In the 1994 music video for 3 The Hard Way’s “Hip Hop Holiday,” a Cadillac drives over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Frontman Chris “Boy C” Ma’ia’i raps to camera as the convertible traverses the city before pulling up to a house party in Avondale. A baby is passed through the crowd — cradled by Ma’ia’i — as family gather in pride and togetherness around Aotearoa’s first hip hop No.1 single.

Jimmy Ma’ia’i still lives around the corner from that same house in Avondale, and All Star is prepared in tribute to those who, like Ma’ia’i, were brought up watching Pacific people pioneer their own version of hip hop in Aotearoa. Through the creation of Samoan forms such as the fa’alaufa’i, povai and siapo, Ma’ia’i extends this lineage, fusing Pacific life with the aesthetics and attitude of Black American hip hop. His works reimagine objects once tied to oratory, ceremony, and prestige, embedding them with the motifs of hip hop culture. 

All Star, named for the iconic footwear long emblematic of LA gang culture, reflects on what it means to shine within and beyond systems of recognition. The phrase carries the weight of Samoan wayfinding and the constellation of diasporic movement, and in Ma’ia’i’s hands, the “star” becomes guidance — a means of navigating inheritance, distance, and return.

-Emil Scheffmann

All Star will be accompanied by a text by Ma’ia’i.

All Star 2.0 open in January, 2026.