Two of the freshest in the biz taking out the top spot with a proper, hip-shaking choon.
The Sollyy-produced beat on Riddle Me This is unlike much else in the Australian rap realm with a subtle Brazilian funk influence. It makes you wanna do a lil T-rex-armed, running-man shimmy and dance like you’re in the Rihanna – Work video or some sort of sundrenched party in Rio de Janeiro. Naturally I assumed a sample from that part of the world provided assistance but Sollyy used none in the creation of this wondrous groove.
The boys bring the pain in a real slick-type fashion, repping West Sydney and hand-waving away those who think they know how to improve the recipe of their special sauce. Thing is, these are two dudes who are constantly switching up the recipe, or rather who have a multitude of sauces in their recipe book – viscous and non-viscous alike. Isaac can be a popstar or an emo rockstar but he always sounds good on some straight-up rap shit.
It was only the year before when Sollyy unzipped his producer jacket to reveal a whole rapper sweatshirt hiding underneath. Another 2023 loosie that ended up on Spotify in 2024 was the WOODCROFT MACCAS FREESTYLE 1 where Sollyy kicks Michigan/Rxk-style shit talk while slinging a heap of hyperlocal jokes and references with the attitude of a 90s WWE promo. WAYY TOO LOOSE finds Sollyy on a delirious evening, sounding like he wants to crack on with every woman in the Greater Sydney area, chasing a euphoric rush that feels sure to end in a crash yet crying out for more over his dizzying pew pew stew of synthesizers. In his more melodic bag, lines that aren’t much on paper are made to shine, like “Yeah I’m from the Great West/All the long drives to Lakemba”. The local focus is always crucial for Sollyy.
That’s really what Riddle Me This is about: people seeing the marketability of Western Sydney musicians but wanting to water down the culture that produced them. Riddle them that.
Lastly, appending a remix to the official music video is quietly ingenious.
This was my favourite slice of the AUS rap pie from the year. It feels like cheating as this is basically an EP spread across a 10-minute cypher, but, *Katt Williams voice* this shit right here? This is what dreams are made of.
ECB started as a LOX-like trio of brothers Nate G, Chiggz and JK-47 but they seem to be evolving into a Wu-Tang-like collective. After bringing their younger brother Will into the mix, they’ve also brought along Deltoy and DJ here to represent under the East Coast Brotherhood banner. JK has been doing his own thing for a while, focusing on his illustrious solo career and popping up only on very few ECB releases so it’s just a treat to see him and all the boys together here, summoning a typhoon of flawlessly executed, rugged and raw rap crew energy.
You’ve got Agnus on the beat(s). Nate G is quarterbacking the play, a bit like a Jay Rock of the crew with his workmanlike raps, sharp flow and staunch presence. DJ mixes streetwise grit with heartfelt struggle, comparing himself to Max Payne and Greg Inglis. Every passing of the mic is synchronised- swimming-level smooth but Will has one of the best baton exchanges when he comes in like “I’ve been ready from the jump lad/Knew I had it in me since a rugrat”. Deltoy might be the most electric of the bunch and has my favourite line with “Got the room Blaked out without shutting the curtains”. Just as epic is the way he passes over to “JK!” who brings that rally cry vibe; stomping a path of change in service of the lord above. Where JK really shines here though is as a hypeman, hitting ad-libs and backing vocals and providing enough stankfaces and effervescently joyful smiles to convince me that the shit was fire even if I couldn’t hear it.
Just when you’re wondering when Chiggz is gonna get a turn, JK elegantly swings the mic over for his brother to hold it down for a full three soulful minutes with a hook and all. There are times during Chiggz verse where JK’s gotta look up toward the Lord, smile beaming, as if to say “You done good when you made this bloke”.
I feel much the same way when I watch this cypher. It does nothing short of capture the transcendent joy, beauty and wonder that rap music can offer.
Now, W2C that t-shirt?
Before I heard this cut from Pookie and Nino Brown I would’ve voted for an embargo on the sampling of Benjamin Benassi’s Satisfaction, but the rapper and producer defy the odds and combine forces for a satisfyingly absurd slapper where Pookie shows off her incredible charisma and vocal flexibility.
