Ladies and Gentlemen! Our special guest today is rare: a rapper with flow AND technique. With lyrics and things to say. Yes, it exists as proven by our artist of the day TripleSix.
New-Zealand born, Hong-Kong-based, TripleSix has a unique life route as well as an exeptional way to see the music and to create it.
He is not afraid nor ashamed to take risks, to add different genres in his music, and to share confessions about his life. And in view of his technique, he can afford it.
Check it out right now, and see you below to discover our interview with TripleSix:
We are excited to know more about you. We have to say, we were surprised to hear such a technique and rap experience. Could you tell us when you started to rap, and how did you acquire such a flow?
I first heard Eminem when I was 11 or so. Something about it I just loved, then when I was 12 – 14 I was really into 50 cent, Tupac, biggie and all of these legendary rappers. Growing up in school in NZ it’s the music we listened to. I’ve always been drawn to good flow, whether it’s Eminem (multisyllabic king), or my favorite underground rappers, illmac, OnlyOne. I’m a big believer that whatever you listen to is going to naturally and subconsciously influence your style of music. That’s how I acquired my flow.
You are able to create with so many genres: hip hop but also pop and rock music and we feel like this is something natural to you. What are your inspirations other than rap music?
All my life I have grown up around music. My mum is an opera singer, I started playing piano at 6 years old and guitar (which I play till this day) at 14. I am a huge fan of classic rock and metal and I used to sing in a rock band (we’re thinking of putting it back together)! I try to use all my musical elements to combine my love for the intricate lyricism and storytelling of hip hop and rap with rock and pop. My favorite bands include Metallica, red hot chili peppers, oasis and pink Floyd. I am a soul believer that music should know no boundaries. Who gives a shit about genre!
At what point were you comfortable and confident enough with yourself as a songwriter to write the material that you record?
I wrote my first song in 2015 called (Asian struggles) it’s on my sound cloud and youtube (it’s a terrible song, Asian struggles part 2 with my one of my best friend’s Karin is dope though!) hahaha check it out if you like. It was early 2016 when I started picking up my music and confidence. But then I got carried away with girl drama so went on a hiatus. It was in 2016 when people heard my music and liked it! – This is fortunate because I like to make music that I like! Rather than panning to commercial demand (if it happens that the music I create and love is commercial friendly then that is a blessing!)
While listening to Six90s Story, a kind of shout out for New-Zealand we were interested to know more about your life path between New-Zealand and Hong-Kong. Did you move to Hong-Kong for the music? Would you say that New-Zealand is for life and Hong-Kong for the money as we heard in your lyrics?
This is a very interesting question. Honestly I love both hong kong and new zealand, but NZ will always be my home, in my heart. I actually moved to hong kong for university in 2011 at the university of hong kong (in which my father is the associate dean of social science). I wish I moved over for music! I studied industrial engineering at hku haha. I moved over unexpectedly and try to go back to Auckland every so often. I think Hong Kong is definitely a very cut throat city which is very (sometimes too much) money oriented. It’s not all bad, it can create motivation. But I would definitely say that HK is more about the grind, whereas NZ lifestyle is more chilled out. Best of both worlds really! – in the future if I have a family n all I plan on moving back to NZ or possible Australia (shout out to one of my biggest influences from Melbourne city matt colewell aka 360).
Would you say that living in Hong-Kong has influenced your music at all? If so, how?
From a musical perspective I tend to go through phases. I go through a rock phase, EDM phase, rap phase (current one). It’s hard to say if living in Hong Kong has specifically influenced my music, I always just listen to whatever I like. There are a few artists which I love in HK (skibs, Young Hysan, and doughboy (bakerie crew) and classic canto-rock giant beyond) I try to keep an open-ear to upcoming rising artists, although I would say the hip hop industry in general in HK is not huge, but it’s slowly picking up.
In MK Jai you deliver a strong message about the music industry, the youth, and nowadays trends. Could you tell us what is a MK and why did you come to such a topic?
MK Jai is a big “fuck you” to an ideology we call in Hong kong by slang called “MK Culture”. It is an insult to the idea of blindly jumping on band wagons and following trends without any idea about what they mean or represent (an example as mentioned in the track is in 2016 or something there were some boy-band, or girl-band wanna be groups that came out of hong kong called Faith, that released a song called “Mama easy”. They tried to emulate Korean pop in the most cringe-worthy way. If you want to hear some trash music search up “Mama easy” on youtube hahaha. That being said, MK Jai is NOT an attack on any specific groups of people rather it encourages the music industry, youth to be yourself from a musical standpoint.
Your song “Touch My Scene” totally sounds like a dope single. It is one of our favorite TripleSix’s song. What is your favorite song among your releases?
Thank you! Touch my Scene was a fun song and is one of my more commercial, new-school rap songs. It is the one song I wrote that has a very sexual vibe and explores the raw physical attraction between people and casual flings. I am a strong believer that there is nothing wrong with casual relationships, however you should never ever lead people on emotionally and then fuck them over. This causes emotional turmoil and is something that I have struggled with. Always make sure you’re on the same page, and hey! Be safe kids! Use protection. Honestly I don’t have a favorite “TripleSix song” but Touch My Scene was definitely a very fun song to make!
As 2020 has started, what are your plans for the year? Can we expect a project, album, EP or video clip?
As we kick into 2020 I am definitely releasing another album this year! Which I will record professionally in a studio. I will be collaborating with featured artists on “Six Times Three” such as Karin (Asian struggles part 2) and Mabel (Thought I knew you). I have upcoming shows lined up and plan to keep doing shows, and play at clockenfap and maybe tour Asia! My new album that will release in 2020 is called Drugs, Lust, Sex then Love in which I will deep dive into my personal demons that I have faced, as well spreading awareness and positivity to the world. With this work I will continue you to integrate my love for music, writing and soul rap. I will be continue to shoot music videos and will shoot one for Touch my Scene! – Finally I have to thank you for your time and article on my music. Let’s all continue to spread love and positivity about this world. My favourite rapper at the moment is Mac miller! (RIP KING)
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