Trade Me Drops Aotearoa’s Most Epic (W)rap Battle

LOCAL RAPPER KINGS JOINS FORCES WITH FELLOW KIWI ARTISTS CHAII AND RORY NOBLE IN A CHRISTMAS (W)RAPPING CHALLENGE

Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa: Christmas might be the most wonderful time of the year. But it’s also the most stressful. To help Kiwi navigate the festive season, Trade Me has joined forces with renowned local rapper Kings, and fellow Kiwi artists, Chaii and Rory Noble for the ultimate (w)rap battle.

According to new research released today by Trade Me, Aotearoa’s largest online marketplace, 39% of Kiwi find wrapping Christmas gifts stressful, with 51% finding oddly shaped gifts especially tricky.

But help is at hand thanks to Trade Me, which has challenged the Kiwi rappers to wrap a selection of popular Christmas gifts that can be found on the website. It’s rappers like you’ve never seen them before – this time, (w)rapping Christmas presents!

In what is being claimed to be the most epic (w)rap battle Aotearoa has ever seen, Kings and his mates are given everything from a pair of headphones, a Weber BBQ, and even a kids scooter and helmet, and tasked with (w)rapping them in their own style.

“We’re rappers but are we any good at (w)rapping?” muses Kings. It’s safe to say, they’d probably best stick to rapping. *mic drop*

The tongue-in-cheek video is born from some very real insights into the anxiety that Christmas wrapping causes Kiwi every year with top predicaments. The survey results show that finding the end of the sticky tape (21%), cutting the paper too small for the gift (19%) and misplacing key items like scissors were among the most common pain points for Kiwi (13%).

Over half of Kiwi (59%) try to be more sustainable by using recycled materials to wrap their gifts, with reused shopping or gift bags (65%), clothing or material (25%) and newspaper (24%) the most popular.

As many Kiwi know, wrapping presents can be a tough task, so Kings enlisted the help of great friends, and up-and-coming artists Chaii and Rory Noble to help. Bringing their creative flair as they gathered around the Christmas tree to take on the (w)rapping challenge, Rory helped with finding the ends of the sticky tape and Chaii added fun finishing touches like huge sparkly bows to distract from the slightly questionable (w)rapping.

Kings might not be an expert at (w)rapping gifts, but he sure is when it comes to making musical magic. His song "Don't Worry Bout It" holds the record for the longest-running No. 1 single in NZ, spending 33 consecutive weeks at the top. The smash-hit track was inspired by his daughter in the lead-up to Christmas.

He says, "It was Christmas time, we were stressing about buying presents and the cost of Christmas, and my daughter just wasn't worried at all. She was running around the playground, so the first words in the song, 'run free boy run free, that's what I would have said to the young me', those words came to me just from watching her running around stress-free.

"It's been awesome to work with Trade Me to show people that wrapping presents isn't something to get worked up about. Christmas is a really special time. Friends and whānau come together to spread the love and reflect on the year gone by. But, when it comes to wrapping presents, do what you can and just 'don't worry bout it'."

This year you’ll find the perfect gifts on Trade Me across home & living, tech, sports and toys categories, for every member of your whānau. From new goods to pre-loved items, Trade Me is a one-stop shop for all your Christmas gifting needs this year.

And that’s a (w)rap!

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/

About Trade Me

Trade Me is Aotearoa’s largest online auction and classifieds site, with over seven million new and used items onsite at any one time. Since 1999, Trade Me’s purpose has been to connect Kiwi and enable them to buy and sell, faster and easier than ever before.

Kings

Kings is a Kiwi rapper, singer and songwriter. He has produced music under his self-run label Arch Angel Records since 2018. Kings burst onto the music scene with the release of his debut single "Don't Worry Bout' It" in 2016, which went on to become the biggest local release that year and surpassed the record for longest #1 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, spending 33 consecutive weeks at the top.

Chaii

Chaii is a Persian-Kiwi rapper and producer. Her music is an eclectic melting pot consisting of traditional Persian music, electronica and hip-hop, all of which she draws influence from to form her heart-pounding sounds.

Rory Noble

Rory is one of the country’s hottest producers, with production credits alongside household names like Kanye West and Ruel. His talents are revered across the world, stretching far beyond his humble roots in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Having worked with some of the biggest artists of our generation, Rory is now honing in on his own career as a genre-defying, multi-dimensional solo artist, with his debut EP on the horizon.

Survey methodology

This survey was conducted by Trade Me’s UXR (User Experience Research) team during October 2023 and collates answers from 4,790 individual New Zealand-based respondents. Respondents were externally recruited (via Dynata) to avoid any potential Trade Me membership bias and the survey was written from a platform-agnostic perspective (not ‘from Trade Me’). The survey was also sent out via a third party (Dynata).

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