Words by Christopher Kevin Au // Images by Visuals By Razak //

It’s been one year since Manu Crooks dropped his Mood Forever EP.

For many, it’s a release that marks a considerable shift in the local hip-hop scene, with Manu Crooks garnering plenty of international acclaim with his club-ready, woozy sound. In the 12 months since, Manu has continued to build his legacy: Touring across Europe and Canada, performing alongside ASAP Ferg, and continuing to put up impressive numbers with each and every single release.

To mark the project’s first birthday, Manu is teaming up with Red Bull Music for a blockbuster show on Friday, August 24 at Overseas Passenger Terminal. Joining the rapper will be longtime friends and collaborators like B Wise and Lil Spacely, producer UV Boi, multi-instrumentalist Milan Ring and Ebony Boadu on the decks.

Ahead of the show, we caught up with Manu on the set of his video shoot for ‘Best Years,’ a new single which enlists guest verses from B Wise and Lil Spacely. We chat about his whirlwind year, perceptions of Australian hip-hop and what to expect on Friday evening. Read the interview below alongside some behind-the-scenes images, and grab your tickets to the Red Bull Music show right here:

We’re here on the video set for ‘Best Years’ – tell us a little bit about the track and what you’ve got going on here?

‘Best Years’ is my song, just talking about having a good year. I went around, travelled, so I feel like I’m having a good year. I’ve known Wise even before music just through being African and just dancing and stuff. And Spacely as well, just being pretty much the same community, and we ended up just sharing the same studio space in Alexandria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fd6jOFBoMA

You’ve been saying that you’ve had a good year, and it’s one year since Mood Forever came out. Looking back on it now, how important was the project to the development of the artist that you are today?

With the EP, I was fairly new when I put it out. I was still learning a lot of stuff. But I feel like after just being around – I don’t want to keep saying that, but I feel like I should – and traveling around, my new stuff is like completely different. I’m growing as a person and as an artist. I’m like looking forward to putting out new stuff and seeing what people think, because they’re going to be like, “Whoa, we weren’t expecting that.”

What’s your favourite track on Mood Forever and has that changed from when it first came out?

Off of Mood Forever? My favourite track would probably be ‘Touchdown.’ It’s sick, it’s just mellow, it’s a vibe. ‘Day Ones,’ I like the video.

One of the main themes of Mood Forever is doing things at your own pace, doing things independently, by your own rules. Since so much has happened in your career since then, has it gotten harder to keep that same mentality?

Yeah, definitely. As you grow as an artist, there’s almost like a demand to like put our material and you’ve got to try really not to get caught up in it, and really focus on your craft. I still have that same mentality, but I’m aware that I’ve got to feed the people, you know what I mean?

You spent the last four months travelling around Europe and Canada. Any memorable fan encounters over there?

Yeah in Germany, there’s this fan that came up to me like, “Yo, your music taught me how to speak like taught me English.” Like just off listening to my music! That was one of the things that really stood out. Like, that’s fucking nuts but I didn’t know what to say.

And a couple months ago, someone put a Tweet out saying that Manu Crooks is on all the Spotify hip-hop playlists, but he’s still just slept on in his own country. Do you think that’s still true? Do you think that’s changing? 

I honestly don’t even know. I pay attention to it but I don’t pay attention to it at the same time, because I can’t let that define where the fuck I’m trying to get to… in terms of the audience, I’m not really stressed about that. It’s a bigger picture. I just focus on music and if the music is good, eventually the people will follow it, you know what I mean?

And this week you’ll be playing the Red Bull show down at Passenger Terminal. Tell us about the line up you’ve curated?

Yeah, well I was just literally just thinking that I didn’t want it to be just hip-hop, you know what I mean? Because my goal is to bring everyone together here, so if I’m just doing a hip-hop show and I’m just joining the same hip-hop crowd, that’s the same bubble. I’m trying to get people who listen to other stuff to come. And they come, hear our shit and if they fuck with it, they fuck with it. I’m pretty confident if a new person that doesn’t even listen to hip-hop heard our shit, they’d be like, “Oh this is actually fucking sick.”

I have Milan Ring. I have UV. I have Wise. I have myself, I have Spacely and it’s diverse you know? And I like that. And Ebony, Ebony’s been killing that shit. I feel her and Yemisul together, they’re a dangerous combo, they can do some really sick shit.

And what’s on the cards for Manu Crooks for the rest of 2018?

More music. I don’t want to say a project, but more music definitely.