Bring Your Game at Campbelltown Arts Centre, and the Sydney Arts Festival.