BIO
BIO
Tipene is an established Hip-Hop artist hailing from Hastings, NZ. Tipene is considered one of Aotearoa’s leading bilingual Hip-Hop artists with an uplifting message deeply rooted in Te Ao Māori(Māori Worldview).
Tipene is most known for his debut track “West Side Hori” an autobiography of Tipene which earned him his first APRA Silver Scroll finalist nomination and the Remix featuring Sid Diamond and Sir T at 9 million streams. Hs Debut album ‘Tautoko’ featured Prince Tui Teka, Scribe, Che Fu and more winning Tipene his first music award “Best Maori Urban Artist 2019”.
In just over a decade-long career, Tipene has quietly amassed over 15 million streams across 3 studio albums, 3 x national tours, 2 x APRA Silver Scroll top 5 Finalist, WMMA Winner of Best Māori Urban Artist Best Māori Hip-Hop album, nominations for for multiple music awards including Best Māori Songwriter, best music video by Māori artist, best Māori solo male and over 100,000 online followers.
2019, Tipene became an ambassador for Māori Music and has been a finalist for multiple Waiata Māori Music Awards since 2019 including consecutive nominations for Best Solo Māori Male, Best Music Video by a Māori Artist, Best Song by a Māori artist and Best Māori Songwriter and Best Hip Hop Album.
His 2021 album ‘Heritage Trail’ is a landmark release for that set the bar for bilingual Hip-Hop
His 2022 project “We No Muck Around” released through LOOP won Tipene his second music award for Best Maori Hip-Hop Album and so far generated 400k online streams, 3 music videos shot by award winning Videographer Shae Stirling and Tipene touring 3 major shows with L.A.B playing to around 40k people in attendance.
Tipene is now working on Heritage Trail 2 due to release September 2024...
International Support
Joe Walsh(The Eagles)
The Wailers(Bob Marley)
Bone Thugs N Harmony
NZ Artists Support
L.A.B
Scribe
Che Fu
Troy Kingi
Maisey Rika
NZ Festivals
LAB Summer Tour 2023
(Tauranga, Hawkes Bay & Whangarei)
SPLORE (Coromandel)
RaggaMuffin Road Show (Hastings)
Exodus (Tauranga)
East Coast Vibes (Gisborne)
Waitangi Day Celebrations (Hastings)
World Indigenous Tattoo Festival (Tauranga)
Waiata Māori Music Awards (Hastings)
Summer Frequencies (Gisborne)
Newtown Festival (Wellington)
SXSW (Sydney)
NZ Hip-Hop Summit (Christchurch)
Matariki Celbrations (Auckland)
3 x NZ Tours
MUSIC
MUSIC
Tautoko (2019)
Won - Best Hip-Hop Album
WMMA Finalist:
Best Māori Male
Best Music Video
Best Māori Songwriter
ARPA Silver Scroll Top 5
Produced by Tipene
Empire Records NZ
MILESTONES
MILESTONES
WMMA Best Māori Urban Artist, 2019
WMMA Best Māori Hip-Hop Album, 2023
Waiata Māori Music Awards FINALIST
Best Māori Male Solo Artist x3
NZ Music Commission Mentor in Schools
2x APRA Silver Scroll Top 5 finalist
Album Tours
14 Million streams across digital platforms
7 Singles Charting in NZ Top 20
TV on Demand Syncs
'West Side Hori Remix “KURA”
Kupe “Hui Hoppers”
Top NZ producers SickDrumz(Rhianna, Lil Wayne), 10A(Kings, Scribe, JessB), P-Money(Scribe), Chong Nee(Dei Hamo, PT) and Juse(SmashProof, TY, Sid Diamond)
Upcoming artists Sianne, Amba Holly, C33Y, Te Paea Seasons, Aetap Cody, NextWaves & Yascene
LOW KEY BEST RAPPER
ELSEWHERE INTERVIEW
i AM TV - PROFILE ON TIPENE
TE KAEA - PROFILE ON TIPENE
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Tipene has a BA in Education and has been a youth mentor for 17 years working in hard to reach communities, Kura Kaupapa, secondary schools, youth justice and adult learners largely through his various teaching roles and also mentoring in schools program through the NZ Music Commission.
Tipene’s main passions are people, Māori culture and music. He has managed to combine all of these passions to create ‘Poutama Music’ which involves self expression, self determination while developing self confidence and cultural connection.
Tipene is currently facilitating Poutama Music in Whitianga developing young talents into future leaders. Read..
Te Paea Seasons
Te Paea Seasons(21 yrs) is a soul R&B singer songwriter of Ngāi Te Rangi descent originally from Tauranga Moana, raised in Whitianga. Te Paea has a very broad style from afro pop and acoustic RnB to rapping socially conscious messages over modern trap beats. Te Paea comes from a Kapa Haka background and singing in school bands to a confident young artist who has been working on her fist E.P “Seasons” is available now on all streaming platforms: Listen on Spotify. Te Paea will be moving to Auckland in Jan 2024 to join the I AM HOPE team with Mike King sharing her story to inspire our youth to be resilient.
Chance ‘C33Y’ Haddon
Chance Haddon aka C33Y(23yrs) is a Hip-Hop artist of Ngāti Ruanui descent originally from Whanganui, raised in Whitianga. Chance has a classic old school soul to his writing with a new skool flow able to speak on his life experiences through to club bangers and summer anthems. Chance has been writing his own music from the age of 16 and just completed recording his first E.P(6 tracks) titled “Find Your Way” about his journey through school, his dream to pursue music and recently becoming a young father. Chance has recently won “Emerging Artist Under 25” at the Māori Music Awards announced on New Years Eve 2023.
Karen McLeod Photography
Karen McLeod Photography
Karen McLeod Photography