Music
Shadow is the rapper who knows he’s destined for big things
South African-born talent Shadow says he was "built" for rap. In our interview, the 22-year-old reveals what fuels his hunger for hip-hop.
Durban-born, Perth-based Shadow is one of Australia's best new rap talents. But don’t take our word for it -- he’ll tell you himself.
“I see myself on top in two years,” Shadow said in no uncertain terms on Red Bull’s Behind the Bars podcast. “I’m going to keep grinding until it happens. I’m not gonna stop ... I was meant for this. I was built for it.”
Shadow has no shortage of bravado, but it’s all part of his charm. The 22-year-old vibrates with passion and his dedication to his craft is obvious. The South African export first started rapping as a teenager, inspired by classic hip-hop artists like Big L and Nas. A few years back he signed with Golden Era Records, the label started by local hip-hop titans Hilltop Hoods. It was around that time he made the jump to doing music fulltime.
“As an artist, you’ll know when it’s go time," Shadow says. "It’s either, I can either wear hi vis for the rest of my life, or I can do what I love and go for it. And I ended up trying to do that.”
Now, Shadow says he feels poised to take things to a whole new level. The break from live shows that 2020 brought gave him time to knuckle down in the studio and, over the last year, he’s “made the best music I have ever made in my life.” While his earlier work was grime inspired, Shadow says he’s moving towards a brighter sound.
It’s the competition coming out of Australia right now that keeps Shadow on his toes. “I’m the type of person to see people working in Sydney, especially, and then I get jealous -- like I should be doing that, I need to be working harder,” he told Red Bull's Macario De Souza. “Which motivates me to go do bigger stuff in Perth.”
But at the end of the day, Shadow’s motivations are pure. “I just wanna see my family happy around me, and I wanna keep making music. I was never in this for the money, ever, but now it’s my job, so I have to be,” he says. “But besides that I never wanna lose my passion for it… that’s the goal really, keep that love for it and keep the culture and bring up the scene. Bring up the kids that need help, because I never had a hand from anyone when I was [younger]. I was always trying to grind myself.”
Today, Shadow is stepping up for a moment that’s been a long time coming: his contribution to Red Bull’s 64 Bars series. You can watch Shadow on the mic for 64 Bars below and read on for a snippet of his conversation with Macario de Souza. To hear the full interview, head back here next week when his Behind the Bars episode drops.
3 min
Shadow Red Bull 64 Bars
South African-born talent Shadow says he was "built" for rap. Watch him in the booth for Red Bull's 64 Bars.
Let’s talk about your background, because I know you moved over from Durban to Perth when you were 12-years-old.
We’re from South Africa; I’ve got my little brother, my mum and my dad. We all moved here because my dad got a job here in 2008. South Africa was a different ballgame. Looking back at it now, it was crazy. But when you’re living there, you’re used to it. It was home then. And it’s the most beautiful country, that’s why it sucks. But [being] here is a privilege. I see that every day.
And when you were living back there, were you already into hip-hop?
I come from a very musical family, not that they make music, but they always listen to music. Mum and dad are always listening to jazz, or old school hip-hop, or old school R&B. Soul, funk, everything. I grew up on a lot of music. I think it was when I got here, it was more learning about who I really like and which rappers I really liked. But back then, it was just listening to whatever.
Always playing music in the house, always at parties. In South Africa the thing is to have the biggest sound system in your car because it’s the aux cord on wheels. Even all our taxis were maxi taxis, big kombi vans. The back seat would be taken out, they’d put subs in there, and just cruise listening to music.
How old were you when you started getting more serious into music?
I moved over when I was 12-years-old and a year after I met a mate named Jayden Marsh, an older boy. And we were at the skate park -- I was always at the skate park, every day, that’s where I met all my best friends that are still my best mates today -- and he was there and he showed me Big L. He showed me heaps of old school Australian stuff like Lyrical Commission, Trem, everyone that I still listen to today. He schooled me on that. He had a little Sony Ericsson and he was always writing shit on it. I was like, what are you doing? He said ‘I’m writing raps’.