Everytime the fat fuckin’ bass comes in with that Satisfaction sample and Pookie rapping “I BET YOU AIN’T NEVER SEEN NOTHING LIKE MEEE,” it hits like a damn million ton watermelon launched at the Earth’s surface. Simple, inimitable pleasures. At different turns, she sounds like a predator toying with her prey, a burlesque performer or a straight maniac as she delivers her unhinged “I’m the fresher one, I’M THE FRESHER ONE, OF COURSE!”.
What more is there to say? Pookie has been one of the dopest around since her absolute classic Tuesday. Last year she only had the similarly boisterous drill slapper TALKIN DIS DAT and the amazingly smooth and sexy Feel It In The Black.
Sidney had a humongous 2023 off the back of of her instant cult classic album I’m So Tired of Being Staunchly which very quickly launched her to icon status among a small legion of internet-brained music fans from Australia and beyond. Since then, she toured the countch’ a bunch, inspired a number of wannabes to mimic her irreverently cute but laddy pluggnbnthat style, sat down with some of the country’s most influential journalists and kept the scene waiting with bated breath her return.
Return she did with another brilliant album titled Penance. Exploring the theme of repenting for one’s sins, Sidney raps about the shame of her own drug-use, the pain of watching of others go through it, and a fear that, with her newfound influence, she might be pushing her listeners to use themselves. Where some Sidney songs are filled with explosive angst, the opening track Lead A Horse To Water is a more muted portrayal of the frustration of watching someone you care about dealing with addiction. The beat from cocainejesus is minimal and unusual with some cool, scratchy snare hits and a whirling synth line that Sidney affixes her vocal melody to as she delivers classically candid truths about her friend who struggles to receive help or provide it for themself.
The new album finds Sidney treading new sonic ground, dabbling in a synth-poppy style at times and exploring a mixed bag of cloud rap sounds. The single Get Rich Or Die Tryin, however, almost sounds like a leftover from the Staunchly sessions, but you can hear how Sidney is in a different place mentally. The pluggy beat by wasterr and ggabriel, who produced Effy, is shimmering and pretty and Sidney shows off her incredible gift for melody and harmony, layering catchy vocals about dickriders and fake cunts, but returning to the album’s recurring themes with blunt lines about the heartbreak of seeing a friend relapse. A lot of Sidney’s lyrics are artfully direct. Some toe the line of banality or innaneness, but her earnestness and cathartic delivery are what elevates the simplest of sentiments.
Apple Music | Spotify | Soundcloud
Tahkoe has a soulful spirit and an eazy stease.
One of my favourite moments from his eventful year of music is when he recalls the only time he’s ever been jumped on namesake, the opening track of his debut mixtape laughing thru tears. He gives the details very matter-of-factly – daytime, an alley in Plumpton, 6 or 7 dudes – but he moves on quickly as if to say that’s just life and I’m too high to care right now — lets hit 7/11. Following this, you get the beautiful image of “pink nutrient water, share with my bredren.” A very rare reference to that most delicious of elixirs; a true blessing to a dry mouth when you’re on the session, passed round like a canteen in the desert. Touching, warm, everyday life. That’s the only real reason I put this one over the equally beautiful gimme time.
That joint shows off the soulful spirit. Fried Rice shows off the easy steaze. Tahkoe’s boasting about his girl spearheading VICE AU (s/o Adele), fantasising about a studio/ smoke sesh with The Alchemist and putting all his “lil cuzzies on like Kenny did for Keem”. Bars abound but probably the best parts of the song are where he just says “Liiiike” and “You know what I meeeean”, dragged out swagged out meaningless emphases that show off his unique, laid-back delivery.
Emjaysoul, who produced every track on their collaborative album TAHKOES & SOULFOOD, was appropriately honoured as the producer of the year by Acclaim early in the year. He’s chopping samples with the best right now, can do a bunch of different styles and, in contrast to some of the more stripped-back, sample-based beats you hear these days, his beats always have a real groove or something that’ll get your head bopping.
If nobody got me, I know the YouTube algorithm got me. In the field of lyrical street rap loaded with memorable bars and drug-dealing minutiae, nothing outclassed this here track that YouTube the YT ‘rithm into my life by South-West Sydney rapper 2eezy. With his thick Lebapool accent, dark comedic streak and detail-oriented raps, he’s one of the most exciting local street scrap artiste’s doing it.
