Beyond Beige

Melbourne MC/singer and triple j hero Remi Kolawole belongs to a surging 'intelligent' Australian hip hop movement – but he's unsure. “I don't know if I'm intelligent!” Kolawole protests. Regardless, his latest album, Raw X Infinity, heralded by 2013's party hit Sangria, could usher in a new phase in the music's history.

The exuberant and funny Kolawole is seated outside the suitably named Cheerio café in inner-suburban Richmond with Sensible J (Justin Smith), one of his two producer cohorts (Daniel 'Dutch' Siwes is absent). The pair, both in beanies, are, Kolawole apologises, “dirty smokers”. The little-known Sensible J & Dutch previously masterminded much of N'fa Jones' comeback, Black + White Noise, and Kolawole praises their bespoke approach to music, the combo no mere beatmakers – even if they do work out of Smith's spare room. “I'm lucky enough that I don't have to go anywhere else for production 'cause it's a one-stop shop,” Kolawole enthuses over a hot mocha.

Kolawole, born in Canberra to a Nigerian father and Australian (actually Tasmanian!) mother, was musical in childhood, but never envisaged himself MCing. “I started playing piano when I was about four years old, but it was very classical, classical-based stuff.” He tried rapping “as a joke”. “One of my homies was like, 'I bet you can't rap.'” Kolawole gave it a shot. “Something just happened – I was like, 'This is awesome.'” He connected with Smith, his family South African migrants, and Siwes through his singer friend Jelena, dating Smith. She was playing their material with Jones, sparking Kolawole's curiosity. As for Smith and Siwes, they've been tight forever, the low-key Smith, a drummer, relates. “I met [Siwes] when he was two days old! My mum was babysitting his older brother while his mum was having him. We were neighbours.” In the late '90s the two jammed in bands together, then began cutting beats. Smith briefly went by the moniker 'J Smith' but decided it wasn't distinctive – and so adopted the 'Sensible'. “I've always been a sensible dude and it's just a silly nickname that I had.” Smith and Siwes conceived the RunForYourLife electronic hip hop soul collective with diva Syreneyiscreamy, Jones and others – and persuaded Kolawole to join. They issued RFYL Vol 1, a de facto album. “Everyone's just hanging at my house, the House of Beige – if they hear something they like, they jump on it,” says Smith.

While Kolawole branched off as a solo act, today he still tends to think of 'REMI' as “a group” – all the more since, aside from “mentoring” him, Smith and Siwes have been involved with everything he's done. In 2011 Kolawole & Co. uploaded the track Apollo 13 to triple j's Unearthed website, leading to a long and supportive relationship with the national broadcaster. That same year he aired two EPs, rapping over sampled grooves from musos as implausible as Baths. Kolawole dropped his first album, Regular People Shit, home to the memorable Ape, in 2012. Last year he circulated a mixtape, FYG: Act 1, encompassing Sangria, which found its way onto the US NPR's 2013 Best Albums list (“that was ridiculous!”). Moreover, Kolawole was named triple j's Unearthed Artist of 2013. “We are completely mind-blown as to why this has happened,” he admits.

Raw X Infinity represents a huge progression from Regular People…, Kolawole believes, because, at the time of his debut, he'd only MCed for a year or so. “I first started doing rapping just 'cause I liked flow,” he explains. Indeed, that's what his favourite MCs, like The Roots' Black Thought, do. “Most of them, they're not saying anything that's that important – it's just the rhythms and the patterns, and they're more of an instrument than a lyricist.” But he's developed into an all-rounder. “I've got more of a message.” Kolawole reasoned that, now he has a profile, he needs to be sharp – and responsible. “Ours is not a large platform, it's more of like a small diving board that's probably a metre off the ground, but it's still a platform.” As such, Raw X Infinity is a conscious hip hop record, with Kolawole bringing the “realness” – he tackles political matters, most pertinently immigration, on Ode To Ignorance, while Nigerian Sunrise and Melbourne Sunset reference his own bi-cultural heritage. Many topics on Raw X Infinity came out of group discussions, says Kolawole – “whether it's about life, whether it's about race stuff, [or] whether it's about when we're on tour and we see how drugs are affecting the people in each city that we go to, it's just our experiences.” Smith jokes that Kolawole could hardly credibly attempt “gangsta stuff”. Above all, Smith and Siwes have helped Kolawole focus as a writer. “I'm a rambler,” he laughs, “so trying to contain that and condense that shit and pick out all the nuggets out of the shit is what these guys do.” However, Raw X Infinity isn't consistently serious. Kolawole enjoys his “braggadocio bullshit” – as demonstrated by his current single, Tyson, disgraced champion boxer Mike Tyson used as a metaphor. It's potentially controversial. “It's weird – we get asked a lot of questions about Tyson,” Kolawole affirms. “I'm trying to be smarter about it now especially, but that is part of the whole hip hop culture – you gotta go out there swinging.”

