Will The Come Down Be Real For Drapht's Latest Album?

We were pretty damn spoilt for choice in new music last week, both here at home as well as abroad. What really got my attention however was the release from Mr “Jimmy Recard” himself, Perth based rapper Drapht. Dropping not one but five tracks, I got the low down on where he’s been at and what’s about to go down….

“It’s nice to chat man! I feel like I haven’t done an interview for many moons. It’s weird, I’ve been around for a bit now and I thought I was on the other side of the journey. So much time has passed!” he chuckles to himself. “I always get this stress of releasing a new song, will people dig it? Will radio pick it up?

"Just moving forward with my self-progression and musical progression, it’s always an interesting one when you release new music…"

So first and foremost, "where or what is Arabella Street?" I asked the rapper if we were about to get an insight into his home town.

“Arabella Street is a street in New Orleans, I spent nearly all last year in the States. Driving around the west coast creating this new record and Arabella Street just happened upon me around the time I was looking for an album title. It was this beautifully charactered street in New Orleans that had these amazing weatherboard houses and these old, really vampire-esque lanterns hanging out the front. It’s incredible how the city can go from something dark and dangerous in terms of suburb to something incredibly bright and vibrant. When I got to thinking about the record I really felt like it depicted the albums energy itself going from bright to dark.”

Now apart from the content itself (we’ll get to that), what was interesting to me was that this isn’t an EP, nor an album… Instead Drapht has released the first quarter of his coming album Arabella Street and can I say there is nothing more refreshing than an MC that doesn’t play by the rules.

“For me it was off the back of releasing singles over the past 10 years. There’s so much stress that came with that individual initial release and it didn’t really encapsulate the record that was coming. People’s imaginations can suspect or assume the rest of the record is going to be like that, so it felt like it was one step forwards, 10 steps backwards.
I didn’t want to leave it to imagination this time around so instead I just gave them a bit of a taste of things to come. I wanted to cover my bases and release something that’s more diverse than a single track, now they have an understanding of where the album’s going as a full body of work.”

Drapht is so charismatic as an MC. His vocal tone, his confidence in singing a hook and the way he invites you into his life before you knew you were friends. Throughout his discography the emotion behind his vocab is evident and I wonder when you extend this invitation creatively if it comes with hesitation?

“I never have any ambition going into a new record. It’s me getting a bunch of shit off my chest. For example, the reason I left Perth to go to the States was 'cos I just went through a break up and that’s always going to be fuel to any fire of creation. I sort of felt stagnant within Perth itself, I’d exhausted so many opportunities here and I was so uninspired. Australia-wise as well, I just felt everyone was writing to this one particular formula, and I was part of it! Throwing myself into a new environment gave new inspiration."

Since pRhymetime’s conception we’ve heard artists comment on how music offers escape, but also destination to run to. It feels like it’s unanimously understood yet remarkably incomparable across genres and personalities. For a seasoned veteran in the game, I wonder if his craft adheres to current trends or if this ‘outlet’ is something he makes up as he goes…

Single The Come Down Was Real (featuring Indoor Fins) seems to be a real favourite in his recent release, however it was track Gravity (featuring Claudio) that got my attention. It’s a self deprecating honesty discussing relationships between himself and family members. “…How does anyone like me? Anxiety kicks in, thought it was all behind me/ why me?/ Mixed in with some wasabi/ hot headed a little bit of the devil inside me/…” he raps only bars into the introduction.

“Expression is something that’s healing, I’ve always put that into my music. I had a track on Brothers Grimm called Falling and a lot of people would hit me up on social media asking 'What happened to the track Falling?' I had actually got sued for a sample we used and got a desist so we removed the track... Gravity is kind of a Falling 2.0. In hindsight I’m kinda glad it went down like that 'cos now it’s been replaced by this upgrade. It’s actually simple really, you don’t get to choose who’s in your family, but you certainly get to choose who you fight with…”

Sometimes I wonder what impact my opinion has on the world, whether I’ll regret these paragraphs in years to come, now lost somewhere in the World Wide Web. I have to admit after discussing this with him and hearing his calm explanation, neigh, development, it feels like an honest conversation we could all probably benefit from having with our families (be that creatively or otherwise).

“I don’t know what the impact would be of them hearing that song...  But for me it’s the self-progression that I need within my life to take the next step. It’s so important… I think if he [Drapht’s family member discussed in the track] listened to the past 15 years of progression in my music and the story within it, if anything, they’d hear the release of anger that I once held onto. It’s like a purging process. Obviously I’m not just gonna go gung-ho and attack my loved ones on a record without having thought about it. Everything’s calculated, everything’s thought out before the actual release but music is by nature, a creative outlet.”

Lastly I asked Drapht about the climate of social change in hip hop. Not social address or discussion, but actual change. When we look at our Remis, Sampa the Greats, Briggs’, Childish Gambinos, Kanyes and Janelle Monaes (for example), we all look and discuss what’s hot. But as soon as desensitisation kicks in, or perhaps it’s just not sexy anymore, have we made any real impact?

“I think with repetition there’s change. It’s not going to change overnight but if people continue to plant that seed and water that seed, then it’s going to change. Some people will undo it [change] and others will re build it...  We just need to constantly chip away, little by little it makes massive difference.

"There’s so much new and exciting young talent, people discussing mental health for example… So many people that are just a ray of light, you know? That want to be positive and make the world a better place… This music is what I want people to be able to listen to while they’re thinking about, and making important choices. While they’re travelling, while they’re working for themselves, creating themselves! I want people to listen to it while they’re enjoying their own lives, you know!?”

Go check out the first taste of Arabella Street on all platforms before peeping Drapht on his upcoming tour. The come down will indeed be real.