Tuesday, June 29th 2021, 3:34 PM HST by
HONOLULU (KITV4) – An O’ahu radio station is paying tribute to a big guy in the most Robert Kekaula-type of way.
On-air radio personality Krystilez (HI 93.1) and the members of the “Angry Locals” created a nearly five-minute musical tribute in memory of KITV4’s Managing Editor, Robert Kekaula, who passed away unexpectedly on June 19 at the age of 56.
“Hawaiian Newscaster,” a parody of the song “Hawaiian Kickboxer” written and performed by Wai’anae’s Moke Boy Kamealoha, has already garnered more than 10,000 views across social media platforms.
“I know from doing this project with everybody, he holds a special place in all our hearts and a special plate for us up in heaven because guarantee he going have the grinds,” Krystilez reflects. “For me, growing up, Robert was a symbol of local braddahs making it in entertainment just by being a local braddah. He was just an uncle from the backyard on the t.v. screen and made me feel like I was at home.”
Krystilez remembers a special moment a seemingly “existential force” guided the post-production editing of the video.
“At the very end of the song, there’s a clip…of Robert playing the ‘ukulele. [DJ] Osna or Osnizzle literally just cuts the clip, throws it in the timeline and just so happen, buggah was on-beat with the strums and all. It was crazy,” said Krystilez.