CAN YOU TELL US WHAT THIS TRACK MEANS TO YOU AND WHAT YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE AWAY FROM IT?

BRICKY SUNSHINE is about seeing the light that breaks through the cracks in the wall, rather than at the end of the tunnel. Life always has little gems for me even in the worst of times, so I try to focus on those rather than the destination or what I don’t have. The track itself is an exuberant delivery of bars about my obstacles and how I cope with them, dripping with thugged-out swagger from start to finish, almost a rapper’s gallows laugh. I prefer people to interpret my music for themselves and take whatever meaning the track provides them.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES AND WHY?

Musically my influences are pretty boundless, on BRICKY SUNSHINE specifically, my influences were A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage and Kendrick Lamar, however, my music is influenced by everything I listen to. My taste can range anywhere from Ari Lennox to SOB X RBE, Erykah Badu to Radiohead, and Digga D to SZA, the inspiration is endless. I’ve recently been getting into Afrobeats, 90’s House and Garage a lot more, as well as exploring further the enormously talented music scene here in Aus, with artists like Dylan Atlantis and Chanel Loren standing out to name a couple.

WHAT'S THE CREATIVE PROCESS FOR YOU, FROM WRITING THROUGH TO RECORDING?

Oh man, the process is never the same for any two songs. BRICKY SUNSHINE came together with me heading to YouTube, clicking on the first instrumental with an interesting artwork I found, then just freewriting the thoughts that were in my head (it was the first full track I created after a year of writer’s block). My demo tape ‘(like it’s) stolen’ was 80% self-produced, all the tracks I composed started with obscure soul samples or chopped drums and then I would come up with lyrics and further instrumentation along the way. The one track I didn’t compose, ‘stfu’, was created in a similar way to BRICKY SUNSHINE, except my friend Rinzler produced it, and then I wrote the last verse first, then the first verse, then the chorus, then finally restructured the composition so it made sense.

WHO’S AN AUSSIE MUSICIAN YOU CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF RIGHT NOW?

My boy Arno Faraji has been doing bits lately with his new singles ‘Black Sunday’ and ‘Free Flow’, I can’t wait to hear the full ‘Return to Faraji’ project released! I also spin his older joints like ‘Scalin’ and ‘Destiny’s’ regularly. Me n Faraji met back at Spilt Milk Canberra 2019 and have stayed in touch since, Arno’s helped me with navigating the industry at times and has also been a genuine supporter of my craft as I am his.

WHAT ARE SOME GOALS YOU ARE LOOKING TO ACHIEVE OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR CAREER?

Oh man, that’s a dangerous question, I could go on forever! As it happens I recently wrote down a list of my life goals (pen n paper type beat) so I’ll answer directly from that list, just a heads up, I dream big. As a performer I want to play Rolling Loud, Lollapalooza and Afropunk, do a sold-out 5+ city National tour, a 20+ city world tour (without going bankrupt lol), and win an ARIA for best live act. As a recording artist, I want to release an album that I personally deem a 10/10 project and receive global critical acclaim, have a billboard top 10 single and a top 50 album and have a song do 10+ million streams. As a producer, I want to help create work that re-imagines genres and breathes life into young people from marginalised communities.

A QUICK CHAT WITH IKE(FROM)PLUTO