Then there's the music of Raw X Infinity, which spans alt-rock, IDM and Afrobeat. The opening title-track, Kolawole says, “pays homage” to those Roots joints that feature Black Thought flowing over drums and bass. “We love that rawness in hip hop.” Smith recorded the drums on an iPhone. Kolawole was happy for Smith and Siwes to draw on their eclectic influences, ranging from Fela Kuti to J Dilla to Radiohead. “I listened to stuff like Tool and Helmet in my younger days,” Smith notes of the album's 'rockier' moments. “I'm trying to get that energy across in hip hop without putting [in] too many distorted rock guitars.” In the interim, Smith, along with his partners, has expanded his House of Beige (HOB) studio into a label; Raw X Infinity is its inaugural release. The name is ironic. “The walls in my house are beige – I'm beige,” he laughs.

Australian hip hop has become more culturally diverse with acts like Diafrix. But, together with Jones and Citizen Kay, Kolawole is seen as repping a fresh avant-garde – the antithesis of the old barbecue rap (or 'skip hop'). Yet the HOB fold, following their instincts, aren't concerned with factional politics, Smith insisting that they “live in a bit of a bubble”. (Incidentally, his top Australian record, hip hop or otherwise, is The Avalanches' Since I Left You.) Kolawole concurs. “When we first started out, we weren't trying to fit in anywhere – 'cause we know that we don't sound like American hip hop and we know that we don't sound like 'classic Australian hip hop'.” He professes to be (blissfully) ignorant of Australia's wider hip hop scene. “Every time someone asks us about Aussie hip hop, we don't know shit about Aussie hip hop! I don't personally. I've learnt more performing on the road and meeting these guys out there – and they've all been pretty cool to me. So I guess doing what we're doing has just been the best way to attack it and not worry about that shit.” At any rate, barbecue rap may be defunct – Bliss N Eso's last outing was the expansive Circus In The Sky. “I think everything evolves,” Kolawole reflects. Smith adds, “There's different sub-genres popping up now, which is cool – that's why we've got a little chance.”

Latterly Australia's urban underground has also given rise to producers-for-hire, such as M-Phazes. And the HOB posse are up for liaising with outsiders. Smith and Siwes are producing an album for Koolism's MC Hau. And they've remixed soulstress Hailey Cramer's Liquid Confidence. The team are open to working with a pop identity – as long as it's a proper collaboration. Quips Kolawole, “I would love to hear that, 'cause these guys don't know how to make pop shit!” But they have other limitations – cheesy rappers are banned from HOB. “I think we'd stop at a Pitbull,” Kolawole chuckles. Meanwhile, Smith has a niche solo project in the pipeline – though it's Kolawole who mentions it. “That stuff is so weird, in the best way, to me.” The trio have already commenced REMI's next album, with three songs in the can. “We get too bored,” Kolawole says. They hope they can soon quit their day jobs to concentrate on laying down yet more music.

Kolawole, who's opened for the US rappers Danny Brown and Joey Bada$$, surviving their difficult audiences, is preparing to tour nationally behind Raw X Infinity with carefully curated supports – and he's visiting regional cities. “I'm super-excited to get out to new people 'cause it's always fun just to go somewhere else – that's the best part of our jobs, that it is compulsory for us to get around Australia, get on a plane and rack up Velocity points.” He'll appear at Splendour In The Grass, too. This trek Smith, Kolawole's occasional DJ, will play drums – and, having practised, provide backing vocals – with Siwes on Ableton and sampler. (“He's also a mean tambourine player,” Kolawole teases.) And Kolawole will sing – “a bit”. Incredibly, plans are afoot for the REMI band to hit Europe at year's end – Kolawole, increasingly hyped by international bloggers, has had “industry interest” from, of all places, Germany. It's an even greater achievement considering the posse only secured management a few months ago. “It's just been us sitting in the room,” says Smith, “plotting away.”

Heads & Threads

Quiffs have been a thing in pop culture for a spell – becoming a signature look for La Roux's Elly Jackson and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. In urban circles, Janelle Monáe and Miguel have both quiffed-up. Now Remi Kolawole is repping for the MCs in his press shots. “My hair happened because my mum jacked it up and cut my hair into a perfect square,” Kolawole says of his 'fro. “My little brother at the time had a very similar haircut to what I have now. I was like, 'You know what? I'm just gonna do that!'”

Hip hop fashion has long been depressingly uniform – for dudes, anyway – in the US and here. Nevertheless, Bad Boy's Puff Daddy and Ma$e challenged that in the '90s with their 'shiny suits'. The Notorious B.I.G.'s protégé Cam'ron caused a sensation by 'reclaiming' the colour pink – so not traditionally macho-rap. OutKast's André 3000 went further again with his eccentric attire, even citing Prince Charles as his style icon. Stylish as he is, Kolawole claims not to be a hip hop hipster. “I just wear what I like,” he says. “I'm not going out there and making a conscious effort to be like, 'Yo, I'm gonna wear this, this time.'” Besides, he's about the music.

Image is political in particularly US hip hop. Danny Brown's skinny jeans were met with consternation – to Kolawole's bemusement. “I've heard Mobb Deep rap about how they reckon skinny jeans are just a bit suspect and all that shit – who gives a fuck?” he asks jovially. “Kanye [West] wears tea-cosy masks on his face and it looks dope, so just let him do him.” Kolawole himself once wore so “wild” ripped skinny jeans, boots and a scarf when doing a straight-up hip hop gig at Melbourne's Espy. “Nobody  cared!” he laughs.