Two things about RaRa: they are never not interesting, and they put on one hell of a live show. I remember this one gig where they ran around shirtless and fell to the ground in a mock shoot ’em up mid-performance. Another thing I love about RaRa is their support of one another – if there was ever a benchmark for PLUR in Australian hip-hop, RaRa would be it. Their latest EP Pink and Teal is a little more toned down and streamlined than previous releases, and collaborations with Silent Jay (The Operatives), Martin King (Oscar + Martin) and ƒriendships (Silo Arts) help to steer the release into a posi place. A stand out for me is ‘Green Beat’ – a collaboration with the aforementioned ƒriendships. Check the video for the track below, created by ƒriendships leading lady Misha Grace:
EAVESDROPPING ON RARA
Who are you?
RaRa. Made up of four hotboyz: Ll’vo, SweetLuv, KL and River Deep.
Where are you from?
The east side of Melbourne city. Currently operating out tha North cyde of the city but.
What is unique about your local music scene?
Our local scene is our team. Heaps of crazy talented cats making music in the same city has brought up mad camaraderie. Everyone is fucking with each other which is creating a diverse sound in this one scene. It’s tru fam, cuzz.
Describe your sound in 3 words. Go!
Jordan, Tyson, Jackson… aka Michael.
What makes you unique as an artist?
SweetLuv. He’s guaranteed to be prettier than 98% of people in any room. But also trying to introduce rapping to a production-dominated scene and giving people who aren’t heaps into Australian hip-hop some local shit to fuck with.
Have you heard any new music lately? Got any recommendations?
Pink and Teal EP, Young Thug, Spooky Black, anything Raider Klan and ƒriendships about to drop some hektik shit, keep an ear out for ‘Ghost Hear’!
Tell us a little about this release.
It’s some hot shit, in whatever scene, period. We loaded two cars with hella instruments and locked up in a haunted house sipping Henny and smoking blunts, just to get the energy right. We all caught the same tempo and ‘Car Crash’ was made. Every track from then on had to be hot.
What inspired the artwork for this EP?
Hedsbent hooked up the cover art and the launch poster. We’re at his house right now but he’s too cuzz’d out to give a straight answer.
Is there a video component? What’s the story behind the video?
We fux with ƒriendships heavily – they are our KIN. Nic hooked us with the beat, we rapped good on it and then we gave it to Misha who hooked up the video.
She says: “For ‘Green Beat’, it’s a party track, so I wanted to embody the energy that these guys have in their live performances. Their shows move fast and have so many elements to look at – it’s really theatrical. So the video was really about representing that on a li’l 2D format.”
What else are you working on at the moment?
We’re going to release a remixtape for Pink and Teal. We’re also working on a Melbourne tape, purely collaborative. Copping beats from our homies in the city to showcase the hotness and fam nature of the scene. This is different to our usual approach as all RaRa beats are made within the band.
Do you have any shows coming up?
Hellz yea. Pink and Teal EP launch party at Boney on the June 20. Sharing the stage with collabs from the EP: SilentJay, friendships and Martin King. DJ homies holding the vibes till sun up: 2fuddha, Fletch, Thomas Touché and Son of Ann. ƒriendships also keeping the visual game swoll all night plus a guest dance performance from Jessie Tokumbo Oshodi during our set.
TRU HOT SHIT.
More RaRa
More Friendships
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