Born Alvin Pakini Mikaele in St. Louis, Missouri, OR1GINAL's love of music was evident from the beginning. As a two year old entertaining a crowd of a hundred people at a barbecue, dancing and singing, he left a joyous feeling in people's heart while bowing to the rain of applause, he accidentally fell resulting a bloody cut on his right eyebrow. That scar, which required ten stitches, serves as a reminder to this day that music was his destiny.
When OR1GINAL became five years old, he experienced an event that almost altered his course as his parents decided to divorce. With his mother winning custody, she moved him together with his younger brother Mike to Hawaii. A year later, she uprooted the family and moved to San Jose, California where he attended church with his uncle & fell in love with the choir's singing and the drums. He got his first taste of popular music that laid the foundations of his future musical styling and writing in the likes of Earth, Wind, & Fire, the Bee Gees, the Commodores, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and other lesser known artists. Two years later with the knowledge that his father was in the city & his mother's fear that he might try to abduct him & his brother, the family once again moved back to Hawaii.
Now eight years old, OR1GINAL attended a new church & was still drawn to the music & drums. It was at the First Samoan Assembly of God in Aiea that his paternal cousins Zac & Via Muasau taught him how to play the drums and he later became the drummer for his uncle Reverend Livingston Muasau's church. A first encounter with his maternal cousins Iva & Fua turned his focus from Gospel music to Hip Hop. They would always rap Sugerhill Gang’s "Rapper's Delight", Hip-Hop’s first recording artist. From that time on, OR1GINAL was hooked.
OR1GINAL entered Junior High at Waipahu Intermediate School & used his one elective to enroll in band. Because he was already a drummer, he decided to challenge himself by learning a different instrument so he opted for the trombone. Besides learning this instrument, he taught himself how to play the baritone. He became first chair, first trombone his 7th grade year & won the Most Outstanding Bandsman of the Year Award. He made it two in a row the next year.
Before entering high school, his family moved again to California where he attended Fremont High in Sunnyvale. Because the band already had eight trombone players, OR1GINAL was asked to play the baritone. When Jazz season came around, he was asked to step in as the drummer because the marching band drummers did not want to commit. Away from school, he was honing his skills as an emcee with the help of his cousin James & started getting into Rakim, KRS-ONE, Heavy D & The Boyz & RUN-DMC.
After one year in California, the last & final move brought OR1GINAL back to Hawaii. He resided in Waianae for one year & the family moved to the city of Waipahu but he still attended Waianae High and it was at his new residence where he met Jeff Miller who became a mentor in life & music. Jeff turned OR1GINAL onto The Time, Sheila E., Bootsy Collins, Switch, Ohio Players, The Isley Brothers & especially Prince which became his favorite artist and musical influence in performing & songwriting. Back at school, he was once again asked to make an instrument change and obliged by playing sousaphone for marching season & the drums for jazz season. It was at the band's Back To School Party that OR1GINAL, then known as ELECTRO, rocked the mic for the first time with his brother Mike beat boxing.
After graduation, OR1GINAL met his future wife Shannon & found an outlet that married his two loves of Hip Hop & Gospel when he attended Word of Life Christian Center. His Pastor Art Sepulveda had a vision in 1991 and established a ministry called Posse On a Mission that used the arts, (rapping, singing, dancing, & acting), to reach people with the Message of Hope. As a member of this team, OR1GINAL became the lead writer of many of the group's songs even training, inspiring, & teaching other emcees to start writing. Through this ministry, OR1GINAL traveled to different countries such as Canada, Australia, Singapore, & the Philippines spreading the Message of Hope.
In 1997, after six years of writing original material to other people's music, OR1GINAL released his first solo album of originals called "UNASHAMED". The album contained 9 songs and 2 poems under his then moniker "BIG AL". Tragedy struck him close to home in 2001 when one of his brothers in rhyme, Darrell "D-D.U.B" [Darrell Discipling UnBelievers] Maglinti, died from a freak accident. Upon preparing for the funeral, a eulogy was written in rhyme form that birthed a new name & thus, OR1GINAL was born.
The first album to be recorded with the new name came in 2003 with the release of "IMPLOSION". In the same year, OR1GINAL along with 2 original members of Posse on a Mission, A.S.L (Freddie Acevedo), and Rich One (Richard Serrano), joined forces with two new emcees, Cross’d_Out (Brian Faletogo) and Joey Rhymez (Joseph Cordeiro), to form the hot group Big Break. Their first CD entitled ”The Project“ was a big hit in Hawaii within the Christian & Hip Hop fellowship. Both albums were awarded Rap Album of the Year @ the 2004 Hawaii Music Awards.
OR1GINAL continues to write new material to reach anyone who has an ear to hear.
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