Troy Kingi turns to hip hop for ninth album

Award-winning musician, actor, and storyteller, Troy Kingi, is stepping into new territory with the upcoming release of his album, Night Lords.

Due out on 28 November, the album marks the ninth edition of Kingi’s ambitious 10/10/10 series - 10 albums across 10 genres over 10 years. The project has become one of the most distinctive catalogues in Aotearoa music history.

The first single, Isn't How I Remember, features SWDT and will drop on 26 September. Offering a taste of the Hip Hop and RnB sound that Kingi has been quietly developing with some of New Zealand’s finest talents.

The record is stacked with heavyweight collaborators including Diggy Dupé, Melodownz, Tom Scott, MokoMokai, and Mā.

For Kingi, the shift into hip hop is both a personal and creative evolution, heavily influenced by his children’s playlists and his own love for 90s rap.

“In my day to day, living with two teens and two younger avid music listeners, I’d say we listen to a lot of hip hop, actually mostly hip hop,” he says.

He also says that his children try to educate him on contemporary artists, while he tries to share his limited knowledge of 90s hip hop with them.

Kingi says the genre has been on his mind since the beginning of his 10-album journey, and it felt like a natural progression.

“I was trying to find a way to insert this genre without it seeming forced or pastiche and I found my in through the albums Blackroc and later Glorious Game by El Michaels Affair and Black Thought.

“I could still be authentic and true to the music not feel like a phoney through collaboration - bringing people on board that I admire and that live and breathe the genre.”

The spirit of collaboration and jam-session style also shaped the overall sound of Night Lords.

“In a somewhat songhubsy format, I brought these amazing artists into the studio with me and my band and I just let things happen. By the end of each day we had these amazing songs.

'Night Lords' album cover. Photo/Supplied

“My biggest accomplishment on the album, I feel, is how cohesive it all is. You have 14 artists all amazing and different in their right yet it all feels cut from the same cloth. I’m super proud of the album and can’t wait to share it.”

Kingi’s 10/10/10 series has taken him through a diverse range of genres - from psychedelic space soul to folk, funk, desert rock, and synthpop - earning him multiple awards and nominations, including the Taite Music Prize, APRA Silver Scroll and Maioha Awards, Aotearoa Music Awards, Māori Music Awards, along with various collaborative soundtrack projects across film, theatre, and television.

The 10/10/10 series so far

• Guitar PArty at Uncles Bach (2016) - Indie Garage

• Shake That Skinny Ass All The Way to Zygertron (2017) - Psychedelic Space Soul

• Holy Colony Burning Acres (2019) - Indigenous Political Roots

• The Ghost of Freddie Cesar (2020) - Funk

• Black Sea Golden Ladder (2021) - Folk

• Year of the Ratbags and their Musty Theme Songs (2022) - Instrumental Soundscape Soul

• Leatherman and the Mojave Green (2024) - Desert Rock

• Night Lords (2025) - Hip Hop and RnB

Te Matera Smith, a musician and producer at AllGood Absolute Alternative Records, has worked with Kingi throughout the project, calling it a cyclone with Kingi at the centre.

“It seems surreal to me that we have reached album nine already. It’s been such a whirlwind of experiences, creative expression, fun, stress, love, loss, and expansion,” Smith says.

“The 10/10/10 series is more than just ten genres in 10 years. It’s a group of people falling in love, creating deep bonds, and whānau living and experiencing life, captured by Troy’s deeply beautiful and personal writing.

“It has touched so many lives and I can’t wait to see what the coming two years bring… I am confident in one thing…It’ll be wild, wonderful, and create memories that last a lifetime.”

With Night Lords set to mark the ninth chapter the series is nearing its final stages - and Kingi edges closer to cementing his place as one of Aotearoa New Zealand/s most versatile creatives.

Listen to Troy Kingi on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and YouTube. Follow him on all social media platforms.