I started learning from him … and ever since then I just started making music, started rapping, released my first song on MySpace. If you can find that, I’ll give you $100 straight up. That was nine years ago I think, my first track. And then ever since then it was just go to a friend's house and just record, record. But I was young then and I think I started taking it real serious the last five years, I’d say. I got signed to GE and that’s when I started taking it real, real serious.
For those who don’t know, you’re signed to iconic Aussie rap label Golden Era Records -- formed by the Hilltop Hoods, kings of Aussie hip-hop. How’d that come about?
So shout out L Street. There’s an OG in Perth named L Street who’s a DJ. He’s Kerser’s tour DJ as well. He’s been like dad to me since back in the day -- he gave me my first sets, he was DJing for me before I had my own DJ, and he actually reached out to Ben from Golden Era and said yo, there’s a kid in Perth that’s doing well. Apparently I was getting scouted for like two years before I got signed but it was because of that dude. They scouted me, said I was ready, and then yep, ended up doing that.
Shadow for 64 Bars
© Guy Davies
Did you get a chance to spend time with the Hoods or any of the other artists on the label?
I ended up touring the whole of Australia for the Hilltop Hoods stadium tour. I was the opening act for every show. It was insane. Still to this day -- it doesn’t sink in yet.
But the worst part about that -- no one knows this, this is only for Red Bull -- but the day I got back from the last show which was in Perth, they messaged me and were like ‘do you have your passport?’ And I wasn’t a citizen at the time and my South African passport was expired. They asked me to do over 50 shows in South America and Europe, main support. So I missed out on that, but it was all good.
They’re the best blokes ever. That whole team is crazy; really, really good people. And very humble. Because I’ve met people that I’ve looked up to before and they’ve been dickheads. But these guys, they were asking me questions that they shouldn’t know about -- like how’s your missus, they knew my missus’ name and that. It was really cool.
Let’s talk about your creative process. Are you a rapper who can put pen to paper without a beat, or do you need the beat to be inspired to write?
If you’re listening to this and you always ask me for advice on how to write raps, always pick a beat first. And always write to your beat, because you cannot flow without a beat. Even if you can flow without a beat, when that beat comes on it’s gonna stuff your flow up. So you wanna rap to the beat so you can mix and jumble with your flows.
My writing process is I’ll put the beat on and I’ll skat, then I’ll put words into that skat. It ends up in the song. But the way you’re skating is I’ll break it up, so every eight bars or so I’ll switch the flow up and so that’s when I’ll slide the worlds in. Sometimes it works.
But my writing process isn’t fast. This year and last year, it’s been faster than it’s ever been, like I could smash a track in a day. But the years before that, it would take me like a month or so. That’s why I wasn’t releasing that much music -- because I was my own worst critic. I didn’t want to release everything, I just didn’t feel it was good enough. But now, the songs I’ve got that are unreleased, it’s gonna change the game. I can’t wait.
The songs I’ve got that are unreleased, it’s gonna change the game
Hearing your music, you get this sense that you’ve got this aggressive tack on your songs and then getting to meet you in person, you’ve got this crazy energy about you. And your passion really shines through, and it’s really refreshing. Where does that come from?
The aggression is going. All my new shit is very radio-y, singing, melodic, it’s all good. The aggression, I feel like it came from hunger. I was brought up in hip-hop, but then when I went to tour in Melbourne, I went to the grime shows. With the grime shows, I felt like it was a proving ground there. You had to go there and eat motherfuckers alive. So that’s where my aggression came from.
The aggression, I feel like it came from hunger
I always had my pen game, so if I was battling someone, that verse would fit for anyone. I’m always going for your neck no matter who it is. And then I realised that doesn’t get you radio plays and doesn’t get you everywhere so I switched it up, more open minded with music, more different beats and stuff. But the aggression [definitely] comes from grime. Grime and hunger.