Kahui is an Ōtepoti Hip-Hop and R&B band that has been reinventing the solo work of their frontman's Spotify tunes for a live audience. Opening up for Kiwi legend Mā at Pearl Diver on the 12th of April has been the band's most recent accolade. The group is made up of rapper Te Kahui (AKA TK), guitarist Brian, keyboardist Josh Bottz, drummer Seth Sinclair, and bassist David Pickard.
Te Kahui has been uploading songs to Spotify since 2021. His melodic flows are consistent between each song, though he keeps his production style diverse. One banger called 'Money Up' includes a more raw instrumentation driven by the bass guitar. Meanwhile, his more recent releases have featured high hat rolls that are synonymous with trap, a subgenre of hip-hop.
'Same Love' was the first song this year to be released by the solo artist. TK admitted to Critic Te Ārohi that he somehow "forgot” it had been released for over a week before he began promoting it. Since then it has become his most streamed song, currently racking up just under 15,000 plays on Spotify.
Mā is a Wellington soul and hip-hop artist who has been making waves across Aotearoa since her 2021 debut album. Te Kahui said that he "knew someone, who knew someone, who knew someone who knew Mā." TK realised that she didn't have an opener for the Ōtepoti leg of her Aotearoa tour and pounced on the opportunity, telling Critic that he put his hand up straight away. TK locked in the Mā gig without any solid band formed yet, so went out searching for musicians. The band bonded while jamming together at bassist David's house, while Te Kahui freestyled over top. The keyboardist Josh said that "sometimes an opportunity like that just lands on your lap and you have to rise to the occasion."
Josh loves the process of taking these already banger tunes and translating them to a live scene. He says that Te Kahui comes to the band with some beats from YouTube, “and it is our task to just jam along and turn it into our own original thing." When you see them live, Josh says that ten to twenty percent of the show is jamming. He finds that the live performance is “where the magic is." If you listen carefully you might hear a mistake or two, but Te Kahui calls these "happy accidents" because they add to the overall performance.
Opening for Mā has unlocked a world of opportunities for the band, such as a recent in-office live to air for Radio One. This was a captivating tiny desk-esque performance that started NZ Music Month off with a bang. Brian is excited for the future of the band: "Now the ball is rolling, and we're just rolling along with it."
Their next gig is on Saturday, 7th of June, playing alongside a myriad of other Dunedin hip hop and rap artists at Dropkicks. Josh calls TK "a loaded gun." With Te Kahui uploading new singles to Spotify almost every six weeks, Josh is excited about how much more material they have to work with.
You can find Te Kahui's solo work on Spotify or follow his Instagram @tekahui.ote.rangi to stay up to date with upcoming gigs.