Case Study: Illy talks rap newcomer Allday

While Australian hip hop is locally synonymous with the suburban twang of ARIA Award winners Hilltop Hoods, 360 and Bliss N Eso, Adelaide newcomer Allday looks to be working his own grind with the release of debut LP Startup Cult.

The record debuted at #3 on the ARIA Albums chart on Saturday night, sandwiched right between unlikely pop bedfellows 5 Seconds of Summer and Ed Sheeran. Startup Cult is the second release for ONETWO, Unified’s joint venture label with Melbourne rapper Illy – the last release was Illy’s own fourth album Cinematic, which peaked at #4 last November at currently sits at #29.

While Allday (real name Tom Gaynor)’s profile has just hit an adulatory point among industry figures, his star has been rising since his first EP Noue Yesue was put into the right hands at triple j in 2011. The 22-year-old’s last EP Right Now charted inside the ARIA top 20 and hit #1 on the AIR Album chart in 2012. The title track’s popularity on triple j, along with his debut’s second single You Always Know The DJ, lead to a sold out national tour through May, forcing him to announce additional dates in the coming days.

With cloud rap wiles like Wasting Time and Wolves along with the deadpan bravado of tracks like Clouds, he’s much more than an adolescent who raps about his debauched encounters over lush production.

We chat to Allday’s label head Illy (Al Murray) about how Allday came across his path and why he could change Australia’s hip hop landscape.

How did the signing of Allday come about?
I’d heard about Allday through music he’s released and the buzz that he’d generated. He was on the radar for a while, but it was probably the first half of last year where he really started to excel beyond his peers as far as the amount of noise he was making.

He doesn’t sound anything like the hip hop heavyweights who have had ARIA chart success in the past, what do you think it is about Startup Cult that struck a chord with Australia?
Well, I think probably the main thing setting Allday apart is that he has built a following entirely of his own, with his own style. It’s a much harder path to succeed with because you aren’t relying as much on the people who came before you, but the result is that his followers are absolutely devout. And that’s reflected in the sound of the album. For a debut, it’s ambitious and to a degree groundbreaking, which is what you hope to achieve from a first release. I think that is really resonating with the teenage listeners in particular, because they feel an ownership of it as representative of them.

Startup Cult is only the second release on ONETWO and the first was your LP Cinematic. With two records in the ARIA top 4, will that change the way you market any newcomers?
No. We will always treat each release as an individual project. Cinematic, and then Startup Cult, were both treated in their own way, but there were enough similarities that it might look like it was formulaic if you look purely at numbers and chart positions. Behind the scenes though, there were two entirely different approaches. Our fan bases are very different in a lot of ways.

What does ONETWO look for in an artist?
Talent. If it’s something that excites myself or the rest of the team, we’ll fuck with it. There’s a lot of talented people involved at ONETWO and they want to work with music they’re passionate about. Beyond that, we’re open to whatever.

As both a label owner and an artist, how do you view Australia’s reception of local hip hop? Are there still barriers to overcome in terms of what we’re fed from the US?
I feel like at this point we are so far from being a struggling sub genre to be worrying about barriers. Iggy Azalea doesn’t represent me or the people I came up with, but she’s an Australian rapper topping Billboard charts. Anything is possible at this point. As far as reception, there’s always going to be people who don’t like it, same as there will always be people who don’t like any genre. We’re in a very good spot though so any complaining would be a bit much.

What’s next for Allday?
Whatever he wants. He’s a young, talented artist with a lot of love from a lot of people so the sky is the limit for him.