Normally living life on a three-hour delay, Paul Reid – AKA Perth rapper Drapht – is in sync with the east coast for a spell, spending some time in Melbourne to put the finishing touches on his forthcoming comeback LP, tentatively titledSeven Mirrors.
It’s been preceded by a new single, ‘All Love’, as well as a run of dates as part of regional music festival Groovin The Moo – shows Reid is still reeling from.
“It was a bit of a dream run,” he says excitedly. “I haven’t done a show at that scale in a long time. It was such a gratifying experience to return to a bigger stage and to get that kind of energy and response from the audience. I’m playing with a new band, too, which is made up of some of my closest mates. It’s great place to find yourself in after being out of the game for so long.”
Indeed, it has been five years since Reid dropped his last LP as Drapht, 2011’s The Life Of Riley. The album ended up being one of the most commercially successful records in the history of Australian hip hop, sporting two high-charting singles, earning gold certification and hitting the top of the album charts. Instead of plotting a massive follow-up, however, Reid retreated into life as a restaurateur – 2013 saw him and his sister Alisa open up Solomon’s Café in Highgate, located north of Perth’s CBD and serving primarily organic fresh food and beverages.
“To be completely honest with you, I bought that restaurant because I thought that I was never going to make another album,” confesses Reid. “After I came off the last record cycle, I was just miserable. What was probably my most successful album was the thing that broke me – both commercially and personally. It was tough, but I’ve found you have to go through darkness to find the light again. I’m still very passionate about whole foods and what Solomon’s is about, but I actually sold it before I went out on tour with Groovin. Both starting the restaurant and moving on from it were both so important in my life.”
Although Reid has – for now, at least – put the restaurant life behind him, he appreciates the fact it was dropping off the radar of Australian hip hop and focusing on his meals that rekindled his passion for the art form. “I took six months off when the restaurant first started,” he explains, “and then all of these ideas started to build up. I just found myself writing and writing and writing – and not even with the idea of putting anything out or making another record, just writing because it felt right. I realised that I had to get away from everything – just focusing on the restaurant, getting away from the industry – in order to comprehend how much I needed music.”
Seven Mirrors is currently in its mixing stage, almost ready for public consumption following some serious doubts on Reid’s part over the final product. “The album was finished about a year ago, but then I had this massive case of demo-itis,” he says. “It didn’t feel like the album that I wanted to come back with. I decided to bring in some friends to be executive producers – Styalz Fuego, Nic Martin and my friend Daz, who was in Downsyde with me. The three of them were able to give me advice that I’d never had previously. I knew that if I was going to come back to music, I had to be open to other ideas and other people’s visions.”
Reid began rapping and performing at the age of 17 as part of the WA hip hop crew Syllabolix. Now 33, he’s seen a myriad of artists come and go – not just in his native Perth, but on a national scale. Perhaps more importantly, however, he has witnessed the inevitable rise of hip hop’s local visibility, from a fringe indulgence to the mainstream of Australian music.
“What a lot of these young artists don’t understand is that I didn’t get any kind of real airplay until my third album,” he says. “I didn’t ever even have ambitions of living off my music when I put out my first album [2003’s Pale Rider]. It never seemed possible to me. It was my hobby away from my full-time job – that’s all it was. Hip hop in Australia has gone from a pastime activity to something that can sell out an arena with 15,000 people. I’ve seen artists kick doors down and I’ve seen artists go from strength to strength. It’s incredible to be a part of and it’s incredible to look at.”
Indeed, Reid will get to formally reacquaint himself with the hip hop world this June as the headlining act of Sydney’s Come Together festival, joining the likes of Allday, Tuka and Spit Syndicate on a huge local bill. “There’ll be a bunch of new stuff that we’ll trial out in the set,” he says. “We’re definitely going to be playing what I hope is going to be the next single as well. I’ll be very interested to see what people’s reaction to it will be. Besides that, we’ve got all the old classics in store. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Drapht plays Come Together 2016, along with Allday, Tuka, Spit Syndicate, Dylan Joel and more, at the Big Top Sydney, Luna Park, Saturday June 11.
