I am a rapper from the South-West, UK, however, also spent 8 years of my life from 2008-2016 living in Australia, near Melbourne. Life has proven to be extremely challenging, yet magnificent at the same time and this sense of struggle contrasted with wonder is probably the main source of inspiration behind most of my music.

 

I can remember being a young child and my Mum would play Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits in the car, on the way to school. (Don’t worry, she would always skip the first track, FACK! XD. Although, even without that track, Eminem is still probably not the most child-friendly music. I am grateful she did though!) I always felt a magnetic pull toward his music. Even in the early days, I think just because his music was cool at the time and most other kids in my school were not allowed to listen to it. 

When I got a bit older, maybe age 11-12, I got an iPod touch for Christmas and was able to start building my own music library. Of course, I got Relapse as the first album, because it was new at the time but, it wasn’t long until I had the whole Eminem discography. Exploring his catalogue for the first time was magical for me and I couldn’t believe half of what I was hearing. It was so explicit and raw. There was no filter on his persona, and I believe that this is what was most appealing to me because, at the time, my home environment was not the best. I felt like I always had to wear a mask to fit in. The music provided an escape for me.

 

In 2014, a friend of mine and I managed to persuade our parents to buy us tickets to the front-section of Melbourne’s Rapture 2014 concert. The line-up was 360, Action Bronson, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. An astounding set of talents which I don’t think I really appreciated until years after the event because, at the time, I was only going because I was a fan of Eminem. This event really began to pry open the door to the world of rap for me because for the first time, I saw that other people could rap too and their music was equally as authentic, unique and inspiring. Somewhere around this time of my life I had also discovered Hopsin on YouTube, and his album RAW hit home. I was starting to expand my horizons. Hopsin was the first artist that I had discovered who did everything independently, and because of his success and how much his music had touched the lives of millions of people, it really inspired me and showed me that perhaps this is an avenue I could pursue in my own life.

 

When I first started writing raps, I told myself that I would dedicate myself to this craft no matter what obstacle would stand in my way. I knew that this path in life was going to be high-risk/high-reward, and most certainly not easy but, I have never shied away from challenging myself. I began to research rap relentlessly. I explored many different aspects of the culture and studied all of the great lyricists to analyse how they did what they did and what advice they gave to younger artists. To see myself go from someone who, out of everyone, was probably least likely to become a rapper, to learning the skillset that I have today, is an incredibly rewarding experience. It really showed me, and hopefully whoever is reading this too, that you can do anything you put your mind to if you continue to work hard at it and follow your heart.

I went from failing nearly every single English test in school, to being able to confidently say that I am now relatively adept with the English language. I went from having no confidence in myself and believing I couldn’t be good at anything, to seeing people’s extraordinary reactions when they hear my music. I went from not knowing anything about music theory to being able to produce, and engineer my own tracks from scratch. I am most definitely not at the finish line yet, however, I know that I can get there if I continue to follow my passion. All I want to do is inspire other people to come out of their shells and be whom they want to be in life, regardless of societal norms and familial expectations. Hopefully, as I continue to grow, I will be able to reach more people and even if I fall short, I know that I tried my utmost best and was proud of myself on the way!