St.Bedlam On Sexuality & Discrimination In The Music Industry
Queer, free and wild, St.Bedlam is a rapper you need to know. St.Bedlam has a refreshing interpretation of music laden with sauce-packed presence. Lyrical, emotive and oozing with quirkiness, the Sydney emcee is rapidly becoming recognised as one of the most unique artists Australia has to offer. Fresh off releasing her latest single “Wazowksi”, we decided it’s time to chat to the rapper and get to know her more.
How has your rapping journey been so far?
It’s been wild! I love doing what I do, and meeting the people I get to meet through hip hop. When you have a dream and a goal there’s always ups and downs but being able to see how I’ve progressed as an artist and as a person just gives me the drive to keep going.
Do you suffer from any discrimination?
Yep. Most of the keyboard warriors go for the sexuality/woman card. It makes me smile though, cos if that’s all they can attack it means they have nothing to say about my bars.
What made you release the latest single now?
Everything just came together at the right time. Being part of the production process has always been my goal and now that it’s happening with Happycamper, I wanted this song to really herald that I’m entering a zone of believing my music is an unstoppable force.
Is there space for queer rappers in Oz, I guess also around the world?
Absolutely! And some of the bigger names like Young MA, Lil Nas X, Frank Ocean and Sid the Kid are a testament to that.
Society needs to accept that sexuality is only one facet of a persons being. I’m not St.Bedlam the queer rapper. I’m St.Bedlam, the rapper that happens to be queer, as much as I happen to be the daughter of migrants, as much as I happen to be a brunette and it goes on. I think we’re doing a lot better heading in that direction, but as with everything in life, more can still be done.
What stimulates your soul?
Good food, good music, good conversations and quality time with the people I love.