 Like I go on there to to find shit to to as inspiration. Yeah, whether it's for me or my clients and I just get down a rabbit hole and I see a profile and I'm like, oh, this is interesting and then I'm like, oh This is procrastinating now But sometimes you need to switch off, you know, it's just like people want to permanently switch off Even though they're not happy with their lives, but that's what they want to permanently switch off from they want to they have their day job They have something they want to be passionate about but they just can't connect that bridge between work life passionate life and Procrastination life. They just want to do procrastination more. So welcome to the Sevo show. We are back It is April 20th. Happy 420 bro. Yeah, yeah for 20 day for 20 day We've got brand only Western in the studio. Hit me up for the gram Got some mutuals we had afro king on before and you thought you wanted to have a crack at it as well Brandon is a producer music recording artist Everything to do with music, right? Yep. That's pretty much it more on the hip hop scene R&B. What's your what's your go-to genre? Probably like old school like West Coast hip-hop. Yeah, that's probably like what I like to make a pretty versatile like Dependency like all different types of stuff. Yeah melodic type of rap More new school type of stuff drill even. Oh, yeah Yeah, so just bit everything but most majority of the time is West Coast type of stuff if you had two artists that That that made a baby, which was you who were those two artists to be? There'll be 57 in Eminem. Oh, yeah, sure. No, I think my two favourites. Yeah. So Growing up. How was that like? What was that like for you? Were you walking around with a Walkman? What are you? How old are you now? I'm 25. 25. Okay, so you would have had an iPod I'll put shuffle maybe In school you were listening to those whilst everybody else would have been listening to the probably more the black-eyed peas and things Like that a little bit more new school. Yeah, it's pretty funny story Like my my dad actually listened to the Beatles and like right up chili peppers and stuff So I never even really heard rap Until like it's pretty it's pretty out there saying it But I like um used to get up to some bad things when I was younger and I actually stole the iPod Oh, yeah And that was the first time I ever listened to rap this iPod was like full of Eminem 50 cent We ten clan and I was like man, where's this been like my whole life I like going through what I was going through with that part of my life Like it really helped me because I could relate to the things that we're saying Yeah, help me get through a lot of things and that's why I thought oh, I'll give this a crack So I started writing songs myself But I couldn't really rap at the time So I was just like writing all these songs and like help me get through things like sort of like a therapy I guess and um and then I was like I can't sell these because they're so relevant to me I don't want anyone else wrapping them. We're singing them. So I decided all you know I'll teach myself how to rap as well And yeah for years and years of like getting hated on and saying, you know get a real job and all these things I finally developed my own sound and Yeah, and now that bring me over to Perth. I used to live in North Queensland Yeah, so I've been living here about four years now and um Yeah, I feel like I've grown a lot since I've moved here Not a lot back home, but it's just such a small town. It's a place called Mackay in North Queensland And you don't really get so far Where no one else knows you outside of that town only just where you are basically so yeah moving here was a big step it was it was pretty hard, but Um, it was definitely worth it for where I am now anyways Yeah, sweet. So so back then when you discovered that music on that stolen iPod did you give it back? No What made you move to Perth? Um, so my partner's family actually moved here like Two or three years before we did Um, and then I started talking to to afro king I was just trying to network just sort of like Build build something over here before I came here to sort of set me up um, yeah, and then then I had an opportunity with um This record label is called concrete block records So um to sign on with them. So I ended up moving here with like 500 bucks to my name And didn't have a job or anything. We just moved in with my mrs. Parents and then um, I signed up with this record label and then That only lasted about a year before the the friend that I signed Onto like with he was running the studio for the guy that actually owned the record label Um, so then we actually sort of left the label together and we started our own like thing together Um, so now we're just like a team. There's me afro king um another guy ghost Coach we got like about five people and you know, we all do everything in house. So like we'll create the video ourselves um do all the production ourselves like audio wise and Market and promote ourselves within the group like just helping each other. Yeah with each other's projects. That's awesome Yeah, it's not it's not a competition. Yeah, it's a collaboration. Yeah, exactly and how are you finding that success so far? Oh, it's awesome like for the last like three Three plus years that I've been with them I've come further than what you know I've come in the lot that whole career back in back in McQueen's by yourself. Yeah, exactly Yeah, and it's just being around like-minded people because I always had people back home that wrapped But no one ever really took it as serious as me like that would just like You know, they'll have a few drinks and be like, oh, yeah, I can like a freestyle or whatever. They didn't believe it Yeah, yeah, exactly. They didn't believe it. It could be an actual job or An actual career and and you would have been what 20 years of age at that point Um, well moved here would have been Yeah, almost almost 20. Yeah, almost 20 when I moved here What made you what made you go? No, fuck you guys. I believe in myself. I I've got something here I just I just felt like I was in so deep that I couldn't give up anymore Like I've been doing it like Like all through school Like when I was in school Everyone we playing football in the field. I'll be in like the music the room like every lunchtime Like I had like my own setup at school and the music teacher would tell every class like don't go in this room Like because this is his like he comes in here every lunchtime. So during like mess