Over what may seem like a short time producing music, Remi and Sensible J have learned how to deliver a message in each track, one of the hardest things to master in rap. But more recently, Remi got a lesson on crocodiles in Darwin.
“We went on a crocodile tour and it was just too much man, I learnt way too much about crocodiles. We went swimming afterwards and it was just hectic,” Remi says.
“They can hear your heartbeat in the water for a kilometre, they stalk you, they can swim at 20km an hour when our fastest swimmer is 7km an hour. So you could be fucking Michael Phelps and they’re still going to kill you. You don’t need that kind of information when you’re walking around.”
“We were up there with Sietta and they took us to this place to go swimming in a watering hole. And I was like, ‘But I just learnt all this shit about crocs’? They were like, ‘That’s fine’ and so I asked if there were any crocs there and they said ‘Oh, maybe’. Maybe. That’s fucking ridiculous it should be absolutely no.”
There’s no trial and error when it comes to learning about crocodiles, but when it comes to sending the message through music, that process is exactly what helped perfect the rappers sound.
“Before releasing RawXInfinity I wasn’t sure if putting stuff on like ‘Ode to Ignorance’ was too much or too early on in our careers. I didn’t know if I was at a stage yet where I could convey that message and not be too preachy,” he says.
“I guess that’s why I’m lucky, because Sensible J and I, it’s the two of us. I run everything by him and he runs everything by me. When you’ve got someone that you trust and you’re a team with, it makes it easier to have another perspective.”
Striking the right balance between being “preachy” and insightful is a hard one, and not all musicians get it right, but it’s so important for an attempt to be made.
“I think there is enough music that is representing and talking about nothing but I don’t think there’s enough music talking about important stuff. A lot of the time when you talk about important stuff it’s mother fucking boring and that’s not what we want to be happening,” he says.
“If you listen to anyone from Andre 3000 to Kendrick Lamar to Mos Def, when they deliver their stuff, and they can say some really profound and deep shit, it’s in this cool rhythmic and relatable way that plays at your emotions in a way that you don’t even realise you’ve been hit by it. So I guess that’s the aim.”
RawXInfinity was a chance for the duo to fine tune the message, but it was also a chance to throw some “weird shit” into the album. As Remi explains, rather than just be for the sake of it, it was a return to their more diverse sound.
This time around, Remi and Sensible J are piecing together an album in six weeks that is set to be much more cohesive than the last.
“We just did the intro for our album in two hours, starting from scratch with no beat or nothing to being fully written. We were able to do that because there was a vibe and the whole thing was just sound scaped out in a short period of time,” he says.
“It’s just really whatever it takes to get that stuff out right, this is the first time we’ve done a cohesive album so there’s been more back and forth than ever before because that’s what it requires.”
It mightn’t seem like long to wait given the album is bound to be halfway finished once this story goes to print, but if you’re looking for something to keep your busy in the meantime, head to Remi’s Bandcamp and download a few of the free mixtapes. Oh, and don’t go swimming in any waterholes in Darwin without having your wits about you.
Written by Amanda Sherring
When & Where: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne – October 25