EMCEE ONIST from Sandy Beach on the Mid North Coast is a MC giving life his all. A tradesman by day and passionate MC by night who wants to be known for being a meaningful MC, Onist is giving it his all.
What’s your hip hop background?
Ive always listen to Hip Hop my whole life. I used to enjoy just mucking around on the piss and spitting stupid freestyles but it wasn’t till I had an epiphany in Western Australia that I started persuing my dreams seriously. I started out just recording on Garage Band and uploading them on youtube. This got my name out there a bit but after a couple of months of them being out in the open and no longer ‘new’ I realised that my work was rubbish! No mixing on the vocals and just reading of my pad wasn’t going to fly so I went back to basics and taught my self about Reductive EQ, compression, vocal combing, Additive EQ, set my room up properly as a recording and mixing studio and put some real effort into my work and produced ‘The Warm Up Is Over‘ I’ve released two other mix-tapes on line, one called ‘HARDWORK‘ and the other called ‘OVERTIME‘ but I’m not really a fan of them anymore. They were based around my work (because thats all I did) and I feel I half assed them on a ‘wet’ brain (being drunk all the time) I stopped drinking, cleared my mind and I really feel I’ve created a project to be proud of! I also got a lot of the boys involved in this one which is something I don’t normally do and it was sick to be able to work with them! I’ve done a bunch of live gigs to get my practice up (I still have a long way to go) at local parties and pubs and also got to rap with HOPSIN in Brisbane for his song ‘How you like me now!?‘ Check the video on youtube 🙂 It was epic fun!
What inspires you to make Hip Hop music?Â
Life inspires me to make music! Sometimes I’ll see something and be like “Damn I need to put this into a song and let the world hear about it’ Listening to music also inspires me, if I’m listening to a song and they say one sentence that really resonates with me I’ll go off into my room and find a beat that matches what I’m feeling and write down a bunch of bars about that topic. You could say that I’m an ‘EMO’ rapper. I like listening to music that is full of emotion and sends shivers up your spine so naturally I’m going to create that same style of music. I’m always questioning why I’m on this earth and whats the meaning of life and you’ll hear that a lot through out my music. Hopsin and the Funk Volume crew are a big inspiration to me. they’re not trying to be hard, they’re just being themselves and making good music! I play HOPSIN nearly everyday, I love how his constantly changing his voice through each song and I find I can really relate to the subjects he touches on. MGK, J.Cole, Snow Tha Product, Jeff Turner, Rittz, Jarren Benton, Yelawolf and Locksmith are just a few of the artists that I feel would’ve had some sort of ‘influence’ on me as an ‘artist’ Also if I really feel like I’m seeking inspiration I just think about being stuck at my 9-5 forever! That motivates me!
Tell us about your latest project.
My latest project is called ‘The Warm Up Is Over’ It pretty much means that I’m done playing games and ‘cruising’ and am here to go HAM! I carefully selected all the beats from FUNK VOLUME. I don’t know how to make them yet but I plan on teaching me self through out the year of 2016. I used to try and make songs that other people would like and not what I liked. I feel that now I’m in a position where I’ve created music that I like and am not bothered at all if some don’t feel the same way. People are either gonna love it or hate it there’s no sitting on the fence with this one and thats how I like it. I’ve got some awesome dudes featuring on it including HUSKii BEN, Tatz Tha Medic, Christian James AKA BOI BLUE and MANAZ ILL! They all went hard AF and made this project extremely enjoyable! I recorded and mixed the whole thing my self (Except for a few of the feature verses) at my house in my home studio in my bedroom. (I now sleep in the living room) I used Pro Tools 11, a Neumann Mic, advice from RAW Technique Studios and a bunch of YouTube tutorials to get the sound on point! I made a bunch of ‘Skit’s’ to try and let the audience get to know me (I’m a bit of a clown) and put some serious effort into the design of the Mixtape! Shout out to “Made You Look So Good Graphics’. The EP comes in a smart looking Jewel case with all the lyrics inside in a booklet. The EP is RAW, emotional, full of bars and an epic flow!
What is your process for creating music?
I have to be busy doing something and have the beat playing in the background. So I’ll take my time finding the beat and once I’ve found one I like I set it up on my laptop and play it and then I’ll go and clean the house or do some renovations or something. Then I feel that the words just come to me through my sub conscious. I then run over to the laptop and record my bars hell rough and go back to whatever it was I was doing until something else hits me. I usually do this till I’ve got a full song done and save it as a “Ghost track” I do that till I feel that the writing process is over and then I just listen to them over and over again till I know them off by heart. That way when I go into the booth I’ve got everything I need stored in my brain and my delivery and vocal inflictions are 100%
Who are you working with on your project? How did you connect?
I worked with Tatz Tha Medic an emcee from my local area. I first saw him on Facebook doing some raps in front of his Phone or Webcam. They were always up in my newsfeed because of all the likes and shares they got! I met him at one of the local Pub’s called ‘The Plantation Hotel’ when they held an ‘Open mike night’ for Emcees and DJ’s! Those nights were great fun, its a shame they don’t do them anymore! Tatz has gone viral on Facebook with his ‘Ice epidemic’ rap and has also done a couple of tracks with RATES. Make sure you check him out on Reverbnation! I met Christian James at the Coffs Skatepark when we performed for ‘The Big Skate Out’ for Chy FM’s Birthday Anniversary and also in Byron Bay when he supported Locksmith and Smacktown and I performed in ‘The Cypher’. Love his style and flow so he had to be on the tape! HUSKii BEN used to live round here but his moved to Wollongong. I met him one night here on the piss and remember how he just kept rapping for ages and ages! We always talk on Facebook about rapping politics and we always support and promote each other so it was a given that he’d have a verse on the EP! Salute to HUSKii!! I haven’t actually met MANAZ ILL before but I’ve got his album and always watch him on youtube. We talked and he was down!
Thanks for the chat Emcee Onist!