I couldn’t find it, but I remember reading a blog post from the late A$AP Yams about how Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) was his favourite rapper of all time because he put you on the most game in his verses and the best rapper was the one who put you on the most game. Now, if a guy like me were to say such a thing, I’d probably sound like a bit of a f*ckwit… but there is something to be said of all the game listeners are being put on here by 2eezy. He’s all about principles, loyalty, street wisdom, mistakes made and lessons learned, and some positive advice for the youth to stay out of the streets and jump in the boof. The singing in the hook I’m not so keen on but the beat’s hard enough and helps to generate a feeling of being on-the-run, with the faceless rapper bringing that intensity while still always sounding in control. The core verse has so much character and so many great moments, like when he raps about cooking product with a balaclava on ’cause his mate’s kitchen had no blinds.
The only song you’ll find on 2eezy’s Spotify or YouTube is Hooded Angels. I’m scared to even say that his old EP is on Apple Music because he seems to be on a warpath to wipe everything but the audio of that one song from the internet. The video that first caught my attention is gone, and quality songs like Plastic/Platinum have also been given the chop – no idea if it was his doing or not. Only thing to do now is drop more bwangas. Too easy.
From where I was sitting, it seemed like Nabio came out of nowhere when he first set the internetz ablaze with his 2am down unda snippet on IG. Not long after that he released Normal, where he took that smooth style of UK dudes like Knucks or SL and fused it with a bit of West Melbourne swag. The sax-backed beat is proper smoove and Nabio steps in clean with a motif of ‘cuz, it’s normal’ appending each of the hook’s subtle flexes e.g. cashing out on Sportsbet at half-time.
I really like how he talks shit about fake accents and he has an infectious disdain for dudes rapcapping and living out their trap fantasies in their music. Ironically, a few local rap fans that could be best described as ‘white’ felt that Nabio was faking an English accent. It really puts into perspective that, while fake-accent-hating is a virtuous undertaking, there’s nuance to this shit and you can’t expect every African-Australian rapper to sound like Kerser.
A little later came CBD which again just had that Melbourne feel and a duffle-bag worth of brilliance compacted into the one line where he describes being ‘in the CBD/faded, cross-contaminated off LSD with THC’. ‘Cross-contaminated’ !?!? ️🔥️🔥️🔥️🔥
On Home, the penultimate track on Josef’s debut album It Takes A Village, he raps that he feels like coming home to a warm hug. You could press play on any track off that album and it will probably sound like how a warm hug feels.
Josef’s music feels heavily inspired by introspective, soulful, sensitive artists like Navy Blue, laying bare his scarred soul and racing mind with a gentle tone not much stronger than a whisper and settling for no less than the smoothest, sweetest beats on the market. Sydney producer Tee8 stakes his claim as one of the best beatmakers we’ve got, producing all songs except for the Zzarni-produced collab with Yibby, Melo, and the sung, acoustic tracks with which Josef bookends the tape. On 2003, Tee8 provides a soulful, lo-fi groove and Josef digs into childhood memories of guns aimed at his chest and mates’ commercial buds being stored at his crib. Through it all, Josef emanates warmth and hope. It feels like the moment where you step out of the darkness and feel the sunlight on your face.
One would have to agree Devaura was That Girl this year. Heavy co-signs from Triple J and FBI helped precipitate a rise that’s given her a view of potential stardom on the horizon. She has that Nicki-fluenced theatricality and extravagance with shades of Jamaican dancehall influence as well as a sort of gruff Azealia Banks bounciness. Plus, her own cool Sydney girl swag and a genuine star quality which is especially pronounced in her music videos. The grandiose and sultry Ketamine from last year proved that she had the presence and charisma to carry big tracks and 2024 brought a few more displays of her DEVastating AURA.
The beat to Kamikaze has a cold, menacing club energy — all slapping 808s, hyperactive percussion and the odd synth part to heighten the tension. Devaura takes charge, playing a role that’s equal parts “fuck outta my face” diva and megalomaniacal parade commander. “Ego be the death of you,” she says; sage wisdom that Devaura makes sure still sounds like a threat.