around with his stuff So that teacher came in clutch. Yeah. Yeah. So she was the one that like really believed in me um So I know a lot of people say like the teachers tell them to get a real job and stuff But this teacher was like, no, you got something like keep going. There it is. Yeah, and what about your parents? Um, but that but that always believed in me, but he was sort of like On the back foot. He's pretty old school. So he's sort of like, you know Or you know, you need it. You need a backup plan in case it doesn't work out Like he he believed but he wanted me to not put all my eggs in that basket And and did you have a backup plan? Well, well at the time I was just working like I just worked a bunch of different jobs Um, but in the last three years I started doing barbering because uh, I love art Like love tattoos love drawing love Music like I love every type of art and I feel like cutting hairs just another type of art Yeah So that that was like a trade that really spoke to me and also network wise like you're cutting like 20 different people a day in 20 different careers Um, you could talk to them tell them you do music and you maybe do like a hundred or so. Heck, that's a week Yeah, that's 100 people you could put your music in front of very true very true. Yeah, it's cool And what about content wise you say you're creating content? Um with your crew, um, how you're going about that and how has that been uh reciprocated by Oh, sorry received by um the audience Yeah, so like we make a lot of stuff like individually and we do come together and we made like a cypher before Where we're all together and stuff like that But at the moment at the start of the year You know how hard the rental market is in purse. Oh, yeah So we've all like pretty much basically the whole team has lost our um houses And we're living back with someone because we haven't been able to find a new house So at the moment our studio is sitting in storage Um, so I haven't been able to record anything. So I've started um research and finding other ways I could you know, um Put something out there to still engage with the audience So I started doing like videos whether it's like motivational speaking because I just dropped this trials and tribulations track um Just talking about my music talking about my life Like certain things like that when I can get the chance to get back into the studio and make more music Like I have a few things in the bank But it's it's it's so hard. Especially, you know, having somewhere to live having so much going on It's easier to just make small bits of content when you have the time. Yeah Yeah, it's hard to it's hard to get that monetization really early And especially like with rent And all these high costs of living I mean it's cheaper here than trying to do this in sydney, right? Yeah, um Yeah, so um and you're you've got a plan Yeah, yeah, so I'm just staying with my mrs. Parents again at the moment Um, just looking for another house, but honestly the way it's looking at i'm better off just like saving up and buying a house Because yeah, they're it's ridiculous at the moment. I applied for like 40 something houses. Wow. Yeah Yeah, okay. Um, so now Now that you're you know back with the the the girlfriend's parents shout outs, you know, it's good to have that Good to have that support And and that's that's critical, right? Like in your 20s You have the ability to have the leap of faith and just give it a go And if you have a good supporting network of people specifically parents that don't You know, there aren't too old school that can go. You know what? Give it a go. Yeah, you can stay with us as much as you like, but you're you're at least trying stuff Yeah, and that's that's something important that parents need to to realize that their kids is not to Tell them that they need to have that safety net and only stick with that safety net I'm gonna obviously If you were living at a home still because you were in your main job to keep you safe You'd be able to afford rent, right? You'd probably be able to buy a house right now Yeah, but how much time would you have to Work on your passion your craft and be a little bit less. So that's why like in your 20s. You've got a good sweet play right now where you can do The passion a little bit more not not sit back and relax obviously Yeah, and and I think that's what parents fear. They fear failure But then they fear you're not trying But you're obviously trying and that's what they see and that's what parents want to see Yeah, and if they're still fearful then they'll eat humble pie very soon if you're believing yourself enough. So, okay Um, what is your kind of creative process when it comes to writing? um new music Writing is like it differs like so much for me Like one minute I could be like sitting at work cutting someone's hair and I just think of something crazy Like it just just comes to me like that Or other times like I'll listen to a beat and I'll start writing to that Sometimes I find the beat first and then I make the music like to fit to fit in with the beat sometimes I'll make the Like the lyrics first and then I'll sort of go back and restructure it once I find a beat It all depends on like what type of mood I'm in when when it comes to me really like With with creativity and like stuff like that doesn't just Doesn't just like you can't just force it like it just comes when it comes Like, you know, it could be at We're still in the shopping and see something on the shelf and be like, oh, fuck Here's here's a bar like How do you how do you keep that? Do you record on your phone? Do you keep it in your head or what's your like? So I mostly write on on my phone Well, I do try to Um, eventually put that on on to paper or write on paper as well when I get when I have the chance to write on paper I'd rather write on paper. I know something different about Like you actually pending it on on the paper rather than writing it on your phone. Yeah, I agree. It's it's it comes to It it becomes more realistic If you physically write it down. Yeah, it's sort of like a manifestation You know, you wouldn't go writing them down on your phone like that's something that you go in the notebook and write down Like your goals and stuff like that. Yeah, I agree. Yeah the same thing with your with your lyrics So So then you have the writing aspect covered and then you follow that on you find the beat and then you create it how long do you kind of Speculate on a track before you go. Yeah, this is fire. Oh man. That's