Music Q&A:
Parallax

How would you describe your sound?
It’s a blend of hard-hitting hip-hop with soul and substance. I have throwback influences with a modern sound. Definitely lyrically charged and conscious as I believe content matters and I want to emotionally connect with the listeners so they can relate.

What informs your music and songwriting?
It’s a wide range of things that drives the knowledge behind my pen. For starters, life experience fuels everything. That ranges from social commentary on my surroundings in the capital city to difficult relationships and personal hardship I’ve been through at low points.

I’m also influenced heavily by the artists I love from the golden era as well as the new wave coming through, whether that’s grime or trap, despite being mainly focused on hip-hop. I watch the game a lot and study as I’m always trying to learn from the young cats. Lastly books and movies always provide knowledge and different perspectives that ultimately end up in the lyrics one way or another, although I draw more content from within.

How have you evolved as an artist over the years?
It’s been a long road of chipping away at this craft to perfect my lyricism and songwriting through improving flow patterns and diving deeper into conceptual writing structures, etc. On top of the rapping side I’ve been heavy on the boards refining my production and engineering through extensive work on Logic mixing and arranging and using plugins to control and shape sounds.

As I’m moving into this next phase I’m showing more versatility through rhyming on different tempos and mixing elements of hip-hop and grime together.

I’m a solo independent artist so music is just one part. The business is also crucial in order for me to present myself with the professional aesthetic, you see. That comes from putting my hard-earned cash into bigger videos and more complex project management.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
Defo trying to push my sound by experimenting more, switching up the flow on different drum patterns as well as mixing boom bap elements with newer influences. Got a lot coming over the next 12 months and I want to push the envelope so I can remain fresh and exciting as well as paying homage to the era I love and am directly influenced by.

What’s on your rider?
Smart water, 9.2 per cent Cannonball IPA. Wray & Nephew and tropical juice. Haribo – haha.

Tell us your most embarrassing or surreal experience.
A surreal experience was going to see Dilated Peoples headline a big show in LA a couple hours after we shot our video out there! Chilling out backstage and seeing all the legends I’ve only ever seen on TV just after working with someone I looked up to and idolised was a surreal and dope sense of accomplishment. Strange thinking back on it and thinking how far I’ve come but it just lets me know I’m doing something right! Never give up!