The great-grandson of pioneering New Zealand Jazz musician Dick Richards, Kapabal (Government name: Aaron Wyatt) continues his family tradition of music through contemporary lens: Hip-Hop. A Rapper, beat-maker, Studio engineer, documentary/music video maker, businessman and full-spectrum Hip-Hop advocate, Kapabal writes, arranges, performs and promotes his own brand of uplifting street music. Informed by his personal experiences, as well as philosophies and views developed over a lifetime spent living in the Hutt Valley within the greater Wellington region of New Zealand, for Kapabal, as much as he chose Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop is also something that chose him. Raised on the likes of Tupac, despite playing around with rap during his childhood, he really got his start as a rapper and beatmaker in the early 2000s alongside Upper Hutt crew Souljah Squad. Making the transition to solo performer soon after, he announced his arrival as a fully formed artist in 2002 with his self-produced debut album The Abal One. Personally handling the marketing and promotion, The Abal One served as Kapabal’s metaphorical baptism of fire within the worlds of music production and the greater music industry. Five years (and countless life experiences good and bad) later, Kapabal released his sophomore record Before Now, with the majority of the production handled by respected New Zealand rapper/multi-instrumentalist Tyna Keelan – and vocal features from a who’s who of street-level MCs operating within the greater Wellington region. Concurrently he debuted the first two volumes of his Street-Heavy DVD series (produced with his business partner T. Mo) – a project devoted to exposing grassroots Hip-Hop culture in New Zealand. Currently, Kapabal is writing, recording and producing for his third full length album release. Having already released two lead-in singles ‘Rude and Abracious’ and ‘Touch The Sky’, 2010 finds Kapabal repositioning himself within the international Hip-Hop market. Kapabal’s focus has shifted from making music for his region to writing songs for the world. As he states, “When you inspire yourself; nothing can stop you.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.