Two years in the making, Place of Dreams is the highly anticipated follow up to Birdz’s critically acclaimed debut album Train of Thought. And guess what? It’s out today.
To celebrate the release, we caught up with him to chop up the new tracks, Tupac Shakur and falling back in love with rap music. Check out the full interview below and be sure to set aside half an hour this weekend to tune in to the powerful 7-track EP.
First of all, congrats on your new EP. Tell us a bit about the project.
Yeah, well the concept behind Place of Dreams, is really like a play on the whole concept of Australia being the lucky country and the, “lucky country for who?” kind of question. I think that often contradicts or silences or excludes the indigenous experience, and what we’ve gone through and continue to go through. I think that’s always kind of within my music, but with this EP I wanted to get a little bit more specific in terms of having dreams and wanting to be successful and the limitations that we often encounter as Indigenous People.
And it’s a project that you took your time with. What have you been up to in the almost two years since dropping your debut album Train Of Thought?
Yeah I think, at first after I dropped the first album I was like, “oh man, I really want to keep writing, I need to put out another project,” but then I realised I just need to chill and experience life a little bit more. I’ve played a lot of shows, and touring for the last album was a lot of fun. Then, for about ten or eleven months, I think just locked myself in the studio or went to the studio on a regular basis and just really fell in love with the process of making music again. Not really putting a name on anything or saying that this has to be for this project or anything like that, just falling in love with rap music again. Yeah, and then it just kind of happened that after about ten months or so I was like, “I think I’ve got enough songs here to put a cool project together”, and yeah I guess that’s Place of Dreams.
Is there a song from Place Of Dreams that means the most to you?
Man, that’s a hard question, they’re all like my babies. Luckily I only have one kid. No, but ‘Black Child’ just came out today, we just released the video for that. I think that’s something that’s really dear to my heart. I feel really proud of that just in the sense that I think it’s a song where I’ve got a lot closer to, or finally mastered in my own terms of creating a balance of shedding light on an issue that needed to be exposed and needed more exposure, and harsh realities, but also a sense of hope and empowerment and having a positive message in there as well. I think also as a father now, you know, my son’s in the video, and I think the video really captures that message of excellence and how proud we are as a people.
And you just touched on the fact that you dropped a video for your new single, ‘Black Child’ featuring Mojo Juju. Is there a story behind how that song came together or can you tell us about the narrative that you wanted to convey with the video?
Yeah sure. I wrote it actually a few days after I went to my grandmother’s funeral and so I guess I was definitely inspired by that and what I was going through at the time. Sort of not really having a relationship with my grandmother due to my father being removed – well he was removed from his family – so there was a lack of a relationship there for him and his mother, and that sort of translated into me not really having a relationship either. So I guess a lot of emotions there, and touching on my own personal experience and how stolen generations, the issue of stolen generations, and people being removed, affects me personally and my family. And so I think the song really is inspired by that and shares my thoughts around that time of going to my grandmother’s funeral, not really knowing this person, but knowing she was my grandmother. So it was really sort of a tough time but then with the video, I thought it would be cool to switch it up a bit and have this really positive outlook, and look into the future at what I guess my idea of a black future would be, and just really sort of showcasing our pride and our excellence. And I think the song, even though I’m touching on those harsh realities, really still has a message of hope and an uplifting message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULOUPX1eXxY&list=RDULOUPX1eXxY&start_radio=1
The chorus also pays homage to a wonderful Five Fairsteps track but in hip hop terms that holds maybe even greater significance as the hook from Tupac’s ‘Keep Ya Head Up’. Was he someone that you looked up to in finding yourself as an artist?
Oh man, I guess I wasn’t really thinking about that when I wrote the song, but definitely. Tupac is my all time favourite rapper, artist and one of my favourite human beings. He was a huge influence on me growing up and I think everything he stood for … similar to like, more recently Nipsey Hussle and people like that. They’re really my favorite artists in terms of their music, but also what they stand for, and that’s kind of the lane that I love and think about a lot, and I try to convey those messages with my own music.
Tupac’s music was inevitably politicised whether he was rapping about politics and systems or not, and I think there’s a parallel between his music and yours in that way. It’s something that you speak to throughout the EP but how does that influence your approach to music?
That’s something that I’ll always sort of struggle with, or always think about as like, wanting to be known as a dope MC, dope rapper or dope hip hop artist. And sometimes I guess, as Indigenous People we can be placed in a box, and it’s like, “that’s Aboriginal hip hop” or whatever, just because I’m sharing my story. I think sometimes that can really limit what the music is about, what it’s intended for and it’s reach and stuff. But, I mean it’s definitely, I guess, yeah, I mean, it’s inevitable… I see myself as a hip hop artist sharing my story, and it just so happens that my story is, you know, I’m indigenous, and this is my history. And sometimes I just love making bangers.
Let’s talk about Bad Apples. What’s it like working with Aussie hip hop heavyweights like Briggs and Trials?
Oh man, yeah it’s mad, they’re like my brothers. They’ve been a huge inspiration for me, as men, as brothers and also on a music level. I think it’s undeniable, the barriers, you know, we talk about limits and I feel like they really pushed them, and really opened a lot of doors for artists like me. Yeah, and just that level of excellence and that level of what it really takes to put a dope project together, a dope song. I guess I get a lot of influence and a lot of mentoring from them. Bad Apples as a label is just dope, I think they just really understand where I come from, and my story, and what I’m trying to do with my music. So it’s just like a big family, and it’s great. I think I get that level of support, that I’m not sure if I’d be able to get anywhere else.
On the EP you also link up with Ecca Vandal and Serina Perch again. You opted to go for all vocal features over guest rappers/verses this time around. Was that intentional or did it just work out like that?
No I think I just decided that this EP was really an introduction for me to step into more of a song writing role as well, in terms of writing hooks, and I’m just really inclined to start with a melody. I’m not the most amazing singer, but I just love humming along, and coming up with melodies and that’s just the way it went. I just thought, these were the people that I really wanted to work with and they’re all really, like, next level in their own right, and super dope, and all from different worlds which I thought was really cool. Yeah, they all smash it, I’m just really honoured to have them on my EP.
Has your style of writing changed over time or have you always started a song like that?
I really started with rap and just being inspired by how cool and uncensored and how unfiltered hip hop and rap was. But then as a writer, I think I’ve always been drawn to people like Outkast, Pharoahe Monch and Mos Def who had all these different styles and switch their flows up. Even like Eminem, they were just always doing something interesting with their voice. I think I’ve always been attracted to that, and storytelling, and so I think it’s just a natural progression to start getting more into songwriting stuff as well.
What will you be doing on release day?
Oh man, yeah I guess it’s hard not to keep an eye on it. I love seeing the reaction and I guess, it takes on a different life for me, seeing how people interact with it, and what it means for them. And then it’s kind of cool for me to, you know, after seeing that, I might go back and listen to my own stuff and be like, “oh yeah”, you know? But I’m actually in the studio with these guys [at SongHubs First Nations workshop], so I’ll be making new music and then I’m doing Yirramboi, which is a Melbourne festival, tonight with the Bad Apples fam. It’s sold out I think, so that’s going to be hectic.
Sounds good. And finally, what are some of your goals for the rest of 2019? What’s next?
Just playing this new EP live. I can’t wait to share it live because that’s a whole new experience as well. Yeah, just trying to perform as much as possible, get around the country, and keep working on new tunes.
