I’m 23 years old and from Ipswich, I’m currently the CEO of Swish Records. I started making music accidentally [laughs]. I went to my friend Showt!me’s house and found him working on a beat. I knew nothing about music, but I told him let me jump on the beat—and boom. Two years later we have Swish Music. 

I was raised in New Zealand, and I’m currently a University student [in Queensland]. I was around music my whole life. I was really inspired one day when my dad played me a Lil Wayne song, from that day I started writing raps. I started making music at age 12 secretly. [I view] rap as a form of art that I can compete with myself in. My style represents me. I’m super feminine but I’m always gonna tell you how it is and how I wanna tell you. My hard lyrics show that. I’m versatile and can manoeuvre on any beat.

I’ve known a lot of [the Swish Music] guys and their cousins basically my whole life. We’ve always been around each other. When they first started making music I was in the USA playing basketball, but I was always supporting them. When I came back to Australia I started rapping too. [This year] I just want to see my brothers make a name in the music industry. We’re so talented, and can make so many different types of music for different listeners. I know we’re going to be big sooner or later.

I [was always] a big fan of old school R&B. Around age 14 I started making my own music and singing, my brother and cousin were the reason I started, they also wanted to be musicians themselves. I wouldn’t have really gotten into making music and writing songs without them. I still pull my inspiration from soul and R&B. [In Swish Music] we all have respect and treat each other as family. Individually, we all come from different backgrounds and all have a different story to tell, but because of the culture and respect that has been embedded in us by our parents, it gives us the motivation to work as a team.

I got involved with the crew through my cousin Dau, who started rapping before any of us. [Until then] I never really took music seriously, it was mainly a hobby—just me and my friends freestyling at the park or wherever. I started jumping on songs when my cousin needed an extra verse, that’s how I got into music basically. [Outside of music] I have a passion for basketball and hopes of making it to the NBA. That’s been my plan for the past few years. I train for basketball and go to the gym almost every day, as if it’s my job.

I got into music through kicking back and freestyling with the bros in the whip. [In the Swish Music crew] Unamii and Been Ballin have the hardest bars.

I came to Australia when I was six. I’m very passionate about sports and music. I’m the oldest of five brothers and try to be a good role model to my younger brothers, and anyone else who looks up to me. I got into music because of the Swish Crew, I was always in the studio while they were working and they really inspired me to start making music myself. After their studio session I would go home and work on my lyrics, until one day I jumped in [the booth]. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity. I feel like [Swish Music] has an opportunity to put Ipswich on the map. Everyone in Ipswich is tight and supports us 100 percent. The rappers that inspired me to music myself were the Swish Music members: Been Ballin, R3DD and Dau Dau. Craziest bars [in the crew] would have to be Been Ballin. That man is a verse eater, he never disappoints.

I’m still new to Swish Music, but they’ve been so welcoming and they accepted the sound I could bring to the table. I knew Dau, TMB, Been Ballin, M2 and Showtime through our family ties. One day I hit up Dau to jump on a tune and he welcomed me to the studio. We quickly started to work and make hits. Growing up in Ipswich everyone was always making music as a hobby. Now that there is someone like Dau Dau taking the lead, I would say that it’s more inspiring. We’ve got younger generations supporting and looking up to us as the next big thing in Australia.

I’m somebody that’s ambitious and driven, I’ve always been like that. At first with music I wasn’t serious at all, I used to freestyle over beats whenever I was kicking it [with friends]. A couple of years ago I sent Dau Dau a recording and he hit me back and told me to get in the studio ASAP to lay the verse. That’s how I really got into making music. The Swish crew don’t stop working, expect new music soon.

I was born and raised in Kenya, but my nationality is South Sundanese. I came to Australia at the age of 11 in 2009. I was always a big fan of music growing up and had thoughts of making my own music someday—I also had mates and family that were making music, so I always had access to the studio. I grew up with Dau Dau, and through high school we were always freestyling. He also had a studio at his place so I’d just come around to watch him make music. One day I recorded a track too and have loved it since then.

I was born overseas and migrated to Australia in 2004. I grew up in Melbourne until the start of high school when I moved to Toowoomba, Queensland. I’m normally quiet, but ambitious when I have a goal. I got into music by hanging around Dau Dau and Showt!me in the studio. Hearing their music inspired me to pursue my new-found dream of being an artist. Our music is energetic and diverse. It’s a united sound of life as an African-Australian youth.

I started learning how to make beats when I left school. Metro Boomin and Southside were really big at the time I started producing, and their workflow would get them placements almost every week. I really liked the idea that you could spend all your time doing something you love and be able to be paid for it. I linked up with Dau Dau in Toowoomba, he had started rapping and I would often send him beats. He made a video out of one of them, and that motivated me to stay involved in music. When he moved to Ipswich they started Swish Music and I was always supporting. Soon enough I became a member of the gang.