Now, what did she mean by this?
Point guard in the league, no you can’t touch!
![KAMIKAZE - DEVAURA [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/8P4HktKH880/hqdefault.jpg?w=1100&ssl=1)
Don’t have much in the way of thoughts about WTFRY. It’s all feeling, practically inviting you to turn off your brain and maybe even give it some light CTE from knocking it against your cranium, with a big, head-swingin’, trunk-rattlin beat with chunky synths scraping all over it and Pronto captaining the G-up.
“Who the fuck are y’all?” as a sentiment is about as quintessentially Chief Keef as they come and you can definitely hear some Sosa in the flow, delivery and concise , though that always feels like an insufficiently imaginative connection to make/thread to draw/reference point. It’s also reminiscent of Soulja Boy’s “YAH TRICK YAH!” vibe — anthemic and gloriously brash.
I first listened to Melbourne rapper Pronto after Centrepoint blog wrote about his song One Day. From that one and still to this, day, it’s one of my favourite Australian songs. It’s ultimate sunny-day music and Pronto kicks raps that are simple but effective fantasising about the future come-up which will allow him to swap out his Hyundai for a Ferrari. In the verse, he raps “Shawty she be woah, shawty she be stuntin/me and Baka Baka, I be ballin’ with my cousin”. It’s not saying much but it sounds so good. Kickin’ it with his family, hittin’ up Foday’s hair salon for a cut, hearing his music coming out of people’s speakers, a bit of oral sex — little things he sounds so stoked about. The beat creates a blissful, ~chill~ vibe but Pronto brings such joyous optimism and bounce that it turns into a proper transcendent bop. WTFRY and One Day never made it to streaming services, solely living on the Tube. For that’s where Real Rap lives, of course.
He now makes a #lifeadvice podcast instead of music. He’s gon’ get it one way, or another. Hard not to feel like he’s spiting me personally, nonetheless.
Kash Kal released an EP called Metro Station in 2024 that seems to have disappeared from the internet and streaming services. It had four songs where Kal was giving you that real over a bunch of DnB/house/UGK/idk beats and it was dope. A lot of fun to hear him lock in on a style like he did with his little boom-bap EP from a while back. But, all that I can find of the EP online is an Instagram snippet of the only single DOGMA which had Kash Kal in blues mode over a melancholic drum n bass beat, rapping about the perpetual cycle of downward spirals, the void inside his head that just won’t leave and losing loves one to death and detention. Alignment was also a dope song but what does it matter now. Kash Kal is a GOAT, he’s come to recycle bars and themes to the point they’ve become catchphrases but it never stops being fresh and raw. Kashimi Kal.
This ‘love’ business. I could never see the appeal, just couldn’t quite make sense of it until I heard this here by Melbourne’s KidDave.
Love Me is such a pure expression of being head-over-heels in love with someone and desperately hoping that they feel the same. It’s nice to hear someone be vulnerable and lovey-dovey (bordering on clingy) without undercutting it with some shit about how you’re actually heartless and couldn’t care about a b**** or whatever such trope. Even when Dave gets sexy widdit – “Do it from behind that’s my favourite view/then flip you back around you know I love that too” – it’s utterly romantic. Now, we love all that nasty toxic shit but this is that good old-fashioned yearning music. Cliche it might be, a little generic in production possibly, but affectionate, borderline R&B rap songs like this that aren’t soulless pop slop or rizzless, self-indulgent emo flops are about as rare as a five-dollar schooner in this Oceanic rap game.
The first half is pure honeymoon bliss and lust but the song builds to an anxious climax, kicking up a notch in the second half when Dave brings in a really nice, more pained, higher backing vocal that ends up taking the lead.
I played this one more than anything off the tape. Maybe it’s the sight of our nation’s greatest man-made monuments in the background giving it that irresistible Sydney aura. Maybe it’s the grey tracksuit reminding me of the glory days, when he made the best song of all time…
What it iz is Adultface Mal sliding on this freestyle for UK YouTube channel Mixtape Madness with that signature nimble flow, and this ever so delicate beat that evokes the sight of a single snowflake falling outside your bedroom window of a morning. And yet it knocks.
