Loko, Episode 2: Hip-hop for Life - When home is somebody else's tomb, jail's a step up

In the gang world he was 'Loko', then rapper 'KD Lok' once he got out of jail. But something was always missing for Matty Paparoa. For the first time he tells his story in LOKO, a seven-part video series by Useful Media and the NZ Herald, made with the support of NZ On Air. Episode 2 - Hip-hop for Life.

After losing his foster dad Rex at 12 years old, Matty's stable home life and self-worth was tested and he had his first taste of alcohol. It became a regular theme in his life and a life-long struggle with alcohol dependency had begun.

Matty was on the streets and drinking heavily with his young friends. He was out of control and too much for his foster mother to handle. A year later, Matty found himself in new foster homes.

Matty Paparoa at Waikumete Cemetery. Photo / Diego Patowski

The next few years delivered inconsistency and abuse. One family put cigarettes out on his back as a form of punishment.

Matty shares his past and speaks openly about his mistakes - in particular, the gruesome event at a Henderson High School Social in 1998 that resulted in him being sent to Youth Court and then to prison at age 16.

WATCH THE WHOLE SERIES
• Episode 1: Finding Loko
• Episode 2: Hip-hop for Life
• Episode 3: Breaking Point
• Episode 4: Way out West
• Episode 5: To Waitangi
• Episode 6: A Comeback
• Episode 7: Ooga Booga

Listen to all the songs in full here

Matty went on the run, scared of the repercussions of his actions, and found somewhere to sleep at Waikumete Cemetery, near the place his foster father was buried. At age 13, Matty broke into a tomb and slept on a concrete slab inside at night.

With nowhere to go and in trouble with the law, Matty was introduced to a leader of a gang who helped him find a lawyer and gave him advice. Matty was convicted for two years and spent his late teens in jail, where he learned to rap. This was where the career of KD Lok began.

Introduced to a whole new world of musicians and artists, Matty found acceptance in this tight-knit community in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges. This is the place Matty decided to call his home.