Dawn Raid

Where to watch

Trailer

Dawn Raid

2021

Directed by Oscar Kightley

NZ to NYC. The untold story of the music that inspired a generation.

The rise, fall and spiritual rebirth of the most iconic and influential music label in Pacific history, Dawn Raid Entertainment.

Cast Crew Details Genres Releases

98 mins   More at IMDb TMDB Report this page

Popular reviews

More
Gemma G
Review by Gemma G ★★★★½ Liked 1

Because our politicians & scientists sorted out Covid, I walked that red carpet to a real movie premiere at the mall where I spent my teens.

And because the doc is the wild tale of NZ’s most influential hip hop label, there was a *lot* of unscripted audience commentary and “chee-hooo!”s and THAT’S why cinema. 

Stellar work from Oscar Kightley in his debut directorial feature. It hangs on the “performances” of label-heads Brotha D and YDNA and they deliver, because they are OG hustler-showmen. The connection between director and talent bodes well for any narrative feature that Os might direct. 

“You pay the IRD before you pay God.”

Karl von Randow
Review by Karl von Randow ★★★★★ Liked

A cool, heart warming and heart breaking tale of the unique Dawn Raid Entertainment; South Auckland music and music adjacent business empire of the 2000s! The camera loves everyone, and no one wastes a word. I’d like to believe I’m in at least one of the crowd shots. It was such an epic time in NZ hip hop.

CJ Johnson
Review by CJ Johnson ★★★½ Liked

Dawn Raid is a relentlessly entertaining feature length documentary about the rise, fall and re-birth of Dawn Raid Entertainment, New Zealand’s first and, by far, most influential hip-hop label. Anchored by interviews with Dawn Raid founders Danny "Brotha D" Leaosavai'i and Andy Murnane, and featuring almost all of the label’s most important artists including Savage, Mareko, Deceptikonz, Adeaze and Aaradhna, the film has multiple moments of sheer fist-pumping joy.
Dawn Raid was always more than a label; it was a South Auckland cultural force, and the film is about culture and community as much as it is about music. But boy, the music is good; if nothing else, Dawn Raid may open your eyes to a whole area and era…

Doug Dillaman
Review by Doug Dillaman 1

I didn't rate this film because I really struggled with its hagiography of its leads (as well as the much-noted sweeping under the carpet of the real substantive issues Adeaze and Aaradhna had) and the seeming laziness of the filmmaking (one-off talking heads interviews, lots of talk about community but never filming anyone together until very briefly at the end, like they had to knock it out in two weeks and move on). But the Dawn Raid story is also an incredible story, regardless of the distortions here, both as a snapshot of New Zealand racism in an era that we wish was much more removed than it is and as a snapshot of the massive flux the music industry…

lyry
Review by lyry ★★★

despite the fact that adeaze and aradhna’s interviews cut off every time they talked about being swindled out of their money, this was great

Ewan Munro
Review by Ewan Munro ★★★½ Liked

Having recently relocated to NZ after a couple of decades away, it's fair to say I was familiar with precisely none of the people in this film (aside from the American rappers who show up or are referenced periodically). I don't know the South Auckland-based music label this documentary is about, I don't know the key figures in that company, and I don't even know any of the musical acts, but the very least I take from it is that there was and is plenty of talent in this impoverished part of NZ's largest city. It's a story of two grifters, young lads from difficult backgrounds who'd dropped out of high school and we're trying to get their lives back…

Haiku Dan
Review by Haiku Dan ★★★

started up humble,
to unstable sensations.
lesson: pay taxes

MartyMartZ
Review by MartyMartZ ★★★★★ Liked

I enjoyed this documentary film a lot. Unlike when I seen films about artists I already knew I knew nothing about Dawn Raid and that is why I found it so interesting. Learning about the label was a very good experience and I would definitely recommend it to any hip hop heads reading this. The animated sections were pretty enjoyable too.

Video Archive
Review by Video Archive ★★★½ Liked

Super nostalgic for anyone who grew up in NZ during the 90s/2000s.  Oscar Knightly and his team did a great job tackling such a huge and important NZ story. Dawn Raid is not only for Hiphop heads and it’s also not  a “rap documentary”-  it’s a beautiful, heart warming and breaking nostalgia trip that depict the success and  lineage of a handful of unlikely south Aucklanders, it also manages to tackle important societal issues that still exist in this country, things like Racism and Systemic Racism, Separation of Wealth, Power Manipulation and Segregation.

#36

3/2/21

Kmann
Review by Kmann ★★★½

a cautionary tale of how two men destroyed a very good t-shirt making business

Sarah Watt
Review by Sarah Watt ★★★★½

Along the lines of the exhilarating THE DEFIANT ONES (a Netflix series I've gorged twice so far, and could probably go again), the story of South Auckland's Dawn Raid Entertainment is super fun in its telling. We're sold two delightfully engaging central characters, plenty of juicy gossip and fascinating backstories of significant Kiwi acts whose careers were launched, or at least illuminated, by these plucky young fellas just following their dream.
Those more in the know than I about the NZ music industry may take exception to Kightly's directorial softness, as the picture painted is unrelentingly supportive and veers far from provocative. But if you're none the wiser, as I was, this doco counts as a universally recommendable good time.