In 1996, Dam Native’s ‘Behold My Kool Style’ made waves in challenging the ongoing effects of Pākehā colonisation and racism against Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa. “Robbed of our language, robbed of our land, robbed of our culture. This is why that song exists; to put Māori hip hop on the map,” says lead rapper Danny Haimona. Built on ‘groundbreaking lyricism’, ‘Behold My Kool Style’ was a track that explored what it meant to be Māori in a colonised state.
In 1996, Dam Native’s ‘Behold My Kool Style’ made waves in challenging the ongoing effects of Pākehā colonisation and racism against Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa. “Robbed of our language, robbed of our land, robbed of our culture. This is why that song exists; to put Māori hip hop on the map,” says lead rapper Danny Haimona. Built on ‘groundbreaking lyricism’, ‘Behold My Kool Style’ was a track that explored what it meant to be Māori in a colonised state.