that's a hard one because like sometimes all writers so quick And then I'll sit there for like a week Like reading it or like rehearsing it. I end up changing like like recycling it and switching it around and like so it all depends like sometimes It depends like what the track has Um to do with me Like if it's like a really deep track Like this this last piece I bring out I wrote this thing in one day and I didn't change it Like because it was just like raw emotion. It just came straight from straight from the heart and it was like one of the only first songs I've ever written where like I know the whole thing off my heart after writing it without having to go and rehearse it Yeah, because it was like that Like that deep inside me that like it was already there It was already like written inside me if that makes any sort of sense Yeah, so what sort of headspace were you in at the time when you began writing that? So this is um This was the day that I found out that another one of my mates had committed suicide So, um I'll take it back two years ago my One of my best friends that I grew up with back in queen's inn um, he took his own life and I think it was two weeks maybe before that My nana my nana had passed away And that was like basically my mom because I grew up not knowing my mom. So like growing up and um With my nana as like my mother figure It was really hard losing like two people at once losing like your nana and your mother and then two weeks later I have your Because like my dad called me like 10 times Tell me about my nano and I was at work at the time and the same sort of Sort of thing happened like two weeks later So like my friend called me like 10 times and I was like what is this is something bad like The same thing happened like two weeks ago. And then when I got that call I like again didn't know didn't know how to feel didn't know how to process the emotion And like honestly, I didn't I didn't even talk to anyone really about it when I found out like Straight away. I literally just locked myself in a room and started riding Found a beat and just started riding like what come to my head And then the same that was for the trials and tribulations one I actually flew back home to queens land and um shot a video with My friend's family like at the cemetery and he actually got cremated. So we shot the video at my nana's grave So it was sort of like two things in one. So that that was a really like Deep track really raw as well. And then yeah fast forward back to the This year My friend took his own life again the same sort of thing all these missed calls So I made my trials and tribulations part two because after part one, I felt like Um, I put this out here to try to help somebody to try to help the people that are close to me All people that are seeing this out there Um cope with either mental health or either losing someone to mental health Um, and then I felt like I'd failed I'm not not so much that failed but like I feel like there's got to be something more I can do Like obviously like it's still happening. I know I can't I'm not in control of someone's life or anything like that Or maybe I can Dive in a bit deeper show a bit more emotion Like show like it more from my perspective this time of how much it really hurts someone Um to lose someone. Yeah, lots of empathy lots of empathy. Yeah, so that's a that's a great overall message Um, and that's what you're kind of that's your that's your theme at the moment. Yeah through your personal life experiences I see a lot of rappers Start off like that almost all of them. They they they speak from the heart. They they rap about The shit that they've experienced, right? And that's what gets them off the ground but then I noticed them starting to Produce all this weird shit that's I'm like, what are you doing, man? Like what happened to you? You've changed and I know people change How do you go to the next stage of your writing? Provided that hopefully, you know, these moments are far less in the future, you know Yeah, well, I feel like as for what you just said just then I feel like that's that was a bit Um of the other way for me Like I started out recording not really knowing like what I was doing And I feel like the last year or so I really like started to find myself within the music And I feel like the reason people do that is because they're onto something good and they get onto this hype and then um They just try and make whatever's whatever's trending because they're getting so many so many views coming in And they get all this attention that they want to try to keep it no matter what they have to do to get it And not about that. No, no, I'm definitely not about that Like I've always been real with my music like at the start of course like I was still trying to find myself So I was sort of like piggybacking off different things or different flows or you know trying to sound like this Because that's who inspired me or influenced me But now that I found my own thing and I've got my own thing going Yeah, I feel like this is the way the path forward because something that I stand for Is music with the meaning so that's like basically what I'm all about So every every song I try to make Our story within it. Um, whether that be like I've got a song called the re-up where it looks like I'm I'm dealing drugs, but I'm actually dealing music So I'm trying to show people that you don't need to deal drugs just because rappers deal drug Look like they're you know trapping and stuff. It's not cool to deal drugs. You're only gonna end up in jail Yeah, or in prison. Yeah, it's true jailer in prison in jail or dead. Um So yeah, I showed you that you could you could um So music instead and I did it in such a way that we're sitting in a trap house like weighing up CDs So it looks like it's appealing to that audience of yeah That yeah that thing and showing them that you know, I'm selling music. No, yeah No drugs and like yeah, so all different all different songs like I made a song for A friend back home. That's a boxer. His name's Liam power He's one of the biggest boxers in Australia for his white division Um, we come from the same hometown and that's someone that's always believed in my dream Even when he started boxing and I started rapping Like I was like very keep going man You're gonna be like you're gonna be something one day and he was the same sort of thing to me I love that. So yeah, I've got a few of those. I made a song for him as well It's called the portagee and the same sort of thing Um, and I