81- Keʻala Kawaʻauhau

Shared on Facebook: August 20, 2019. “My name is Keʻala Kawaʻauhau and I am here to represent the group, Sudden Rush.” Thanks to the Mauna, myself and many others have been able to bare witness to what some consider to be the greatest mobilization of Kānaka Maoli in the modern era. Many of us who were fortunate enough to join the lāhui up on the Mauna recently, got the chance to participate in cultural protocols, said to have been long considered extinct. Some, like myself, also had the chance to engage in mind-blowing conversations with fellow kānaka about all kine mana-full things. One conversation that stuck with me had to do with innovation and it immediately had me thinking about the Hawaiian rap group, Sudden Rush. Now I’ve posted about them before and I’ll probably post about them again and again because they are one of the entities that are directly responsible for igniting my interest in nā mea Hawaiʻi. These guys were able to take ʻōlelo/mele Hawaiʻi and bring them into the contemporary genre of rap. Most importantly they did it in ways that are undoubtedly pono! So this post is for you Sudden Rush Hawai’i and to all kānaka innovators out there. E hoʻomau kākou. #SuddenRush #LongLiveTheRush #Mele #MelePaleoleo #ʻIkeHawaiʻi #MeleHawaiʻi #ʻŌleloHawaiʻi #HawaiianRap #MeleKūʻē #ʻIkeMatters #KeepTheConversationGoing Source Material: Mele and Hula Kūʻē: a presentation held at the Kamakakūokalani: Center for Hawaiian Studies building. UH Mānoa. 1998.