Some of the biggest legends in rap/RnB history have been greeted with a true Aotearoa welcome as they touch down in the country.
Kai Haka, a group that “provides Mana Whenua led cultural experiences” for artists coming into our country, performed haka pōwhiri for Nelly, NeYo, Ja Rule, Bow Wow, Xzibit and more.
They posted their airport greetings to their Instagram and it’s awesome to see such musical legends giving back the respect shown to them by Kai Haka on behalf of the whole country. All of them even got their pūkana on, too good!
Nelly was met with a haka pōwhiri outside the airport before giving a few words and greeting the Kai Haka group with a hongi.
The ‘Hot in Here’ singer said: “I appreciate all the love and all the blessings to me and my family. Thank you guys so much.”
NeYo and Xzibit, alongside Pretty Ricky, were also met with a traditional greeting and showed some love back by sharing words of appreciation before NeYo sang his classic tune ‘So sick’.
Xzibit said he wants to bring love from his home city and show some appreciation to NZ.
“Thank you so much. We come here in peace," he said. "We want to embrace the beauty of this land. We want to perform well for your people that are coming to see us and support us”
“We bring a lot of love and respect from Los Angeles and really want to enjoy New Zealand, so thank you.”
Ja Rule was also given a similar greeting and gifted a purerehu, a Māori wind instrument. Surely he whips out the purerehu on stage ay?!
All of them are performing at JuicyFest in several different cities throughout the country over the summer.
Again, it’s awesome to see such big names - whether you like them or not - show respect to our land and country. Tu meke!
