Serra Taukeiaho
Tongan
Pineapple was born in Aotearoa to Tongan parents and describes her immediate whaanau very customary or old school. She discovered her love of poetry during high school years in Kirikiriroa where a music teacher also encouraged a playful approach to creating and writing. She found this liberating as it enabled her to ‘find a voice’ in an otherwise closed lip environment. A self-taught rapper at 22 years old, Pineapple says that ‘H town’ is where its at! One night her friends put out a beat and she began to ‘freestyle’, and let the words flow. A great passion for this art-form was born. She researched the genre and read the history of hip hop, picked up tips off youtube and “switched up her flows”. She says that when she listens to a beat, she is searching for its story — she feels the story and then out it comes … wanting to be heard, by everyone!
Flow
Documented Performance — Rap
FLOW- Performance Rap
I asked my colleagues at work what they think about Matariki, and they talked about it being a national holiday. Its great that it is now, but it’s also a shame that they aren’t thinking about what it means. My work will be a ‘public story’ a beat that everyone can dance to, maybe I will sing too, build in waiata. I am a Pacific Islander but I identify with Maaori stories about the stars, as our Tongan ones are lost to me. I like the ideas of ‘time’ from a Māori world view, the rhythms of the seasons, the idea that the past, present and future are one … I work like this. When I ‘flow’ there is no structure. There is no beginning, middle or end, just the rhythm.
