Growing up in American Samoa I noticed first
hand the influence of Hip-Hop (in the form of dancing and Gangster Rap) had on not only
the youth but also majority of the population. Samoans are no strangers to
Hip-Hop, and one of the biggest influences that attribute to this association
was those initial emigrants living in the urban ghettos and low-income housing.
You don’t have to be a Native of the island to recognize this globalization of
hip-hop, as the diaspora is evident in Samoans living abroad as well. As Samoans
migrated from the two islands (Western & American Samoa) and created this
diaspora, they initially began their immigration to the U.S. with living in the
urban ghettos; Living mainly in Hawaii, California, and the pacific west coast.
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| Samoans in the Urban Suburbs of Carson, CA. |
In April Henderson’s
paper “Dancing Between the islands” it opens with the story of Kosmo and how he
visited his family in California and learned how to dance (popping) and then
returned to New Zealand with this newfound dance. “Kosmo learned the dance
while staying with aiga (family) in the city of Carson, a community which drew
large members of Samoans relocating from the islands” (P.181). So his influence
of dancing came from his family in California and he took that back with him to
Christchurch, NZ. If you didn’t already know, Carson is one of many ghetto
suburbs in Los Angeles with a large population of African Americans and
Latino’s. So it’s no surprise where Samoans gained this Hip-Hop influence of
dance (popping/locking) and Gangsta Rap. Also out of Carson came a Samoan rap
posse formed by the Devoux brothers called BOO-YAA T.R.I.B.E. who were natives
of Carson. In her paper Henderson mentions them and how they grew up in the
hood learning to pop/lock and how they loved listening to P-FUNK.
As Samoans began their journey in these urban settings, it paints the picture of a connection to the social-economic
conditions of the Bronx in New York, Samoans in these ghettos would associate
with Hip-Hop because they were going through the same exact struggle, and
through dance/song they could express themselves and use Hip-Hop as their outlet
away from the harsh realities.
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| Boo Yaa Tribe: Samoan Rappers out of Carson, CA |
The interesting part is the Native Samoans from
the islands (that haven’t emigrated ) and how for the most part they (myself
included) did not grow up in these harsh realities (living in the ghetto’s) so
why is the Hip-Hop presence just as strong? Its almost as if we have made Hip-Hop a
sub-culture and the two go hand-in-hand. It goes back to Kosmo and how he
connected Hip-Hop from Cali-NZ; the same concept goes for how Hip-Hop ended
globalizing the natives of American Samoa. “ Many Samoans in Los Angeles County
struggled in school, but excelled in athletics and dance” (P 181) This
statistic is not only evident in Los Angeles but other places where Samoans
dwell. They are better known for their cultural expression through the arts of
song/dance. Samoans can relate to dancing as an illustration of culture because
its already embedded in our way of life, so even though it’s a different form
(popping/locking), they can still associate and use this art form of
expression. So although initial exposure to Hip-Hop for Samoans stemmed from
the migration of the natives into the urban areas of the United States, that
did not stop the globalization of hip-hop from reaching the native islanders of
Samoa.
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| Members of the Scott Park Piru: Notorious Samoan Gang |
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