Vahsoong has: a bobcat licence, a wonderfully deep rapping voice that I must once again compare to the late, great Pop Smoke, and a date-of-birth too recent for him to legally buy alcohol. Perth has: the highest-scoring striker of the 2023/24 A-League Mens’ season, sunset views that would be the envy of anyone who’s never been to Yarra Bay, and a perennially unsung rap scene. The history of rap has: countless examples of teenage artists making phenomenal, seminal music.
So, it really shouldn’t be so surprising to hear a young fulla from P-City outrapping almost all of his elderly peers. Nas made Illmatic when he was a teenager. The Souls of Mischief crew were eighteen when they dropped 93 Till Infinity. Chief Keef made I Don’t Like and Love Sosa when he was 16. The Kid Laroi made a lot of money when he was 16. Anything’s possible. But there’s something about hearing Vahsoong’s music, then hearing that he’s 17 years old, that inspires incredulity. Beyond just having a great voice, he has a clever, restrained writing style that puts his wisdom and reflectiveness on full display.
After generating some local buzz with his single Cop Car – which currently sits at 178k plays on Spotify – Vahsoong has released two excellent projects: the Vah EP released in January of 2023 and a mixtape titled RED Ps that came out a little later in the year. He covers a lot of different terrains across the tapes. The highlights of the Vah EP are the pissed-off boom bap on Thing About Me, and the opening Records Pt 2, where it’s as if Vah is sat at a grand piano under the glow of a spotlight, reflecting on the journey and getting some shit off his chest.
Young as he is, Vahsoong raps as if his dumb teen years are in the distant past. He’s stopped smoking bongs like all his friends and has come to see the foolishness of his days messing around in the streets. In his music, he feels for those going down dark paths and chuckles at the pageantry of those who try to project that image.
In the sombre opening lines of RED Ps, you can hear how he approaches common subject matter with uncommon phrasing and unique insight. He raps “These cunts would lose their life asking ‘bout their rental price/He threw away his ice but kept a sentimental pipe”, finding the poetic bleakness in a moment that could be hopeful, opening up a page about this guy’s past and future that’s left blank. It’s tragic, almost uncomfortably revealing, yet ultimately vague in that delightVahlly ‘soong way. Just like when he rapped “Left home in a scooter, came back in a Cop Car” on his breakout single, he understands the power of what’s left unsaid.
Later in the track, he raps “Psh… where you come from?/I probably kick back with the fullas that you run from.” Hard as it sounds, it comes at what could just be ‘I’m tough’ from a different angle that makes it fresher and much more interesting. Are his friends really worth running from or is that just how they’re perceived? These are the sort of unusual lines that Vahsoong has made his specialty, lines which can leave you thinking about them for longer than the song’s runtime.
Surrounding the real chin-scratchers are stank-facers, witty shit-talk and simpler lines that just sound cool, and he can go from a romantic to a hustler and heartfelt to menacing like it’s nothing.
When I caught up with Vah on Zoom way back on the eve of Mother’s Day last year, he was in a period of trying to get his life sorted, with music put on the backburner for a bit while he focused on getting an apprenticeship, but still aiming for the top and preparing to release RED Ps, which would prove to be easily one of the best tapes of the year.
So, what are you trying to get an apprenticeship in?
Right now, I just finished my course for plant operations. So cert. 3 in civil construction. So, legally, I’m allowed to drive a bobcat before I can drive a car. That’s pretty fresh.
That’s all you need, man.
Exactly. Cruising down the road, 40Ks an hour.
Beats a hellcat. So, where’d you grow up? I know you moved around a bit.
Yeah, I moved around quite a bit. So I was actually born in Sydney. And then when I was like one or two we moved back to Jakarta, which is where my family’s from. But we came to Perth in 2009 when I was like two or three. When we first moved to Perth, I think we moved to Armidale. Best choice ever, right? Do you know about Armidale?
Tell me about it.
Aw, Armidale, man. Armidale is just like the most dero place ever. It’s not too bad no more but like ten years ago it was pretty bad, man. Literally in the first six months that I lived there – this is my first memory – my next door neighbor got broken into because he said some stupid shit to the mobs around. I was shitting myself like literally in the bed. And that’s my very first memory at three years old.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, I grew up around around that Armidale area. I did move up to the north side around Girrawheen – did live around there for like a year. But yeah, I’ve lived most my life on the southern part of Perth.
Yeah, nice. So how did you get into rap?
