He Said She Said with Allday

1. Growing Up

I grew up in a fairly musical house. My uncle was always playing guitar in the kitchen and the CD player was always on. Still when I go home the first thing I hear is music blaring before I step in the door. My mum had me play instruments when I was young but none of them really stuck. Rapping was the cool thing to do in my suburb (Blackwood in Adelaide) so that’s what I did.

2. Inspirations

I’m always checking new music and taking little bits of inspiration. Growing up I loved Big L, Talib, Eminem, MF Doom, Wu-Tang Clan… Those were the years of Fubu shirts and baggy jeans. Then for a couple of years all I listened to was neo-soul like Maxwell and Dwele. Then it was only indie rock for a while. Now I listen to all kinds of different stuff. My favourite rapper is Drake. A lot of people find that weird but yeah, he’s my favourite.

3. Your Crew

I’m a solo artist but there are a lot of people who help me do what I do. I have two managers and a booking agent who handle the business side of things. My friend Charlie records and mixes all my work. It’s good having a friend who understands your vision for the music. He plays a huge part in the process. Then there’s my DJ Mikey Hundred who comes on tour with me. Not to mention all the producers I work with.

My best mate is a rapper from Adelaide called Dialect. He was like a child prodigy battle rapper and he used to win rap battles when we were like 14.

4. The Music You Make

I make hip hop… kind of. Sometimes it’s hip hop and sometimes it’s other stuff. I sing a lot, it’s usually pretty bad but I’ve got Auto-Tune for that. Sometimes I rap on garage or house music, often traditional hip hop-sounding beats or anything in between. I’d like to say it’s a mix between Frank Ocean, Nirvana and Talib Kweli. Basically it’s rapping and music, not rap music.

5. The Last Record You Bought

I think the last thing I bought was Kanye West, Yeezus. I’ve loved every Kanye album to date. So when Yeezus came out I bought it straight away. I really don’t think it’s his best work (surprise, surprise) but there are some really amazing songs on there. I don’t want to say anything bad about it because I haven’t made music nearly as good as Kanye yet, so I don’t deserve to critique him.

6. Music, Right Here, Right Now

I love the music scene at the moment. Australia and New Zealand have some of the coolest acts in the world right now. We always have and we probably always will.

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