direct all my own music videos as well because I feel like as an artist I think someone else direct my music. They've never really been able to Um portray my story. Yeah through the music. I know exactly what you're talking about Because I'm the one that's writing it, you know So um, so yeah, I've started like directing my own stuff and I feel like that's I'm being able to show a story through the video and tell a story through the lyrics as well And I feel like that's what I want to moving forward. That's where I want to go with it That's the direction I want to go. I love that Just getting bigger and better with the story writing and bigger and better with the videos and the visuals as well Love that. So you've got your creative Kind of process down packed and you know exactly how you want to head forward Now the trouble with musicians the trouble with artists in general, especially You know in the creative space The process of the hustle how are you able to monetize this? Oh man, my my life was jam-packed man like um So I got I got my job And the biggest banner in the works was becoming a parent myself. So I haven't I got two kids Um, the three-year-old boy, I know one year old girl And that that that makes it harder because obviously when you're doing music once you have kids It's like you want to put them first especially coming up from a life that was like I felt like shit growing up, you know, so I don't I never want to pull my kids through that. Yeah By the same time I'm like, man, I gotta I gotta show them that If you got a dream you got to chase it no matter how hard You know life gets no matter what life throws at you you got to keep keep doing it So, you know, I go to work. I do my kids stuff and then from like eight nine o'clock at night Till two in the morning is music on my days off. Whatever day whatever time I got free when I'm sitting at work And I got no clients. It's riding bars finding content I can make Doing whatever I can in any gap I get Enduring the day to do it right and there's no alternative No, there's no alternative. Yeah, it has to be music. It has to be music. You don't go watch Netflix Well, I'm guilty sometimes of I've gotten one of those one of those power episodes in man I love 50 cent and I love his tv show men and like Well, I don't I don't that's research. Yeah. Yeah, that's her. That's research I don't go out there just watching anything. We're nearly all binge watching stuff Like I definitely catch myself up real quick like Hey, you got work to do like you need to stop doing this. How do you get put it down? How do you get that mindset? I don't know. It's just something that just tells me like I could just be watching it And it could even be a scene in the show and watching and it'll be like Like some dude's like hustling on tv and I'm like, oh shit This reminded me. I gotta get off here and go back to my house. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely Um, I'm the same like when I'm scrolling on tiktok Like I go on there to to find shit to to As inspiration. Yeah, whether it's for me or my clients and I just get down a rabbit hole and I see a profile and I'm like, oh, this is interesting and then I'm like, uh This is procrastinating now But sometimes you need to switch off, you know, it's just like people want to permanently switch off Even though they're not happy with their lives, but that's what they want to permanently switch off from they want to They have their day job They have something they want to be passionate about but they just can't connect that bridge between work life passionate life and Procrastination life. They just want to do procrastination more. So yeah, I read this thing recently. It was like Grab a grab a set of marbles throughout the day or throughout the week So let's say you have 24 marbles in the day And then you multiply that by four or five to get your your week your weekday marbles Take away eight from each one Because that's your sleep take away another eight from each one. That's your work You've got eight left in the day marbles and each one represents an hour Take a couple of hours out for you know, eating and spending time with your kids Your loved ones your your missus or whatever You've got six hours left That's your time Or maybe even less maybe you've got four hours left because you decided you want to dedicate four hours a day to your kids or whatever Yeah, four hours is a lot of time to Upskill yourself and they said that if you spend 20 minutes a day Not even four hours 20 minutes a day every day for a year you will be more skilled than I think it's 95 percent of The world in whatever that discipline is that you're upskilling yourself in Yeah, no hundred percent and that's that's discipline, right? So you're able to use up all those marbles for that passion because you know what you want and It's shown because you've been passionate about it since you were a kid and that passion hasn't stopped You're one of the lucky ones. Some people don't ever find that passion or they find that passion too late And they're stuck in their job because they can't afford anything else So I think it's a blessing because even though you have kids and it is a spanner in the works I can't save myself because I don't have kids. Yeah, got a wife. I don't have a mortgage And the rent is fucked but When I was in my 20s, I was living in my mom my parents investment house They weren't living there. So it's like great. It's the best of both worlds. Yeah, but I didn't realize what I had at the time So I was complacent. I was lazy And man at 25 if I knew that I would be so much more better off But that path was set and where I am today. I'm stoked seven years later. I'm 32 now Seven years later. I'm thankful for how it all played out. Anyway, because you know, we're here Everything's happens. Everything happens for a reason, right? So tell me Your setbacks your Overcomings what's been one of your biggest setbacks so far in your career still early days damn the setbacks is probably like Is move moving here I guess I wasn't a setback or was more of a come up I don't really I don't really see anything as a setback to be honest Because I feel like I I failed but I've definitely learned from it and it's taught me something So let's go let's go deeper into that. What has been one of those key moments for you? um going back probably like definitely moving here and then Like going up without my mom That was probably like a really really big one and my dad was like drinking all the time so growing up