Herman Joseph Loto Sakaria was an Auckland-based rapper who performed and recorded under the stage name of Ermehn. Photo / Richard Robinson
Herman Joseph Loto Sakaria was an Auckland-based rapper who performed and recorded under the stage name of Ermehn. Photo / Richard Robinson
Some of New Zealand’s best-known rappers and musicians are paying tribute to South Auckland hip hop legend Ermehn.
Real name Herman Loto Sakaria, news of his death has been met with shock and disbelief among fans and friends after news broke earlier today.
His cause of death has not been made public, but it is understood he died overnight in Australia, where he lived with his young family.
Nesian Mystik’s Donald McNulty paid tribute, writing on Facebook: “Damn. Lost a real Otara OG today. A pioneer and a godfather of South Auckland hip hop.”
Rapper Mareko, of South Auckland hip hop group Deceptikonz, said: “Fly high big uso.”
Community advocate Dave “Brown Buttabean” Letele shared a photo of the pair, alongside the message: “I really can’t believe this.
“Thank you for always being in my corner. You were always looking out. Gone far too soon. You will always be a legend. My love and prayers go out to his family. Rest in love, uso.”
Ermehn
A former member of Otara Millionaires Club, Ermehn grew up in Otara and is often referred to as the Godfather of South Auckland hip hop; having originally joined OMC as a “hardcore” rap group alongside another South Auckland legend in the music industry - Pauly Fuemana, who died in 2010.
OMC and Fuemana, in particular, went on to achieve huge success with the world-wide hit song: How Bizzare.
Ermehn’s solo career saw him often wielding a machete and wearing an ie lavalava while rapping about his first-hand experience in the gang life.
One of his albums, the Path of Blood, was named in honour of his Samoan roots and his family name: Lealaiauloto.
Herman Loto Sakaria, known as Ermehn, pictured as one of the pallbearers at the funeral of OMC singer Pauly Fuemana in 2010. Photo / Dean Purcell
He worked with a number of other well-known Kiwi and Pacific musicians and artists; including Dei Hamo, Chong Nee, DLT and group Cydel.
Ermehn also makes a cameo appearance in the opening scenes of the 1994 New Zealand film: Once Were Warriors. As the camera pans out to show the Otara Town Centre, a young Ermehn can be seen working at the DJ turntables as a rapper - none other than King Kapisi - shouts: “Tasi, lua, tolu, fa!”
Audioculture reports that Ermehn spent four years as a patched member of prominent Auckland gang The King Cobras during the early to mid-2000s, which sealed his notoriety as “the public face of gangster rap in New Zealand”.
In 2012, he spoke to RNZ about going clean and living a different kind of life.
He started a security company and became heavily involved in mixed martial arts and Muay Thai boxing, which one of his sons is involved in.
In recent years, Ermehn and his family moved across the Tasman, where his eldest son Lukhan Salakaia-Loto plays for the Wallabies.
Another son, known as Rhyme “The Rage” Loto, is a combat sports fighter and has represented New Zealand in Muay Thai, Australia in kickboxing and Samoa in boxing.
