Flexin' With Tkay

It’s been some a minute since the world class bangers of Tkay Maidza were blasting out the office speakers. I mean hey, Carry On is still no stranger to a Friday night dance floor but when the unmistakable elegance of Tkay’s flow saturated The Music’s office walls last week, I had to reach out to give you all the low down on the new Duckwrth featured track.

"I was in the US over November and December last year, I went to Canada, LA and New York for songwriting sessions and I was just in the studio every day. I was working really hard at the time and was rarely going out, so my friends finally persuaded me to have a night on the town. We had such a great night and the next day when I had a session I met this guy OWWWLS, he’s worked with all kinds of amazing artists like Azealia Banks, Princess Nokia etc etc."

They worked on a couple of tracks together throughout the day before realising there was only a small amount of time left and started a new idea in that time.

"That idea ended up being Flexin’ and I think the fact that we were under [time] pressure, but also that we weren’t too worried about what the final product would be… I just kind of did the hook and the first verse without overthinking it and we loved it.

"We had a few people in mind for the feature but they just didn’t seem to fit. We were trying to rush it out at the time but finally came to the conclusion that the right person will come along when they’re supposed to."

If there’s one thing I know about artists, it’s that they’re often impatient. After working on something for so long, they just want to share it with damn near everyone so I really admire the patience that’s required in releasing something that’s unpressured, and at its intended highest quality. By the time you’re listening to “new” music as a consumer (sorry, fuck that word) music lover, it’s easy to be oblivious to its actual life span.

“Well I’ve really been writing for the past two years!” Maidza admits.

“I was really happy with my first album, but when it came out I was already planning on who I wanted to be. It really manifested this thing in me where I was asking myself what I wanted to sound like, what I wanted to look like… I was working with a friend who was just encouraging me to try anything and everything musically. It was kind of like we were rebuilding…”

While Tkay has been on the block for a few years, I’ll point out here that at the age of 21, the MC is looking at how she can evolve herself as an artist, instead of letting this influential world of ours push and pull on our own creative fibres.

With all this international travel and festival commitments, I asked if there was pressure around the musician lifestyle, if the juggling act requires paralysing self-control or if there’s freedom in restraint.

“Oh for sure it’s hard! When people are like, ‘How do you balance your work/social life?’ I just say, 'Oh I don’t have any friends!” she laughs down the line. “No, of course I have friends but they understand that we have separate and busy lives, it just means when we do see each other it makes it that little bit better. Life is like, 90% me trying to make myself better and the other 10% is me going, ‘Oh maybe I should go to the movies or go for a run or whatever.’ Doing social things doesn’t have to be with lots of other people, it’s how I absorb information so sometimes my social life kind of lends itself to work life.”

I don’t know about you, but the only time you’ll see me running is on some weird '80s flashback dance floor (aka the running man… keep up people!) and even then it’s not pretty. So it’s refreshing to hear artists are using healthy alternatives to let off steam or escape every now and then.

“Songwriting can definitely be an escape, it’s almost like a diary. When I write it’s like I’m confessing feelings I may not know I have, or allows me to be someone else you know? The idea that you imagine something and then only weeks later it gets this whole new life to it… I think everyone wants to escape sometimes and that’s where I go, 'cos I can just be into that idea in that moment…”

And what does one of Australia’s biggest rap stars think about this new seven track release concept. I’m all for something original but I can’t help but feel a little depressed that we have the attention span of a 40 minute Netflix episode (coincidence? I think not!)…

“I feel like people that work in hip hop can make music really quickly, so when you record a mixtape for example you just want to put it out and move on. Nothing needs to be official because we’re always evolving and developing. Hip hop came from the streets, it’s DIY and organic… When you call it an “album” it takes on this official, serious thing you know? I prefer making mixtapes and EP’s because it’s fun and there’s no boundaries. Of course I want it to be good but I just feel like there’s more freedom.”

Now I wouldn’t have felt I did myself justice if I didn’t ask how the fuck Tkay has Killer Mike on her debut album. I’m completely impartial on whether we like the dude or not (hell I don’t know him), but I know a damn fine flow when I hear one and the two of them bouncing off each other on track Carry On is lit!

"I was playing a lot of festivals when RTJ were around so while I didn’t speak to them I saw them quite a lot. There was an MIT university conference where he mentioned Azaelia Banks, Iggy Azalea and then he mentioned me saying (and I’m paraphrasing)‘…people focus on the bad in Australian hip hop, but they should focus on the good like Tkay.’ I tweeted him saying thank you (as I didn’t know he knew of my existence!) and the conversation just continued as he ‘really believed in what I was doing’. When Carry On was done I knew it was a perfect opportunity and he was down. He even wrote two verses so we even had an option what to pick!"

So when Maidza’s dance floor tracks hit with such dope features, crazy tight flows and production to blow your speakers out, it’s no wonder the MC is taking over the country.

But hip hop has also been a voice to the disenfranchised, to those without broadcast or audience to listen… I asked if this teased “new project” lends her voice to social address or positive change, or if the positive change is actually already in its upbeat musicality.

“Well I want to do both. This new project I’m working on is certainly more conscious. It’s more mature and it’s more in line to the music I listen to. Soul, reggae, the '90s… I want people to see that I’ve grown but I also want people to see the person I am and the music I’m into.

"I want to create conversation and I’m starting to be more conscious of what’s around me. But I also feel like I’ve been somewhat sheltered in my life and I don’t want to be an advocate for something when I don’t know the full story.

"I’ve definitely seen and heard so many stories from friends, movies and everyday people in my life that experience these horrible things all the time. It made me realise how apparent it is and it’s just horrible! I mean the racist stuff is just not ok. When I first got here I just put up with it because it was easier than confrontation but I’m definitely feeling more comfortable to call that stuff out.

"Sometimes people mix me up with my friends and call us the wrong names saying, ‘Oh sorry you both look alike!’ and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah but she has blue hair!?’ It’s pretty gross, but at least we’re all starting to actually address these issues.”

As a male working in music I always feel awkward approaching the subject (but then I suppose that’s the point in this movement), I investigated further if the MC was aware of the toxic masculinity we’re now aware of in the ongoing fight for equality.

“I’m aware, but I’m not discouraged. If you’re really good, and you’re a girl, you have a huge advantage. I just try to be positive and shine through because good things will always come your way. I wouldn’t ever let the fact that I’m female be held against me, why build another road block you know?”

Tkay announced a national tour last week and promises a very special announcement “sooner than you think”.