in general overall was like The hardest bit because I feel like I pulled me back Half the race, you know compared to all the other kids Because I was I had like no money always had to work for everything I've got Like I moved out of one of the one of the things is like moving out of home at like 17 I had my own house. I was still going to school I was going to work off to school to pay my rent And there's no other kid at my school that I had there in house and I had my own place. I was working You know doing other things That shouldn't be doing yeah, but yeah, you know and I guess that was that was a learning lesson too But it was it was still a setback as well because all the kids are getting brand new cars from their parents other kids are getting You know houses and stuff like that um So for me, I always had to work for everything so I always had to hustle whatever it may be um, and then Yeah, I guess this this year has really been a setback too Like like I'm not having a house Feel like I can't provide for my kids in that sense and um with music as well Like not being able to record um, not being able to shoot videos, but like That's that's again me like I just need to I just need to push harder. I can go out there. You're still showing up though Yeah, yeah, I'm still showing up. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well, I feel like if you're gonna wake up in the morning Um at this certain time and you got to get to work at this certain time to go make money Why can't you do the same for your dreams? Yeah, why can't you why can't you get up at this certain time? Or stay up at this certain time at night and put that with same work that same work you come into Work with every every day. Why don't you come into your dreams with that? I love that. It's a great attitude But and then when it when you fail you're learning Yeah, and you're not given up and that's how you know you've found a passion Well, no one's ever like no one's ever got successful from no failing And no one's just accidentally got famous Or like not not famous. Sorry. People have accidentally got famous, but accidentally got successful successful Yeah, it's a difference between fame and success like you see all these influences who are famous quote unquote and They can't really do anything with that because they don't know what they're doing in the first place They don't have a strategy. They don't have a business plan. They don't have a business mindset Um, but they also don't have any influence in the first place. They just Can't viral for some fucking reason perfect example is like, um Like fattywap with a little pump Like fattywap drops a whole album that would like had the whole world. It was getting played around the whole world for like months like Fast forward a year later. No one even knows who he is anymore. Never heard of him. Yeah There you go. The one with the 1738 Yeah, I've heard about little pump a little pump same thing like j Cole was telling him Um in an interview like put your money in in investments like do this with it Um, you know, you need to because it's gonna come a time where You're not gonna be popping anymore. Like, you're not gonna be on that hype anymore. Yeah And fast forward now. He's doing some crazy things like online trying to keep his popularity But he's he's got nowhere near that popularity. He once had yeah, people get over it People get over the mumble rappers. Yeah, exactly all of them pretty much all of them from 26 Yeah, they're dating or they nobody's yeah, exactly. Yeah um Who's who's uh, who are the artists that are currently active that are still producing music that you like uh Aspire to damn like like new new type of stuff Like join a lucas is like a really big one because I feel like that's the wavelength I'm going for Like if you watch his videos and his lyrics that's sort of like He's on another level from what I'm trying to do Like he's got that story with his video. He's got that story with his lyrics And he's just incredible like all-round story. Tell her and you're spitting it out your own way. Yeah, exactly Yeah, you got like NF as well NF. He's really he's really good. He's got that raw emotion um And just different different to anything else I really see coming out And and he's sort of stuck in that lane like he knows what works and he's going for that I like that as well as we go back to like getting caught up in the hype type of thing He's not following the trend like he's found what works for him and he's he's rode with it It's what you gotta do. That's what you gotta do. People say you gotta follow trends. You gotta follow trends I'm like, but then what? Yeah, if you lose yourself in that process Yeah, nobody and then if you get known if you get known like say you you blew up when you did that trend Then what are you famous for really? You're famous for just for the one the trend my bio and my bio says on my profile on tiktok Um, I am my own niche Yeah, I like that. I am the niche and people love that Yeah, I love that. I love that and you know, I still get that kind of creative Block or I don't know Like imposter syndrome as well and all this shit and I put out a video I'm like I fucking love this video, but then it bombs it's still kind of like fuck This is a banger. What are you talking about? Yeah, you guys don't know you guys don't know And then the stupidest shit you'd put up and you're like, oh, just put it up because you know One up and then that goes hard and you're like Do a couple more of those and they all go hard and you're like, oh, but I don't want to do this anymore But people get sucked into it. Hey, especially with that music as well That's usually the most natural too. Like the ones where you're like Oh, like I'll just chuck it out there. Yeah The ones where you're like trying too hard. I feel like that's the ones always bomb Yeah, like over editing and even like I'm seeing a lot of Like even the the captions right everyone's putting captions in and as we're putting captions in to the videos now It's fine But I just hope to hell that it's going to become a downward trend soon when where people don't really give a Fuck about captions. It's just a matter of having a good two first two seconds of Yeah, oh shit. I vibe with this video. I'm going to turn it up. I need to see this That's what I reckon but just oh It's just a mess right now everyone's trying to outdo each other and And ai's come in. Oh, man. Everyone's fucked And I'm like bro Authenticity is what's going to save you if you stay authentic if