![Miko Mal - Next Up? Australia 🇦🇺 [S1.E8] | Mixtape Madness](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/Qa9SC5c-_Kk/hqdefault.jpg?w=1100&ssl=1)
Miko Mal’s spell thus far hasn’t quite had the charm of the Babyface days. Part of what made his 2021 run so great was how each new drop had a different style or sound providing the framework for his slick, cheeky and wavy bars. His How To Fish tape wasn’t bad but too serious with less personality shining through and beats that are too samey and unremarkable. Outside of the singles, Aussie Disposals is the obvious standout. There are poignant moments to be found but I think he needs to loosen up the flow like on this freestyle and diversify the production. He’s still spittin’, it just sounds like he doesn’t want to be. Hopefully now that he’s done a lot of Not Fun he can give us a bit of Fun.
And what’s up with them weird IG reels trying to make his old songs go viral with captions like “Aussies finally discovered rap music”. Get a grip. Also, he’s on a major label so I’m allowed to talk about Numbers for a second: seems like the tape flopped a bit. Only one new track with >10K plays on Spotify. Something’s gotta switch. I still love ya Miko.
You could have picked a number of songs from Vahsoong’s latest tape Green Ps, but I just can’t look past the thrill of hearing Vah spitting his heart out about a relationship breakdown for like seven minutes straight. It feels a bit Saba and a lot Tyler and a lot Kendrick. In ways good and bad. In a song like this, you might expect a bit more detail about what happened, but it really is just about how he feels. I love the building intensity, less moved by the drawn-out climax and, while I wish it had just a bit more relationship nitty-gritty and imagery, I love how much impassioned rapping there is in this ambitious heartbreak odyssey.
Give Maina Doe all the money and let her be the Australian Kelela.
Let’s all take a moment to honour Maina Doe, one of the best R&B artists we’ve got right now.
In the midst of tortured indecision, she’s no alternatives to hitting so-and-so up other than disappearing to dust or
Maina top 3 AU R&B. With CD and Pania, I wanna say? This song ruuuuuules, should have got played to fuck by Triple J ! ! Also, DWBM > Lucid Dreams. Which also rules. ily maina doe gorgeous angel. I could see the next album being a masterpiece. If there’s a god, s
Australian Rap/R&B is so weird/funny. Why does Pania not have an album? Why does Maina Doe have an album? Why does Isaac not have an album! Less good example cause he’s already got like 10 classic songs in his discography. I can’t lie, I had the lyrics to this song completely wrong (“I might disappear to dance”, for months so it feels absurd to talk about what this song is ‘about’ but Maina is beingoff bloody traversing the globe and
Don’t Worry Bout Me finds Maina on the run, avoiding someone and essentially saying to them: “hey! might hit you up later but there’s also a chance I might not and might just disappear to dust and go completely nuts instead. Gotta go, won’t message for a few days!” She just doesn’t bloody know what to do. Sometimes disappearing into dust sounds pretty good.
The big-budget production (seven producer credits on this thing) is wonderful with layers upon layers of sounds, building gradually while Maina tries to get her thoughts straight, and then rising to another dimension as she lets the whirlwind of indecision whisk her off into another escapade.
It’s unconventional R&B that makes me excited for Maina to keep going in a Kelela-like direction. Give her all the money and let her blossom.
It’s unconventional R&B that makes me excited for Maina to keep going in a Kelela-like direction. She’s one of the best we’ve got. Give her all the money and let her blossom.
This song freakin blasts off
It’s like one minute you’re on the ground with Maina, then you’re blasting off into the sky in a whirlwind of decision. as the hook comes in and the big-budget production’s many layers coalesce in a way that’s quite magical.
it has big budget production that layers
running off to tokyo and disappearing into dust instead of returning their messages or having a conversation.
