Te Kupu and Upper Hutt Posse travelled to Detroit in October 1990 at the invitation of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
I first heard of Nation of Islam when I read the autobiography of Malcolm X back in 1983, although I had a memory from Muhammad Ali fights and him being around these guys in black suits - but "Black Muslims" was more the terminology then. I grew up in Upper Hutt and there was a lot of racism there, and to hear the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X speak so forcefully and say, 'The white man's the devil' and all this shit, it's like, wow. The connection was their struggle against an oppressive system that is, to this day, race-based.
In 1985, I saw a Foreign Correspondent programme, and it had Louis Farrakhan speaking on there, and I was like, 'Hah!' He was speaking to a massive audience at Madison Square Garden, and I thought, 'Wow - the Black Muslims are going strong'.
After that, Public Enemy came out and talked about Farrakhan, and I thought, 'Oh right - it's all hooked in there'. When people heard Public Enemy talk about the Nation of Islam, it was like, 'Who's Farrakhan?'
In 1990, Rasul Muhammad, a son of the founder of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad, visited here to get amongst Maori people. The Posse did a gig at The Gluepot, and Rasul saw us perform there. He came backstage and said, 'I want you to come to Detroit and share your music, meet Louis Farrakhan and just get it on with the Nation of Islam - will you come?', and I was just like, 'Yeah - we're coming!'
