![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/17164853\/0117-Rap-7.jpg\")
There\u2019s no doubt about that, or that 2023 is shaping up to be an even bigger one. Last year Cuuhraig became the first Polynesian rapper to be booked at Rolling Loud, the seminal rap music festival, where he\u2019ll do a show this March. He sold out House of Blues twice, and he went overseas to co-headline a tour in New Zealand and Australia, where his eyes were opened at how widely his music was being played among fellow islanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy, we\u2019re on the other side of the world,\u201d he said. \u201cTo see people buying your merch and singing your songs word for word\u2014you don\u2019t realize how much people appreciate what you do. It was a very humbling experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of his favorite moments of the year didn\u2019t see him standing on a stage, though, but on a football field. Cuuhraig (n\u00e9e Craig Tafua) was raised in West Compton but like many in the Samoan community, spent plenty of time in Long Beach, Lakewood and other surrounding cities, including playing football at Lakewood High for two years.<\/p>\n
Because of that history and a connection with Lakewood football coach Justin Utupo, who is also Samoan, Cuuhraig was asked to come perform at Lakewood\u2019s CIF-SS football championship game, where he rapped pregame as fog encircled him, helping to bring out the Lancers and get them hyped up for their first-ever championship game on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was honored that they asked me to be a part of that moment,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve known Justin and his brother Jared for a long time\u2014that\u2019s how it is in our community, everyone knows and supports each other, we all grew up in each other\u2019s churches and backyards. My little brother and my little cousins and family still play at Poly and Lakewood and I\u2019m always tapped in with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuuhraig transferred from Lakewood to Dominguez and was a successful football player, with scholarship offers out of high school\u2014but music was calling his name. As he\u2019s had increasingly more success over the last couple of years, he\u2019s also had the support of his community behind him. While Polynesians have always been involved in the music industry, there haven\u2019t been a ton of highly-visible Polynesian rappers. Cuuhraig said he\u2019s proud to be part of a changing movement among his people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolynesians are stepping into the spotlight, that\u2019s the message I\u2019ve been putting out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt used to be if you saw Polys on the football field we were linemen, or if you saw us at a concert we were security guards. We\u2019re trying to change the narrative that there\u2019s other lanes for our people\u2014we can be quarterbacks, we can rap. The Rock is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and he\u2019s half Samoan. It\u2019s only a matter of time before you see more and more of us in the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said that the support he\u2019s had behind that message has been a big part of his motivation to not settle for the success he\u2019s already had.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just grateful that people broke down doors for us and to try and do that for the next generation,\u201d he said. \u201cNever be satisfied, never get comfortable. There\u2019s too many people behind us wanting us to do good\u2014people want to see us win. And once other people see the support it makes them want to hop on.\u201d<\/p>\n
If that sounds fun \u2026 well, it is. That\u2019s where the infectious joy of “Forever Him” comes from. The 13-song album opens with the song \u201cThank You,\u201d a heartfelt message of gratitude to his family and fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you about my highs but ain\u2019t ashamed of all my lows,\u201d he raps on \u201cTrue Story, Pt. 2,\u201d then cracks \u201cI\u2019m finally getting major I got fans in Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n
The breakout songs of the project have been \u201c4th Shot\u201d and \u201cJupiter Love,\u201d both of which are energetic love songs. The album\u2019s closing song, the eponymous \u201cForever Him,\u201d makes it clear that while 2022 was a great year for Cuuhraig, 2023 promises to be a better one. \u201cDiamond chain wearing, everybody staring, I\u2019ll be a GRAMMY award-winner,\u201d he raps to close the song.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll have more music on the way this year along with the historic Rolling Loud appearance in March, plus a tour announcement coming soon. He\u2019s also starting to get booked for more sporting events, and will perform at halftime of UNLV\u2019s Homecoming game.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times in my life I dealt with self doubt, and now I\u2019m seeing what happens when I put the work in,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n His joy and pride are lacquered on thick over every second of his latest album, “Forever Him,” which came out on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":72245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5322,2002],"tags":[292],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[22204],"class_list":["post-32854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-news","tag-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32854"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32854"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/17164859\/0117-Rap-8.jpg\")