you stay yourself If you show up and you be consistent you have patience you'll fucking win Yeah, and that that that works in music as well music is You know, like I've got a couple of music artists that I respect because they just stay themselves They don't give a fuck about this commercial shit They don't want to Make it too poppy more poppy or you know or if the radio station is saying it's too poppy that I fuck you I like it, you know, yeah So it's it's fucked. It's such a creative space especially to to make it You know to monetize it. Oh It's been a hard road And like I'm five years. This is my 50 year now I'm like what the fuck? Yeah, how did I get here? You know, but I can imagine I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a musician, but it's good that you're pushing more into The creative space of music marketing Are you making reels? I see you're making some reels. Are you making tiktoks? Yeah, I started to make a tiktok my guy It's good shit. It's good shit. I gotta do it all man. I recently saw a video about east meets west australia Are you coming to that? Are you performing or well? I'm definitely coming to work. Yeah, but yeah I'm a finalist and they're running this competition at the moment Um, so this will probably be up way after east east May you know what? You know what? I will try my best to put it up before that so that we can somehow help but east first west may 6th Yeah, east meets west may 6th metro city metro city. I am down south on a week weekend break A much needed weekend break It's funny to say that because it was just only a month after I come back from nyc But man, this this game is fucked Like like mentally fucked it's it's hard Like having help now has got ryan And you know trying to make his life easier but also have him You know fall in love with the process and learn and not run away And then a couple of other blokes who got jamal and kale doing the editing and just making sure that they love it That's the the transition from solopreneur to entrepreneur is to create a team manage the team Have the team enjoy their shit And everybody wins everybody grows together And being being like the the stirrer the captain or whatever of the ship, which is the company We're all working for the company, right? Yeah, but then everybody is invested into the idea And then plays their role It's it sounds like an amazing game, but it's mentally draining Yeah, but the nine to five Couldn't think of anything worse. Yeah, exactly That's that's another reason I got into the barbering Because like ever since I was a kid I just never never wanted I just don't want to work for someone anymore. Yeah I feel like barbering is like another another tool of entrepreneurship. Yeah, it's an outlet. Yeah It's like I don't need to ever have a job Like I don't even like I have to apply for a job as long as I got here to cut What do you cut? I cut at the video barbershop So we got like about eight stores. Oh, and I'm like about two months off finishing my degree So I went to school Our barber school and done that and I've already qualified for that I have to do three years in a shop to be fully qualified. Yeah, so I'm about two months off Let's go. Are you making content of your cutting here? I was waiting for that because like waiting for what was waiting waiting to um When I went I finished so I can really like because I felt like I wasn't good enough yet And when I went I finished I want to like start my own shop up And start and start from there like start from from scratch. Like I've I've done a lot of content Like shot it, but I haven't put anything up yet So I sort of want to once I've finished and I started my own thing And I started rolling everything out and I could show you the stuff back. Yes from when I very first started Yes, as well. Yeah, you've got some you've got some resates. Yeah. Yeah, exactly That's good. I didn't want to put that up yet because I'm working in a shop at the moment. So like At the same time, I didn't want to not not bring not not bring them in clients But I wanted to I knew one day I was going to do my own thing And I wanted to save that for that that time when I start my own thing And I can go back and start from the beginning though though I'm super excited for you And I think that is a good hybrid that you can do where You can you know, you could act it out get your permission from everybody and all that stuff But you know wrap as you're cutting. Yeah, I've got a song called barbershop That's that's why I'm there. We're actually I'm cutting in it. Yeah, so we shot that I even shot that with the boss like of my shop So we got eight stores in Perth and he owns all of them. Yeah, so he actually was down to be in the video as well Can you can you freestyle rap off off off? Whatever have an object or whatever? Are you quick enough? I'm not asking not asking you to do it today, but um, have you heard of McShane? Yeah, yeah, he was on he was on the show as well and he's incredible The way that he just just comes up with something like straight away It's a talent and I'm just like I wonder if you could do that with barba barbershop, right? Um You're probably, you know, right something at the start, but it'd be so cool if The the client that comes in Their name their favorite hobby And you know, maybe the event that they're going to and that's where they're getting their haircut and just Raised all about that that would slap. That's sort of what the song's about If you listen to the song it's sort of like a conversation to the client Yeah, so it was like I've heard all the barba shop songs where people are talking about going to the barba shop I never really heard a barba shop song from like a barba's perspective Yeah of them like talking to the client. Well, how many rappers are barbers? Yeah, no many Exactly. Yeah, no many. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, what is the future hold for you now? What is what is your kind of the next 12 months? What are you hoping 12 months? Um, what are you manifesting? Well, I want to drop my debut EP. Yep So I've never never dropped the project. I've only ever dropped singles and videos and stuff like that So I've got debut EP that I've I've got fully written Just waiting on to to record. I've got a few songs in the bank as well But so yeah drop drop that definitely in the next year Um And yeah, just spend more time with my kids obviously coming up to the end of my apprenticeship I want to start planning out my own shop Um, I actually want to do I don't want to give too much away, but I want to do like a hip hop inspired barba shop So like actually have people performing inside the shop and stuff like that And like actually putting on for the scene So whether it's like playing music videos in the shop on rotation Or like doing events in the shop hosting events people coming through from I enter state on tour. Oh That's where that East Mace West kind of vibe. Yeah, that would be nice. You know, it all it all goes down at the barba shop Yeah, yeah, you talk your shit at the barba shop. Yeah. Yeah. Like you watch the movie barba shop. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean That's what I'm going for like those vibes. Yeah, my favorite ever barba barba scene is the one From with eddie murphy coming to america. Yeah They're all in there talking shit and uh Eddie comes in and he's still got his big rat's tail Yeah comes in and he's just like a haircut, please with his accent and the guy's just like looking at him like Gryffindor's rat's tail cuts it off. Yeah, but nine dollars Kits me every time I need that I watched that movie in ages. Oh, it's it. I always I loved it and every time I go to new york because I see queens Because that's where they stayed. Yeah in the movie. I'm like I don't I want to go visit but that's the wild west in new york. You want to go yourself a big velvet? Oh But I went to I went to bronx and I don't stray off far from the tracks, but uh, yeah, it's I feel like not many people will fuck with me there because of my height, but uh, yeah Yeah, I I don't want to like stir up anything, but I want to get to know the locals I want to get to know their story. I met this guy in uh, brooklyn His name is kevin james and he told me about his uh, 15 year prison sentence stint And he said that he'd prison saved his life because all his friends back in the day before he got incarcerated. They're all dead That's crazy man. It's crazy. I saw a man. That's why I love doing this So just learn people's stories and see how they think and how they got there and obviously give value to the people that are listening because I didn't realize how many people actually listen like there's stats online that I can see the numbers But it's the people what they what they tell me and what each episode How they bring it like take it in. Oh, yeah, it's remotivated, right? Exactly. Um So you said 12 months. What about five years? What's your big one? What's your What's your ultimate goal? Well ultimate goal was like So making it for me or becoming famous as such for me This is a bit different. I guess to other rappers or other people that are going for like That superstardom like for me. It's just being able to do music full time Be able to not have to worry about money. Take care of my family buy myself a nice house. Nice car Doesn't have to be anything crazy I definitely want to get a lowrider though. I love I love lowriders. I saw that photo with you Yeah, man, I think Cadillac. That was sick. That was actually funny story about that pink Cadillac that pink Cadillac is from Um, Fast and Furious really put up a photo Put up a photo and said who did it better me or ludicrous and there's a picture with ludicrous with the same car Oh, wow So some dude in sydney bought that car And then they sent it over to my friend over here and he's actually redoing the whole the whole car Cool. So I was the last person that will probably ever get a picture with that car I know I want a photo with it. Let's start That's so cool. Um Kids kids that are coming up wanting to get into music. Maybe even rapping or producing beats or whatever What advice do you have for them? Just be yourself Honestly, like blw stands for brandon lee western, but it also stands for be yourself lose never win always Which is something I stand by as well. Like if you just be yourself, you can't lose like um Because if you if you try to follow trends and you end up blowing up and end up getting big Then that's what you're going to be big for is following trends, but you know, why be the why be the next one for or the next um You know young ellipse when you can be the first blw or the first You know, whoever you are great man. Absolutely. Love that. Yeah, that's that's spot on man. Yeah Social media as well. You start creating content. You start creating whatever Yeah And then one hits and then you start to do more of that And it hits and it hits and it hits and you start going viral. It's starting more followers One day I guarantee you will stop loving that trend. You'll stop loving that theme You get bored. You want to do something else the worst thing that can happen is other people go Oh, oh no go back to what you were doing before and you listen to them. Don't listen to them Do not To come to being a circus performer. Yeah, exactly. It's hard to it's hard to like block block the people out Like, um, especially when your friends are telling you Or sometimes man, they're not your friends those people that are telling you like if some these days man, if someone tells me like No, that's not possible or like No, I don't think you should do that Then I'm either cutting them people off or I'm like sort of separating my dreams from my friendship with that person Like I won't bring my dreams up to them again Yeah, if they're really close friend of mine, and they don't think that's possible And I'll go I'll find some people that have a like mine said the same as me But um, the probably the biggest thing I could say to other younger artists as well Is like the timing as well like you don't need to Be on a hype when you write something and be like, oh, this is so dope Like and then make a phone video of it Um and put it up on facebook like really really put some time into it Like go over the song get immersed in the song like actually Read the song and listen to your own words and think like Why did I write the song and then you go to a studio? You know put some hours in and actually get a recorded professionally ox the producer, you know What are they doing to the track ox them? Why are they doing this to the track? I help help them help to find out like why they're making you sound this this type of way Yeah, um because I hope you when you're rehearsing and when you're trying to find your own sound as well And um, you know put some put a budget away for a video doesn't have to be anything crazy You don't even need a camera these days, man. You can use an iPhone selfie that shit Yeah, you can use an iPhone to shoot a music video like it doesn't have to be a camera