For some time now, L-FRESH THE LION has been a gem of the Australian hip-hop community. His lyricism is both personal and powerful, a presentation of an individual’s journey of cultural integration and the challenges that oftentimes accompany.
Born and raised in Sydney, L-Fresh has poured his experiences of growing up within the Sikh culture and religion, in a contemporary Australian environment, into his music. As a wordsmith, he tackles racism in a beautiful way – his rhymes are impassioned, their delivery strong. Musically, L-Fresh has demonstrated a variety of different influences and with his new album Become (due out on Friday via Elefant Traks), the rapper’s diverse range of tastes is showcased brilliantly once again.
Ahead of Become‘s release, we caught up with the man himself to see how things were sitting on his end. L-Fresh reflects on the making of Become, his sophomore album, particularly working with producer Michael McGlynn.
“I think I found new ways of making music on this record.” L-Fresh says. “[With] the first album I released – the production and the songwriting was done well before I hit the studio to piece it all together with Michael, there was almost like a method to it. [For] this one, there wasn’t really a method, as such. Every song had a different motive being created and I learnt a lot making this album.”
The debut L-Fresh album, ONE, acts somewhat like a sequel to Become even if they’ve been released in reverse order. The rapper opens up about the way his musicianship and songwriting skills have developed since working in studio on this new album and how it’s changed his approach to making music in the future.
“I learnt so about songwriting while making this album,” he says. “Each song really is a part of a raw journey and a raw vision that the record represents, but then each song is in itself, a story and a progression. From the onset, I’ve spoken to Michael and Tim, who was helping the direction as well, and my manager; I don’t want to make a song where it’s just like an album where it has songs sticking to the traditional format and what people expect from hip-hop music. I want to open the door wide as to what the song should sound like from start to finish and how it should flow. I want to incorporate elements from my culture that haven’t necessarily been explored and used before – whether that’s lyrically or musically in the production.”
“We approached it that way and we sung and really looked at the arrangement for every single song. We were like, ‘Let’s make sure we put the right arrangement for this song,’ whether that was 16-bar or 8-bar chorus. Whether it was three or four verses or a pre-chorus, a bridge thing or a break, every song [followed] whatever felt right. [It] was different to how I previously thought about songs and thought about making music, just that whole experience of approaching music that way. It opened my mind up to a whole other world of possibilities when it comes to creating music.”
L-Fresh’s culture and by extension, his embrace of other people’s cultures around him, forms much of the backbone of Become’s narrative. While his music has been associated with political activism in the past, it’s this cultural tension that continues to exist in our ‘multiculturally rich’ society that rings out the strongest through L-Fresh’s material.
“I wanted to explore that often not spoken about story of people who are from Australia but who have such a blend of cultures and who have to navigate those cultures.” L-Fresh explains. “Sometimes being conscious of the fact that they work well together or conscious of the fact that sometimes they can flake and other times, not being conscious of it. Knowing that there’s some sort of tension that exists inside you and not being able to articulate what that is. I wanted to explore that because that’s an untold story – a story not spoken about of contemporary Australia.”
“There’s the part of, ‘Okay, how do I explain this people who may not understand it?’, but more than anything else, the record for me was like, ‘Okay, how can I understand it?’. If I don’t understand it for myself and I don’t come to know, if I’m not conscious with what’s happening within me, then ultimately, that’s going to effect me as an individual and as a person – just in society in general and throughout the course of my life. To this point, my life story has been about navigating those cultures and trying to make sense of it all, to form a sense of them in contemporary Australia today. That really, is what sits behind the record.”
Become features an impressive list of guest vocalists too, further demonstrating the collaborative nature of Australian hip hop at the moment, and the different flavours each artist brings to the table.
“I think that was an important part of telling the story in this record as well,” he admits. “Getting the right people involved. Having someone like Remi (“Hold Up) and Parvyn (“Get Mine”) even the young dude Tre [Samuels] (“Pray For Me”), who’s the next generation, he’s going to be a superstar. Then you’ve got Jimblah who captured that particular song (“unBECOME”). Even though we have different experiences and backgrounds, he got what this is about and damn, when he sent that back, I was like, ‘Man!‘. It was like, ‘Dude, I don’t have to say anything to anyone anymore,’ and to just hear that chorus and know that’s the feeling of completely broken by these conflicts, you know? Having the right people was so important for this album.”
2016 is set to be a big year for L-Fresh; now part of the Elefant Traks family, we can be expecting to see much more of him, starting with his upcoming shows alongside Urthboy and Okenyo kicking off at the end of the month.
“I’m excited,” L-Fresh enthuses. “With Okenyo being announced as the newest member of Elefant Traks too, that’s super exciting. I’ve been learning from Urthboy from a while now and to be able to be on the tour that celebrates his newest record – which is such a fun record – it’s exciting. My team and I are just ready to go. We just want to be able to put on the best show possible for everybody who comes to watch so from start to finish. It’s really going to be a diverse cultural experience for the whole evening; it’s going to be so much fun, I couldn’t be happier with it.”
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Become is out May 13th via Elefant Traks. Catch L-FRESH THE LION out on the road nationally at the tour dates below:
May 27th | Howler, MELBOURNE
May 28th | Republic Bar, HOBART
June 3rd | Sol Bar, MAROOCHYDORE
June 4th | Woolly Mammoth, BRISBANE
June 10th | Academy, CANBERRA
June 11th | Baroque, KATOOMBA
June 17th | Oxford Art Factory, SYDNEY
June 18th | The Cambridge, NEWCASTLE
June 24th | Rocket Bar, ADELAIDE
June 25th | Amplifier, PERTH
June 26th | Mojo’s, FREMANTLE
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