Through Carmouflage Rose Coloured Glasses

The emerging Brisbane rapper, singer and aesthete Carmouflage Rose (aka Graham "Larry" Herrington) may have discovered a magic formula. Indeed, he is somehow balancing spirituality, creativity, partying, adventure and business acumen in his music career.

Though Herrington – whom everyone calls either "Camo" or even just "Larry" – blew up last year with the banger Late Nights, he has been grinding for a while. In 2010 he arrived in Australia as a refugee from Zimbabwe, joining his mum in Queensland. The teen had long sat in as friends created music, helpfully offering feedback. Settling in Brisbane, he began to make his own. "I just wanted to find my purpose and my reason to be on earth – like, I had to find what I was supposed to do, because my whole life I didn't know what I was supposed to do," Herrington reveals.

Herrington developed a mode of individualist, hybridised hip hop with striking visuals. He'd reference Zimbabwean culture, his childhood love of Jamaican reggae (Damian Marley is a hero), and later influences like Kanye West, The Weeknd and deep house. Quietly ambitious, Herrington soon relocated to Sydney – headquarters of the Australian music industry. "I don't half-arse stuff," he says. "I go all the way." While assembling a mixtape on GarageBand, Herrington reached out to Manu Crooks, another Aussie new wave hip hopper, to collab. "It was very comforting to know that there's other guys that were doing the same stuff I was trying to do."

"I've never been a person to let [a track] be from a producer and I just rhyme over the top. I like to be part of the process."

Having already shared tracks via triple j's Unearthed platform, Herrington cut Late Nights with Queensland producer James Angus. Released independently, the slinky house party groove became both a triple j and Spotify smash – and is now certified Gold by ARIA. In March, Herrington announced his signing to Sony Music, airing the percussively futuristic Wildflowers. "I'd rather have a slice of a big cake than just have a small cake to myself – that's how I look at it," he says of his going with a major.

Recently, Herrington dropped the Afro-trop Let Me Down, featuring George Maple – which the pair performed for Like A Version, together with a cover of Kanye West's Heartless. Herrington recalls singing along to Ye's plaintive 2008 ballad back in Zimbabwe, his brother-in-law constantly blasting it in his ride. "I liked the fact of how Kanye also wrote the song. It's an intimate conversation in a relationship, I think, with how he's talking about, 'How could you be so heartless?' and stuff – it's interesting."

Herrington is currently promoting his debut EP Taste, encompassing all his key singles so far. "I'm trying to convey exactly my life experiences and just the person I am in general," he illuminates. "I wanna show people all sides of the person I am. I can be a very emotional guy, I can be such a party guy, or I can also be an asshole sometimes. It all depends on which Larry you catch sometimes, I think!"

Herrington is thrilled to hear that his sound – a blend of dancehall, hip hop and electronica – transcends genre. "It's Carmouflage Rose baby – that's what it is!" he quips. And the rapper is hands-on with production. "I've never been a person to let [a track] be from a producer and I just rhyme over the top. I like to be part of the process. I like to be in the studio; part of the production. Everything is made in the studio – there's no pre-writing or pre-production; everything is made organically there." Next, Herrington – accompanied by his DJ GALLVS – will take Taste on the road, his itinerary including festival appearances and headlining club shows. 

In the past, Herrington has touted an album project, Roselevel. But he's in no rush to furnish it. "I'm just trying to get inspired… I wanna live life a little bit," he ponders. "I just wanna experience, like, skydiving or something – just do some out of the regular, regular."