I’ve just been around it a lot, you know? ‘Cause it’s like, when I walk outside, you’ll hear 27 different motherfuckers blasting Kendrick Lamar out their broken XR-6 speakers. So I’ve just heard it growing up. And in the car, Mom would always play, like, blues and jazz and all that kind of shit. And you can kind of see how hip hop has trailed off from from jazz and blues and all those other genres. But I spent a lot of time like as a child listening to Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and J Cole and all them. Like, the GOATs. So I don’t know, one day I just got inspired, aye. I bought myself a Blue Snowball. I was like, you know what, I’m gonna make music today. I’m gonna become a musician. I thought it was gonna be easy to be honest.
But it wasn’t?
No! Fuck no, bro. Like, little kid me – it’s gonna sound like I need to humble myself – but little kid me thought I would drop one song and then become the most famous cunt in Australia. I thought it would be fucking eas’ but then, as I started to get a bit older, I was like damn, this shit isn’t actually as easy as I thought it was gonna be. So, to be honest, it’s gotten further than I thought it would. I thought I would have given up.
You’re doing pretty well for 16, I’d say.
I know, bro [laughs]. I was so surprised when fucking Cop Car hit 100k. I was asleep. And then I woke up to like 45 messages from half of my mates being like “Oi, you know Cop Car just hit 100k on Spotify.” I was like, “what?” Like, last time I checked it, it was at 40k. That was fucked.
So how did Cop Car pop off like that? What happened there?
I don’t even know, bro [laughs]. I’m pretty sure it was just right place right time, aye.
Was it going around on Tik Tok or anything?
Oh, I can tell you what. You know Mr. Sick Cunt? The guy on Tik Tok who kicks back in Perth and he like interviews random people on the street.
Oh, he interviewed you?
Yeah, I randomly saw him in Perth like right as Cop Car was peaking. It’s peaking at like 30k and it was sort of slowing down with the streams. Then, that gave it a little boost up to maybe like 60 or 70k. Ever since then, people have just been playing it on repeat. Like, I kid you not man, I can literally walk outside my house and somebody will come and try dap me up and be like, “Oi Vah, Cop Car’s fucking fire, bro.” And it’s kind of become the bane of my existence because I actually hate the song now. I’m so tired of it, bro. I appreciate it, but I’m tired of the fucking song.
Yeah, no, it’s like that, hey. I love that song, man. But I think you–
I got a lot better shit coming but.
Yeah, I mean, I really loved the Vah EP.
Thank you, bro.
That just felt like such a great showing of your range, and you just pack a lot into your bars without using that many words. Can you tell me about the making of that EP? Like, how it came together and what was going on in your life at the time?
That project, what was going through my head during that period is, like, getting my shit together. You know, I want to actually make something of myself because I went through like a little eshay rat phase. I hate to say it but I was a little shit for a bit. Like, when I still went to school, I would start skipping school, go out stealing and you know, smoking dope and all this stupid shit that just wasn’t necessary, and I had one of them moments where it all just clicked with me. I looked at myself in the mirror one day and I was like, “What am I doing?” I feel like that’s the representation of Vah EP.
I think you can hear that.
It’s like me, you know? I feel like a lot of my music is gonna be about growth for the next while, ’cause my first mixtape was Learners EP. And I reckon the next mixtape I’m going to drop is going to be Red Ps. And it’s gonna be about how I slowly ease my way into the music industry and become more familiar with all the– you know what I’m trying to say?
Yeah, I like that. Is there gonna be one for your full license?
Yeah [laughs]. I do a Green Ps one the year after.
Then the full license, full length maybe.
Fucking oath.
So, you talked about Kendrick and J. Cole, but you’ve got a pretty distinct sound from them. Who’s inspiring you these days?
I don’t really know, aye. I couldn’t really point at anyone and be like, “Yeah, that’s my inspiration.” I remember when I first started jumping on drill beats back when Pop Smoke Welcome To The Party first blew up. I remember I saw that video and it had 3k views and I tried to gatekeep that shit [laughs]. When it first came out, I was like, “No, I listened to this song before all of youse cuz I’m a real O.G.” But yeah, I think that would have been what got me onto like the drill beats, but then it sort of drifted from that aye, because I don’t really make drill music. I don’t talk about, like, killing 157,000 people every day. So yeah, I don’t really know. Sometimes I hear something and it’ll just click with me. And I’ll be like, yeah, I need to make something like this.
Have you always been into Australian rap? And who were the ones that got you into that?
Yeah, back when I first started making music, I used to rap in an American accent because I was like, I hell wanted to like present myself as an Indonesian artist – as an Asian artist, instead of an Aussie artist. Because, you know, I was just having fucking trouble with my identity at the time and trying to fit in at different places at different times and it just wasn’t working out very well. But then, you know, Charlie Martin is probably who put me on to Aus rap properly. Because I listened to it every now and then, but when I started hanging out with him, he would bring me over to his house and we would fucking just sit down and listen to music for like five hours straight. He fully put me on to Aus rap.
Yeah, right. What sort of stuff did he show you at first that got you into it?