There is a magnificent slow build of the beat and the mood
- Sollyy & Isaac Puerile – Riddle Me This
- ECB – Sky Sessions Freestyle
- Pookie & DJ Nino Brown – LIKE ME
- Pronto4ggggz – WTFRY
- Sidney Phillips – Lead A Horse 2 Water/Get Rich Or Die Tryin
- Tahkoe – namesake/Fried Rice w/ emjaysoul
- 2EEZY – Hooded Angels
- Nabio – CBD
- Josef – 2003
- Kash Kal – DOGMA
- Devaura – Kamikaze
- KidDave – Love Me
- Miko Mal – Next Up Australia
- Vahsoong – how u make me feel
- Maina Doe – Don’t Worry Bout Me
- Kobie Dee – Reflection Freestyle
- VV-Ace – Neglected
- Yibby & Zzarni – Truth
- Cherry Rype – smoochie ft. Gian Santoro/i don’t wanna get the bus
- Jaal – Grenade
- ACE’O – Watch Ya Back
- CD – S.S. ft. Ms. Thandi
- blair romance – i spoke to blair in a dream
- lil ket & Sidney Phillips – U Can Call
- Adnam – Tesla ft. DUGE & Yung Osk
- Goobsy – WOMP WOMP
- Lil Spacely – Win
- Kirby – Wack Adelaide Promoters
- Chef Chung & RAY OTW – Gift Of Love
- Taylor Westbrook – Intersection
- MAMMOTH. & Eric Spice – Stale Taste
- All Black Alby – Have You Ever ft. MRVZ & Say True God
- Posseshot – Paperplanes
- Walkerboy & T-Breezy – WHAT DO
- Lithe – Fall Back
- Sollyy & Isaac Puerile – Riddle Me This (prod. Sollyy)
- ECB – Sky Sessions Freestyle (prod. Agnus)
- Pookie & DJ Nino Brown – LIKE ME (prod. DJ Nino Brown)
- Pronto4ggggz AKA AmirThePrince84 – WTFRY (prod. ?)
- Sidney Phillips – Lead A Horse 2 Water/Get Rich Or Die Tryin (prod. cocainejesus/ggabriel + wasterr)
- 2EEZY – Hooded Angels (prod. ?)
- Tahkoe – namesake/Fried Rice w/ emjaysoul (prod. Tahkoe & Zuko/emjaysoul)
- Nabio – Normal/CBD (prod. Astrovision)
- Josef – 2003 (prod. Tee8)
- Kash Kal – DOGMA (prod. ?)
- Kamikaze – Devaura (prod. JAIM, Déjà Miru & IXHII)
- KidDave – Love Me (prod. Dxnny WYS)
- Miko Mal – Next Up Australia (prod. ?)
- Vahsoong – how u make me feel (prod. Vahsoong)
- Maina Doe – Don’t Worry Bout Me (prod. 18YOMAN, LEN20, UNO Stereo, Styalz Fuego, Rudy Sandapa & Finbar Stuart)
- Kobie Dee – Reflection Freestyle (prod. jayteehazard)
- VV-Ace – Neglected (prod. KUT3NDA)
- Yibby – Truth (prod. Zzarni)
- Cherry Rype – smoochie ft. Gian Santoro/i don’t wanna get the bus (prod. Cherry Rype)
- Jaal – Grenade (prod. OGK)
- ACE’O – Watch Ya Back (prod. ?)
- CD – S.S. ft. Ms. Thandi (prod. Jimmy Pistachio & Sam Varghese)
- blair romance – i spoke to blair in a dream (prod. Cherry Rype)
- lil ket & Sidney Phillips – U Can Call (prod. Nerdie & Underwtr)
- Adnam – Tesla ft. DUGE & Yung Osk (prod. Adnam)
- Goobsy – WOMP WOMP (prod. Kirby)
- Lil Spacely – Win (prod. kymiegirl)
- Kirby – Wack Adelaide Promoters (prod. Kirby)
- Chef Chung & RAY OTW – Gift Of Love (prod. RAY OTW)
- Taylor Westbrook – Intersection (prod. Taylor Westbrook)
- MAMMOTH. & Eric Spice – Stale Taste (prod. Eric Spice)
- All Black Alby – Have You Ever ft. MRVZ & Say True God (prod. All Black Alby)
- Posseshot – Paperplanes (prod. Kharni Classix)
- Walkerboy & T-Breezy – WHAT DO (prod. Utility)
- Lithe – Fall Back (prod. Lithe)
- RNZŌ – RNZŌ SZN (prod. RNZŌ & Deera Meelan)
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Cutting blair romance from the list and just gonna chuck a shoutout to it in the cherry rype blurb.