Sudden Rush
Sudden Rush | |
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Origin | Nā mele paleoleo, Hip hop |
Years active | 1993 | –present
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | Official website |
Sudden Rush is a
History
Sudden Rush formed in 1993 and were the first group to record nā mele paleoleo, a form of music blending American hip hop with Hawaiian rap.[1][2] The name of the band comes from Veincent's father's roadster.[2] From the beginning there were four members of the group, Shane Veincent ("Kid Dynomite"), Caleb Richards ("Red Eye"[3] or "Pakalo") and Don Keʻala Kawaʻauhau Jr. (King Don One),[2] and Dirty Doggs' producer "Radical Rob" Onekea.[3][4] In the early 1990s a fifth person played with them, Thane K. Leialoha, to whom the rest of the band remained close.[5] He was shot dead after escaping a prison transport van on April 11, 2006, having been rearrested for breaking the terms of his parole.[5] His family sued the state for as a result of his death, claiming an eighth amendment violation, but in 2008 their claim was dismissed.[6]
Sudden Rush's first album was Nation on the Rise. Their second, Kuʻe (Resist), was released in 1997. Due to listener demand, radio stations such as
Kuʻe, like their other work, was political, tied to Hawaii's history and its present-day sovereignty movement.[11] It includes, for example, "Eku Maumau", which is a chant used at Hawaiian sovereignty demonstrations.[12] This political motivation was reflected in the cover art, which featured a parody of Iwo Jima Monument, but with an upside-down Hawaiian flag. Drawn in the style of a newspaper on red paper, it also shows a story about the forced abdication of Liliʻuokalani, Queen of Hawaii, on January 17, 1893.[12] Fay Yokomizo Akindes writes that "The presence of the past is evident throughout Sudden Rush's work, both visually and aurally" and also takes note of the art on the disc itself and the back cover, which shows Veincent, Richards and Keʻala crouching at their fathers' feet.[13] Sudden Rush's first performance in the mainland US was on May 1, 1999, in Las Vegas.[14]
In 2002, their song "Ea", meaning "sovereignty", "rule" or "independence",
After Ea, Sudden Rush did not release new music for fifteen years and were described as having broken up in 2003.[17][18] They continued to perform together and in June 2009 they were planning to release two more albums during the year, titled Hana Hou (Encore) and The Overthrow.[19] As of 2011 they were planning a remix album.[18]
In 2017, after releasing several singles, Sudden Rush reconnected with producer 'Radical Rob' and began recording new music. The EP "Overthrow" was finally released on January 17, 2018.[20] featuring 6 new songs, including the first full hip-hop, rap song done in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language), and featuring other Hawaiian-speaking artists such as Ka'ikena Scanlan, Homework Simpson and Firewoman. As of May 2018, they were recording their fourth full-length album, set to be released in the summer.[citation needed]
Keʻala Kawaʻauhau died on August 27, 2018.[21][22]
Members
- Shane Veincent ("Kid Dynomite") also plays with the non-profit supergroup Mana Maoli Collective, which raises money for Na Lei Naʻauao, the Native Hawaiian Charter School Alliance.[23]
- Caleb Richards ("Pakalo"[2] or "Red Eye"[3])
- Don Keʻala Kawaʻauhau Jr. ("King Don One") (d. August 27, 2018) was a DJ on Hilo's St. Joseph High School, where he played basketball.[21]
- Rob Onekea ("Radical Rob"). The producer of the group, Onekea has sometimes not been listed as a member of the band,[2][24] but was part of the original line-up and on the cover of their third album, Ea.[3][4] He has acted as their spokesman and announced the release of Overthrow on his Instagram.[3][17]
Because of the economics of Hawaiian life, the members had other jobs as well as being in Sudden Rush.[19] For example, in 2001 Keʻala Kawaʻauhau taught at a Pūnana Leo Hawaiian language pre-school and was training as a wrestler.[2][25] The group has been managed by Kwai-Chang Publico.[25]
Past members
- Thane K. Leialoha (early 1990s, died 2006)
Musical style and impact
Sudden Rush's style of music,
Among the Hawaiian styles that Sudden Rush incorporates is kepakepa, a form of Hawaiian chanting characterized by a conversational style and rapid delivery.[27] In a review of Kuʻe, John Woodhouse wrote: "Blending Hawaiian chant and English lyrics with hip-hop's gritty dance beat, Sudden Rush create a polished, urban sound on songs that explore topical Hawaiian issues like sovereignty, drug use, and cultural pride".[8] Their work includes lyrics in Hawaiian, English and Hawaiian Pidgin.[28] These two factors—native language and cultural pride—have had an influence on music in other island nations, including in Melanesia.[29] Their music has less representation of sex and violence than American hip hop of the same era, and which other Hawaiian hip hop artists adopted in the late 1990s and early 2000s.[30] They deliberately avoided swearing on Kuʻe.[8]
In their use of Hawaiian-language rap and hip hop, Sudden Rush is unmatched – and culturally important
— John Berger, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 2002
There were other hip hop groups around at the time that Sudden Rush formed in the early 1990s, including Urban Joint from Oahu, but their style was that of the mainland US.[1] American influences in Sudden Rush's hybrid style include Heavy D, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, N.W.A and Naughty by Nature.[1] Although they have been called the most successful and influential Hawaiian hip hop band,[19][31][24] they consider themselves part of the "Polynesian Underground" and an underdog in the broader music scene.[3][32] Within Hawaii, their recognition comes from an older audience than the fans of American-style hip hop.[33]
Politics
The group's work is deliberately political, aiming to spread the message of the
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Year | Label | Date refs | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nation on the Rise | 1994 | Wreck X Shop | [38][39][40] | |
Kuʻe (Resist) | 1997 | Way Out West Enterprises | [7][40] | |
Ea | 2002 | Quiet Storm Records | [16][40] | Billboard World Albums number 12[16] |
EPs
Title | Release | Date refs |
---|---|---|
Overthrow | January 17, 2018 | [41] |
References
- ^ a b c Kalyan 2009, p. 612.
