Whanganui musician Te Atawhai Ponga completes debut rap album - a decade after he started it

Te Atawhai Ponga aka #3chainsandataonga counting his cash at home in Whanganui. Photo / Shannon Lawn

An album 10 years in the making is about to reach its conclusion in Whanganui.

Local musician Te Atawhai Ponga began writing and performing hip hop under the #3chainsandataonga alias in Wellington, with a band of fellow jazz school graduates backing him.

"It started around 2013, when me and some other Whanganui people lived in a flat above a butcher in Island Bay," Ponga said.

"We threw an R'n'B party and I had this ridiculous get-up on. I sort of looked like a gangster, but with $2 Shop chains. I was also had my taonga on and my friend named me from that outfit alone.

"We just rolled with it from there."

Ponga, primarily a bass player at that point, quickly landed a Wednesday residency at Puppies Bar on Tory St.

"People weren't really sure what I was up to. Out of nowhere I had become a made-up rapper.

"Because I went to jazz school, I had a lot of friends who saw what I was up to, cracked up, and said 'we'll be your band'."

Playing gigs was the last thing he expected to do, and the early shows involved "bluffing" his way through, Ponga said.

"It was a case of 's**t, I actually have to do this now'.

"That was pretty nerve-wracking. I had to rap and I had an audience. I would put the loop on and just leave and go and hang outside with the doorman.

"I was never really at my own gig. The band would be on stage jamming and I would be in the crowd with everyone else."

His band featured fellow Whanganui musicians James Paul and Tim Booth.

Eventually Ponga wrote around 12 songs, which will finally see the light of day on the debut #3chainsandataonga album.

While there were more gigs after the residency, they "got progressively worse" and momentum ground to a halt.

Te Atawhai Ponga (centre) with James Paul (right) and Matt Hornyak during the first #3chainsandataonga gig in 2013. Photo / Supplied

"I was back in Whangas hanging out with my mum and dad, and they were definitely not telling me I was cool or anything.

"It almost became just a memory.

"I've always had those beats with me, but it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I actually tried to properly finish things off."

The first single, "My Love Is All", was produced by Adam Stewart, aka Gulls, another Whanganui local.

"He moved back home and I was like 'there's someone else here who was there'," Ponga said.

"I just threw it in the air and decided to make an album. Again, it was a case of 'well, I've said it so I now have to do it'."

The album has two potential names - "The Weta Verse" and "Songs in the Whakatauki of Life".

"That's obviously a tribute to 'Songs in the Key of Life' by Stevie Wonder. It's one of mum's favourite albums," Ponga said.

Band members and guests have now completed all their parts.

The other main rapper is Matt Hornyak, who now lives in Berlin.

"Matt was there at the beginning and was always there on stage when I was running away," Ponga said.

"The others are Whanganui-based. There's Ezra McIntosh and my cousin Cheyden Waitai.

"It's cool having the cuz on there because he's a bit of a G. We at least sound a little bit tough. I try and sound tough, but people know I'm not."

The next step in the journey is making a music video for the song "Keep Me Cool, Keep Me Irie".

"We are going to shoot some little rugby scenes down at Wembley Park," Ponga said.

"I've got an old Cully's [Cullinane College] shirt with my name on it, so I'll try and fit into that.

"The rest of it will be shot at the Commercial Hotel. I'd never been in there until a couple of weeks ago. I just thought 'bro, this place is perfect'."