Ah, it was probably some Huskii song.
In your music, you really seem wise beyond your years, as if you’ve lived a whole life, not just 16 years. What about your upbringing and experiences do you think made you that way?
Just done a lot of dumb shit in the streets, aye. Just doing unnecessary shit. I mean, shit that was necessary, but looking back, you know, could have been done differently. And I’ve always been like the youngest person in groups, because I’ve always kicked back with the older kids because I always felt like the younger kids, like, couldn’t catch up with me. And it still sounds like I need to humble myself, but you know what I mean, right? So, I was always around the older kids, even if it was like a year older. Just like kids that weren’t in my grade. And seeing them do dumb shit and then learning from from their mistakes, and then doing all the dumb shit before everyone else in my year, and then obviously dropping out. I feel like I’ve seen quite a bit of shit for for someone who’s sixteen.
What’s your perspective on the game as a Perth rapper? Do you feel like Perth is left out and that’s frustrating or does it encourage you to try and build up the Perth scene and just cater to that local audience?
I’ll be honest, man, the Perth scene is like– the only reason that we’re not up there with with Sydney and shit is because we– like, no one in Perth, like, picks someone and goes, “You know what, I want to support this guy.” Or girl, you know. We don’t really have, like, loyal listeners. Everyone here just wants to listen to fucking like Lil Baby and shit. So, it’s pretty hard to be a Perth artist, ’cause I noticed a lot of artists from Perth are moving out to Melbourne and Sydney recently, or just like even going out there to make connections. But just the fact that we have to do that is a bit… you know?
Yeah, it’s hard.
You’ll see in America, people blowing up out of, like, one state, or one town, you know what I mean? What’s a good example? Like, Lil Durk and O-Block. Like, how they blew up out of literally, like apartments. So if they can do it, you know, why can’t WA as a whole state do it? It’s just about the people. We can’t even blame anything else other than that. It’s just people don’t want to support people. And it’s also because everyone wants to be the one that comes out of Perth so bad. So it’s not really like we’re helping each other. Everyone kind of sees it as competition. I mean, I’m not speaking for everyone but a lot of people it feels more like a competition then, you know, trying to help each other and build each other up and, you know, let everyone eat.
Trying to be the one who gets out of Perth rather than put Perth on the map.
Yeah.
Are you someone who likes the spotlight do you think?
To be honest, I don’t know. I’ve never really been someone who wanted to stick out, you know, growing up looking a little bit different to everyone else. And every time I go out in public, I always get quite a few looks. So I think that’s made me… I’m trying to think of the word. It’s like I’m used to used to being in the spotlight, but I don’t know if I like it, though. Because when I’m doing shows and all that kind of shit, it’s kind of like, I don’t want– I do want to do it. Because I want to show out for everyone that showed up for me, but I also just don’t want to do it, you know? I don’t really like the constant attention.
Yeah, yeah. Fair enough, it’s hard when it’s sort of part of the deal of being a rapper, hey.
Yeah, but it’s not even that, man. It’s like, it’s part of my life as part of me. You know, having alopecia. People try to bully me all the fucking time [laughs]. Or like, touch my head and shit. It’s the most annoying shit ever.
Yeah, fuck that, man. I bet.
I mean, it could be worse. I like to see it as a blessing, but it does get annoying sometimes.
Do you feel like you’ve learned any particularly important things from your Mum? Like, things that she’s instilled in you?
Yeah course, definitely discipline. Discipline’s a big one. Especially when it’s like, I have money that I could spend on something, but then, y’know, I need to pay rent and I need to pay fuckin’ rego for the car and all that shit. I don’t know, she just taught me almost everything that I know. I reckon I’m a pretty respectful person. I respect people until they disrespect me. Type shit. ‘Cause my Mum grew up in a pretty strict Muslim household, so a lot of her values come from Islam. I’m surprised that she let me drop out of school. I’m surprised that she let me do a trade, ’cause if we went back to Jakarta, no chance is that happening, bro. ‘Cause like, over there, tradies and all the shit that we find really important here, they get paid fuck all, man. They get paid like 24 bucks a week. It’s pretty fucked. It’s like a bottom of the line job there but here, you know, you can like set your life up – go to the mines.
You got any gifts picked out for your Mum for Mothers Day?
Yeah, course. Got a little necklace and a customised cup, and I’m taking her out tomorrow. Yeah, gonna be spending like $400 on dinner or some shit like that. Nah, no way, no way. I don’t have that kinda money, but we’re gonna be big boy spending. It’s Mothers Day, man.
Hell yeah. Gotta do it.
Yeah, gonna grab a carton on the way back. Just have a chill night, me and Mum. Kick back, make some music. “Mum jump on the track.”
Streets are waiting, man.
No shit, aye.