Deconstructing Different Slices Of Hip Hop with Rapper Fylyx The Incredible
For many years, hip hop in Australia was defined as ‘Oz Hip Hop’, this in itself showed barely an diversity in their delivery and musical style. Fast forward a few more years, and hip hop in Australia has finally become a genre with a mixed of influences, being more widely accepted thanks to artists’ of colour stepping into the lime-light and getting some coverage. Fylyx The Incredible is one of these rappers, who fuses boom-bap with some delicious soul on his recent single ‘Happy’ produced by LKGD.
Fylyx The Incredible is a positive rapper that has a reminiscence of NYC golden hip hop era, so we sit down and chat about the racism he faced growing up by people of colour and white Australians, how hip hop is like pizza and what we can expect from his upcoming EP.
Tell us about your new single and what inspired it?
Well, me & my best friend LKGD (producers name pronounced Look - Good) just wanted to give back to the hip hop culture and make something dope from a lyrical point of view, we felt lyrics and delivery have been slept on for a good minute and we did what we love to do and that was make some soulful hip hop.
How do you find the Aus hip hop scene?
I love the scene, everyone is really finding their own lanes and identities & just really enjoying the sub categories in hip hop in Australia, I’ve always said hip hop is like a slice of pizza you got different slices. Dudes like me love soulful boom bap it’s just who I am but my close friends get into trap, some into melodic style of rapping/singing almost etc. It’s just great to see so much diversity now and choices for people to feel comfortable to be themselves.
Have you ever had any issues with being a black artist in Aus?
Yes 150% especially when I was younger, I remembered being dissed cause I rapped in my own accent (Aussie) by black people then having the same issue with white people cause I was black spitting in an Aussies accent (frustrating times), I’ve always felt like white people owned ‘hip hop’ in Australia for a long time hence they love to call it OZ hip hop when really hip hop was made for the people by African Americans but to answer your question YES I HAVE, not so much today hat off to all the Aussies with a growth mindset and all the dope artist from different ethnicities dropping dope music that’s earning peoples respect is changing that definition of ‘Oz Hip hop’.
What other projects do you have coming up?
Myself & LKGD have a collaboration EP dropping very soon we’ve finished it all, we are now shooting all videos as a visual EP, we still haven’t got a name for it, we are so nervous to name it (laughs), as we really love the EP and just don’t wanna rush naming it, also I have 8 track mixtape coming out Called ‘Before & After’. (No dates, just don’t like to be rushed or forced)
Who are your influences and why?
Pusha T, Skyzoo, Smoke Dza, Dom Kennedy, Maundz, Fashawn, Nas, Jay Rock.(So many more but off the top) I just love their writing schemes/structures, charisma & just all around pen game. They got mad steez too.
Which artists are you listening to right now?
Buddy - Trouble in Central & Masego - Old age been on repeat at my house for sure!
What stimulates your soul?
Just substance, talking about things that actually matter. That really gets me going and happy, oh and a couple beers and an old Nas tape or real soulful jazzy beats to vibe too that can do the trick (laughs).