REMI is not your average Australian hip hop act, particularly when you consider how far they have come in such a short amount of time.
Despite not having been on the Australian music scene for more than two years, lead singer/rap artist Remi Kolawole said the group had already been bombarded with origin questions throughout their career, how they started and how the group dynamic operates.
“It’s ridiculous that I met J and we started making music together,” Kolawole said.
“I was mind blown by his beats… our demos were terrible though.
“Four years later, here we are.
“It’s a cool question, you can’t get mad at people for wanting to learn more about you, but sometimes it gets a bit tedious.”
Creating their own variety of hip hop which is a stand out in the Australian music scene, the Mail’s entertainment reporter Amy McKie imagined it would be difficult to stand out in such an already genre blurred style.
“I think Aussie hip hop is strong as ever,” Kolawole said.
“Sometimes people forget that, it started as something that was very throw back,
“It’s taking a very different direction now… if anything, it’s growing.”
Kolawole said American comparisons to Australian hip hop were bound to happen, but within the American style everything had its place, it could be filed into a category, while in Australian, it’s a very different story.
“I have a lot of people say they don’t listen to Aussie hip hop but they listen to our stuff,” he said.
Surprisingly, Kolawole doesn’t feel any pressure creating REMI’s next album, despite the outstanding success of their debut Raw x Infinity.
“It’s the complete opposite,” he said.
“Half of what we did for the first album we put together in two weeks, grabbing things and throwing them together,
“It was a free flowing, organic, hippie s**t process… pressure is the last thing I’m going to worry about.”
The reception of the debut album surprised the group entirely according to Kolawole.
“We are so thankful people enjoy our music,” he said.
“We just want to make music we like, that’s the most satisfying thing about it.
“We do eat it up.”
Food is a familiar theme with Kolawole, with the graphic designs for the debut album featuring drawings by Kolawole himself, in particular a steak representing ‘Raw’.
“People have described it as a little dinosaur, even a red Yoshi,” Kolawole said, laughing.
Kolawole reflected back on the moment when all the pieces of REMI seemed to fall into place for the first time.
“When we played the Hills are Alive, we played this set, probably had a little too much to drink before we went on stage,” he said, laughing again,
“It was just the most beautiful scenario,”
“The sun was going down over the hill, it was this weird surreal moment drinking beers with a buddy… we just finished playing a set we made in our bedrooms and played it to a real crowd.
“There’s been no real formula for the s*** we’ve done.”
Kolawole said he had often told artists aspiring to follow his footsteps to keep releasing music, keep performing it and even give out music for free whenever you can.
“It all comes around full circle.”
Kolawole said when the group hits Southbound he’ll be keeping an eye out for the Joey Badass and Jamie XX sets, while also heading over to support fellow Australian group SAFIA, after meeting at the triple j unearthed showcase.
“Ben’s voice is ridiculous, it’s a mind freak.”
If you’re intrigued enough to follow REMI all the way to the Lefty’s stage at Southbound, they’ll be playing just after 3pm until 4pm.
Tickets to Southbound are still available from southboundfestival.com.au/tickets/buy.