KUGA's vision to re-establish the fun in hip-hop

Kaua‘i Underground Artists, or KUGA, will host the "Common-Unity Hip-hop" event in the Campus Center Ballroom this Friday. The event will include break-dance battles, spoken-word poetry and music. It is $7 at the door. Ticket sales begin at 5 p.m., with battles starting at 5:30 p.m. There will be prizes and giveaways sponsored by Jedidiah and See You Never, an original clothing company.

Special guests Sharlok Poems and Propaganda will perform spoken-word poetry. "Spoken word is a form of poetry that is written by the poet and delivered in a specific tone and rhythm that's of their own style," said Lila Metzger, founder of KUGA.

Sharlok Poems is an emcee artist of the hip-hop group LA Symphony. Propaganda is an emcee, poet and rapper from the California hip-hop crew the Tunnel Rats.

A nonprofit organization, KUGA was started by Kaua‘i-resident Lila Metzger. KUGA's goal is to "plant seeds of creativity via dance, music and lyrics," she said. "We just desire to inspire the local minds of all ages in Hawai‘i. ... We started on Kaua‘i, but we're now on O‘ahu."

In her first effort to re-establish the fun in hip-hop on O‘ahu, Metzger hopes to expose this art to people who may not have seen it before. "I think (people) are going to be surprised," she said. "The main focus is going to be on the in-between times of having the open floor or encouraging people to dance."

KUGA began as a vision Metzger had while living in California and developed upon her moving back to Kaua‘i in 2003. "I had a vision of kids dancing," she said. "I had a vision called 'worship-hop.' ... It was fully a God-given vision."

Her vision and passion for dance progressed at home, where she attended workshops and soon after began teaching dance to children. Metzger included her friends Sara Ahn and Marisol Burkart in her vision of KUGA, and the three became partners and applied for KUGA to receive nonprofit status in 2005.

KUGA is an organization for everyone Metzger said. "It's for everybody: spectators and participants, or people who like to dance or like to watch people dance, or who like poetry, or who like the art of spoken word poetry. It's all-inclusive, all ages too."

Her love for God, art, dance and people influenced her to create KUGA without the intention of it being a ministry. However, Metzger explained that "because we are Christians in our personal life, it filters into the work we do, so it becomes a ministry even though it's not created to be a ministry. It just flows because it's in us already."

Metzger makes clear her love for Hawai‘i's local people. "There's something ... in the local people that is like 'we're creative and we're passionate,' They just don't know it until they see something that awakens that creativity," she said.

Metzger encourages others to keep pursuing creative expression in all forms. "You can cross over to make it functional in the normal world too," she explained. "It's just an avenue of expression. ... The depth can go forever."