- ^ a b c d e f Akindes 2001, p. 83.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Harada 2002.
- ^ a b Berger 2016.
- ^ a b Dayton 2006.
- ^ Dayton 2008.
- ^ a b c Akindes 2001, p. 90.
- ^ a b c d Woodhouse 1997.
- ^ Berger 1998.
- ^ a b "1998 Hawaii Music Awards Ceremony". Hawaiian Music History. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- ^ Osumare 2007, pp. 141–142.
- ^ a b Osumare 2007, p. 142.
- ^ Akindes 2001, p. 92.
- ^ Akindes 2001, p. 93.
- ^ a b Teves 2015, p. 264.
- ^ a b c "Ea Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- ^ a b Onekea, Rob. "It's been 15 years since the last release from Sudden Rush..." Instagram. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ a b Teves 2011, note 31.
- ^ a b c Kalyan 2009, p. 615.
- ^ "Overthrow E.P." Sudden Rush. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ a b c Burnett 2018.
- ^ a b "Radio personality, Sudden Rush member dies at 47". West Hawaii Today. August 27, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
- ^ Brown 2010.
- ^ a b c Ho'omanawanui 2006, p. 283.
- ^ a b c d e Akindes 2001, p. 91.
- ^ Osumare 2007, p. 143.
- ^ Ho'omanawanui 2006, p. 287.
- ^ Okihiro 2006, p. 325.
- ^ Webb & Webb-Gannon 2016, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Teves 2011, p. 79.
- ^ Berger 2002.
- ^ Kalyan 2009, p. 609.
- ^ Osumare 2007, p. 145.
- ^ Franklin & Lyons 2004, p. 235.
- ^ Kalyan 2009, p. 607.
- ^ Osumare 2007, p. 144.
- ^ Lurie 1998.
- ^ Teves 2015, p. 268.
- ^ "About". Sudden Rush. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ a b c "Sudden Rush". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- ^ "Overthrow – EP". iTunes. January 17, 2018. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
Sources
- Akindes, Fay Yokomizo (2001). "Sudden Rush: 'nā mele paleoleo' (Hawaiian Rap) as Liberatory Discourse". Discourse. 23 (1): 82–98. S2CID 143489394.
- Berger, John (April 27, 1998). "The music played on and on | At the Hawaii Music Awards". Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
- Berger, John (August 23, 2002). ""Ea" (review)". Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
- Berger, John (December 16, 2016). ""Represent Vol. II" Various artists (Malama Music Co.)". Honolulu Star Advertiser. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Brown, Sierra (May 27, 2010). "Mana Maoli Collective". Maui Time. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- Burnett, John (August 27, 2018). "Rapper, activist, radio star Ke'ala Kawa'auhau dies". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- Dayton, Kevin (April 13, 2006). "Inmate had shed some required restraints". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Dayton, Kevin (August 15, 2008). "'No option' in fatal shooting". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Franklin, Cynthia; Lyons, Laura E. (2004). "Land, Leadership, and Nation: Haunani-Kay Trask on the Testimonial Uses of Life Writing in Hawai'i". Biography. 27 (1): 222–249. S2CID 162376042.
- Harada, Wayne (August 7, 2002). "Bold flavor, new CD taking local act to new level". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Kalyan, Rohan (November 2009). "23. Paradise Lost and Found: Hip Hop in Hawai'i". In Mickey Hess (ed.). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. ABC-CLIO. pp. 612–624. ISBN 978-0-313-34321-6.
- Lurie, George (January 11, 1998). "Concert benefit for Aloha March". Garden Island News. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
- Ho'omanawanui, Ku'ualoha (2006). "14. From Ocean to o-Shen: Reggae Rap, and Hip Hop in Hawai'i". In Miles, Tiya; Holland, Sharon Patricia (eds.). Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds: The African Diaspora in Indian Country. Duke University Press. pp. 273–308. ISBN 0-8223-3865-3.
- Okihiro, Gary (1 November 2006). "Afterword: Toward a Black Pacific". In Raphael-Hernandez, Heike; Steen, Shannon (eds.). AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics. NYU Press. pp. 313–330. ISBN 978-0-8147-7690-2.
- Osumare, Halifu (2007). The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip-Hop: Power Moves. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-05964-2.
- Teves, Stephanie Nohelani (2011). ""Bloodline Is All I Need": Defiant Indigeneity and Hawaiian Hip-Hop" (PDF). American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 35 (4): 73–101. . Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Teves, Stephanie Nohelani (May 21, 2015). "Tradition and Performance". In Teves, Stephanie Nohelani; Smith, Andrea; Raheja, Michelle (eds.). Native Studies Keywords. University of Arizona Press. pp. 257–270. ISBN 978-0-8165-3150-9. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Webb, Michael; Webb-Gannon, Camellia (2016). "Musical Melanesianism: Imagining and Expressing Regional Identity and Solidarity in Popular Song and Video" (PDF). The Contemporary Pacific. 28 (1). University of Hawai'i Press: 59–95. S2CID 146535708. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Woodhouse, Jon (June 26, 1997). "Sudden Rush makes mark with 'Ku'e'". The Maui News. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Sudden Rush discography at Discogs
- Sudden Rush at HawaiianReggae.org