Over the weekend, Kapa Haka collective Kai Haka performed a powerful haka for the influential, groundbreaking and supremely talented artist Ms Lauryn Hill.
The group waited to pay tribute to Hill outside Tāmaki Makaurau’s Go Media Stadium Mount Smart after her headline performance at Eden Festival.
Ms Hill was still in her car when the haka started, but showed her respect for the performance by stopping and opening the door.
The collective shared the video on their TikTok where it has been viewed over 100k times and liked by nearly 18k people.
The rōpū explained their haka was about “rising up and overcoming all that tries to keep us down, overcoming dysfunctions and the negative effects of colonisation, transforming our families from dysfunctional to functional again”.
Commenters on the video loved the passion of the group and admired Hill for stopping and showing appreciation.
“Beautiful,” one person wrote. “Ms Lauryn Hill’s music has been a big part of the Māori shed parties - so proud of you all for doing this.”
“The fact that she stopped and opened the door!” another said. “Respect”
“I absolutely love this,” a third added. “The Haka makes me cry when I witness it. Is that normal? Lol, I become overwhelmed emotionally.”
“Beautiful,” one more wrote. “The way Ms Lauryn stopped to acknowledge this haka Is absolutely top-tier”.
Hill’s headlining performance at Eden Festival is part of her current world tour that celebrates the 25th anniversary of her one and only solo album ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’. It’s one of the greatest albums of all time and was a hallmark moment for hip-hop/R&B and women in the genres.
If you wanna show Lauryn Hill some love, make sure to vote for her tracks in the Mai Hot 1000, where we are counting down the biggest hip-hop tracks of ALL TIME, as voted by you.
