Haters Gonna Hate

It feels great man – It feels kinda surreal and nothing is really sinking in. Just trying to keep going, keep making music and keep the ball rolling.”

Matt Colwell's talking about selling out and adding extra dates to yet another Australian tour which has surpassed everyone's expectation, from the promoters and bookers of the tour to the man himself. It seems no matter how high the expectations, 360 just keeps topping them.

Much debate has already been undertaken about why 360 is the guy who has broken through. Any argument consists of the idea that he is good with social media, and sure, he has nearly as many fans on Facebook as the veritable legends of the game, Hilltop Hoods and Bliss N Esso, but the support for his shows and his massive singles Boys Like You and Child prove that his success is not limited to the online world.

There's an undeniable point of difference between 360 and so much other Australian hip hop, and this is linked to his internet presence, but it goes much further. So much of his material is a window into his own life and history – he takes a fairly traditional approach to songwriting from a pop music point of view, but it's something you don't see enough of in Australian hip hop, with so much material either deeply political, or just stories about getting pissed.

“I just go for it,” is his very simple reply when asked if he ever worries about if he's putting too much of himself into his lyrics. “I think over the years I've just really developed that mentality to just go for it. People are either gonna like it or they're gonna hate it, but if you're just yourself then there's nothing else you can do. I love funny stuff and taking the piss and all of that, you know. I feel that there's not a lot of humour in Australian music in general these days. I guess no-one's really had the balls to do it, or even just thought to do it so far.

“My favourite stuff that I write is always the personal shit. So I reckon that's what people like the most as well, when they can really relate to something like that. That's always my favourite stuff to write about, any kind of personal experience that I go through, I give it my all and then people get to know some of my personality through my music. I know with some of the stuff that I've put out there I've always been questioning if I should even put it out, or if I was giving a bit too much away. But I think at the end of the day I look up to artists who are brutally honest – artists who are just being honest with themselves about their music.”

The criticism aimed at 360 from the elder statesmen of the Australian hip hop community has been pretty intense, and really hasn't been helped by him dropping the occasional diss track in their direction. He even refrains from calling what he does 'hip hop' these days, preferring to label it as 'pop music' saying it's because he references a lot of different styles in his music, and that it's extremely popular. There's even a feeling in the hip hop community that regardless of what he calls himself, the public and promoters and the industry see him as hip hop, and that he is somehow filling the hip hop quota on festival bills that should go to more deserving artists.

He says it's not like people are just saying this shit behind his back.

“Yeah I hear it all the time man, everywhere,” he says seriously. “When I was making the album I was battling demons in my head for ages, like, the older heads in hip hop aren't gonna like this shit, but at the end of the day, I'm doing what I wanted to do and that's make music that I love. I mean, I guess it is pop – pop just means popular – and it's just like incorporating all the stuff that I listen to and just putting it into my music as well. I think it's important to do it and I mean I don't know how long the Australian scene can keep going making music that sounds the early-'90s and shit. I guess for a lot of the older dudes they came up listening to hip hop from the late-'80s. They feel like they were involved in the hip hop scene from when it started out. I sort of came up listening to Eminem and shit like that. That was one of my biggest influences and I guess it wouldn't be for them, you know what I mean? Of course the music's gonna change. Dudes in five years are gonna come out who have only been listening to Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy and shit like that. You can't really hate on it, it's just a sign of the times.

“People have gotta make different music,” he continues. “You can't enforce your idea of what real hip hop is onto other people – it's always gonna be different and it's all about personal perspective how you think real hip hop should be made. I don't think real hip hop should be old early-'90s stuff, I think that's dated. If I wanna hear old early-'90s stuff I'll listen to old early-'90s stuff. I don't wanna listen to someone else trying to make that – it's 2012, you know what I mean?”

For all the criticism, there's some pretty compelling arguments to be made about what 360 is bringing to the game, even if it's via some means that the old heads would consider unconventional. For one, he turned the idea of a rap cypher, with dudes taking turns in a circle dropping raps, into a YouTube phenomenon known as Rapper Tag.

“I saw something similar in the States where this dude made a beat and filmed himself making it, and then at the end he called out a rapper,” he says of where he got the inspiration to start Rapper Tag. “It's a similar idea – when I saw it I was like, 'Fuck, I wanna do something like that.' But I wanted to do it as like a rap cypher on the internet. I hit up a few dudes to see if they would be up for it and when I found out that they were I got the ball rolling. It's sick to see how many dudes have jumped in. There's so many branch offs – there's a UK Rapper Tag now too, a guy called Maestro started it. There's also Arab Rapper Tag and all these different things have started now. There's a Producer Tag, there's a graffiti writer one where they do a piece and then tag someone in it. It's just sick. Its opened up a lot of doors for people to get a lot of new fans. If someone gets tagged in, suddenly a lot of people are hearing their shit because of it, so it's worked out really good.”

He chose carefully when thinking about the best Australian MC to take the challenge and do something special with it before passing on the baton.

“I spoke to Urthboy beforehand and he was keen and I knew a bunch of other dudes that were keen as well,” he says. “I went straight to him because I thought he'd be perfect to set it off and he's got a bit of a following and stuff. He's a dude that people really take notice of and he's got a lot of influence in the Australian scene so I thought he would be a good person to go second.”

Another artist who 360 holds in high regard is accomplice Seth Sentry, who also chooses to write about life experience more than he does the clichés of the hip hop world.

“We've been mates for so long, I think I've known him for about eight years,” he says of his relationship with Sentry. “I first met him through Pez because I was friends with Pez and he'd been making some music with him. Over the years we've kept in close contact and we've done a couple of tours and stuff like that. We're just good mates. When I was doing a mix-tape I just hit him up and he was keen to do something. I've been telling him to get a record together for ages and I think he's on top of that now.”

Also on the way is new music from 360's other long-time cohort Pez, which 360 will be appearing on in one way or another. He's also just returned from a jaunt in the UK where he has started making inroads into the European scene, something he sees as his next major goal. He's uncharacteristically tight lipped about who he has been collaborating with, but does mention an exchange with UK artist Professor Green, who has himself experienced a similar career trajectory.

Whatever happens with his future, 360 is clearly very happy with his present. Having recently become engaged, and kicking the booze which he says has caused him a lot of unhappiness, he seems to be making some pretty serious life-changes for his future wellbeing.

“A year or two ago I would never have thought I would be where I'm at now, in life in general and in a relationship like this. I'm stoked as. I'm over the fucking moon!”