Like just go out shoot some nice scenes like in a in the city or something or in a car park That's it Where if a story tell them you want to do you know tell the story get a bit creative with it But it doesn't cost like I'm in a leg like people think of those to make something crazy Yeah, you got to start though. You guys. Yeah, you got to start. That's good. I don't start here You can't cut all of a sitting like this, you know, it's not cheap either and yeah, that's that's project advice bro and You want to find a passion and you showcase that passion As often as you can with whatever you have available at the time And like with the song come back to the song thing Why was the artist music artist? I would go to the end game and go This song is popular one day Everyone wants to hear it. I go on tour. I go to 60 cities in space of six months or something. I don't know What would I be stoked to be seeing this song every fucking night? And if the answer is no, it's kind of a good song. Yeah, even if it hits Yeah, maybe you like it at the start. That's why you wrote it, right? But I see so many artists are fuck this song. I can't be fucked anymore. Yeah Yeah, you can see in the artists that That they're just not they're not there anymore. They're like, fuck this shit Yeah, exactly. They're just brain dead, especially the old school ones, man Yeah, the old school R&B and the crap artists. They're like shit. I gotta go out to Australia and perform the same song from 90s again Yeah, yeah, and then when they want to play their new stuff, nobody likes it anymore Yeah, and then that's kind of like and they have to have an invested any money to To that, you know investments and shit They're gonna have to keep performing. I think another crazy thing like these days is um It's like people's attention spend Like music isn't what it was like even when I first started which, you know I remember being 16 years old and like going uptown And like standing out in front of the club and selling CDs to people and like music these days is so hard because One like as an artist, you know making anything off Spotify You make a very little off youtube. Yeah The only thing you can really rely on is shows and merchandise. Yeah But at the same time people's attention spend is so small these days I remember being a kid watching a music video. They'll go for like seven minutes I go watch the whole thing front to front to back these days. You can't even watch a tiktok for 30 seconds No, if you know if you're not like impressed in the first two seconds, you're switching to the next one That's why you go for volume of the amount of content you put out if you force yourself in But also, you know talk to the right talk to the right audience And you have intent and you love what it is you do anyway That scaled content will help And the paid content doesn't work either it like you put So much money into it. Yeah, it'll hit it'll hit But the chance of it like going further than that, especially after the ad spend finishes Very low. That's what I see. Anyway. Yeah, that's true Like you get the views you get everything like that, but it's All anyone ever wants is organic engagement. They just want people to They just want to find the people that resonate with their music people that are going to stick around And listen to the rest of their songs because they relate to everything that this person's saying That's it. That's it. That that's influence. Yeah, that's influence Well, uh On that on that note It's been an absolute pleasure to get to know you and learn about how you do things I feel like I can No, I can't start rapping Where can we find you? How do we how do we listen to your stuff? So you can find me at blw the rapper on instagram There's a link there to all my stuff, but my Spotify is blw Um, my youtube's blw. I just dropped a new track called trials and tribulations part two Um with the lovely spl. So she sung on that as well Um, so go check that out the video is on youtube. It's a really deep meaningful track. Um, that I keep close to my heart And yeah, I hope hopefully you guys will check out my music and you know, thank you so much for having me today Make sure you listen to the rest of the podcasts Um, and check out this tick tock because that it's fire, man You'll be you'll be scrolling as well. Yeah, just back to our last point. You'll be scrolling all night and you'll forget to do Your dreams exactly shoutouts to bright tank for being the sponsor of this podcast bright tank brewing co out in East Perth shoutouts to matt and the boys and girls All involved the ginger beer slaps The IPA it slaps for people that like IPA. This is going hard. This is 1.9 1.9 standard drinks there in one can Yeah, lucky I got the Uber here, man So yeah, keep an eye out on the bright tank side. Um, they're very heavily involved with hip hop, um, side of things And uh, yeah, uh, a couple of fire fire questions before we go. Yeah, um, favorite album of all time Uh, get rich about your own First concert you ever went to Justice crew justice crew Nice One hall pass of a female artist that you just you just take her home one hall pass It's no the product where okay. I don't know if you even know who that is Uh, research it one, uh No hate just just because it's it's funny One artist you think How the fuck did they become an artist? What the fuck? Fuck Six nine for sure for sure I sort of get it I sort of get it, but I still think what the fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah um Which actor would you like to portray you in your, uh Uh, biography one day Oh, damn. That's a that's such a hard one. It's gonna be Keanu Reeves Awesome john wick shit, you know Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely Not uh, p. Davidson or something like that No, no, it's too funny, man. I just be like He needs to be on the ball man realistic a bit more serious. Yeah. Yeah a bit more serious exactly Um, if your mum was listening, what would you tell her? Oh for me personally I'll tell her to toad it off All right, there we go, uh, thanks for listening guys, you know what to do uh, link in description with all the shit Um, if you like the episode and you're listening specifically on Spotify You can leave a comment in the thoughts and your thoughts in the comment box thing that there's a feature now You're listing on youtube watching on youtube. Please leave a comment like subscribe all that shit And uh, yeah catch you next time. Thanks again, Brennan. Thank you for having me There's always good. Thanks Fuck