Fame is a fickle thing. It gives and it takes away just the same, and just as quickly depending on the path taken to get there, whether its chosen by us or chosen for us.
The pressures of being a public figure, usually coupled by an increased pay-cheque, it’s honestly no wonder that a lot of people sway between zero and hero in the limelight. No one knows that better than Matt Colwell, better known as Aussie hip hop’s most controversial figure, 360.
After the release of his highly successful Flying & Falling in 2011, Sixty took somewhat of a hiatus, taking some time to reflect on his life. At one stage the Melbourne-based rapper was on a road to self-destruction through excessive booze and substance abuse, but he now wants to prove that he’s matured, has a better understanding of the world around him, and now has a full grasp of the image he portrays to young fans – he wants to be a solid role model. This is a fair go country, and we give credit where credit is due.
Utopia, the MC’s new album (out today) is the record in which ‘Sixty’ aims to silence his critics.
“If you were to look at my social media and read the comments on what people were saying, people would think that I don’t have many fans anymore and you know that people have turned on me and that my career isn’t really where it was,” Colwell tells Tone Deaf.
“There’s no alcohol on any of our riders any more or anything like that… it’s good man. The Eminem tour is the first tour I did sober, but this Utopia tour will be the first headline tour with no alcohol. It feels good to remember shows” he laughs. “You see with this album I wanted to come and do some shit that hasn’t been done in Australia.”
Utopia is both equal part radio pop hits and straight-up no nonsense rap, with influences drawn from 360’s collaborators such as prodcuer M-Phazes and a lineup of strong Aussie guests that includes Silverchair’s Daniel Johns, The Living End’s Chris Cheney, Gossling, Aussie MC Miracle, and Sixty’s old mate Pez. There is also a feature from respected rapper Lunar C an MC from the UK, who holds a strong reputation within battle circles.
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All in all, the new record is an ambitious display of varied influences that come together to tell the story through 360’s deepest, darkest places as he continues his life journey as an artist. It’s guaranteed to cause a divide but love it or hate it, you have to respect the man for challenging the borders and staying true to himself.
360 took us through his new album, track by track, depicting the journey he has been on in the last three years out of the game.
“You see with this album I wanted to come and do some shit that hasn’t been done in Australia, I think I did that with Falling & Flying, no-one had done the kind of music where you’re rapping over different beats than just boom bap beats. When you think of Aussie hip-hop, the majority of it fits a mould; you think of boom bap, and there’s nothing wrong with that you know early 90s kind of sound but that’s what you think when you think Aussie hip-hop and I want to branch out totally and I want to do more current kind of stuff.”
‘Still Rap’
“’Still Rap’ is a straight up hip hop joint. One thing that a lot of people kept saying about me – even people that I sort of know that are rappers – say that I’m not a rapper, I’m more of a pop singer. You know, I come from a background of rap, like my background is I came up with some of the most respected MC’s and I’ve studied the art of rap so I know what a good MC is.”
“I was determined to show with this album that I could rap my fucking arse off and also show that I can make songs for the radio but at the same time, rap my arse off. Do the best of both worlds if you know what I mean. So with the first song I wanted to address the haters straight away and just rap my arse off.”
‘You And I’
“It’s about getting sober. It’s about having addictions and an alcohol problem and then getting sober. There’s a few songs about that topic, but that song’s more of a fun, uplifting kind of vibe. Like the way it says ‘you and I’, I’m talking about ‘you’ [as] addiction and we’re no longer [together] but it’s a more fun way of approaching it.”
‘Live It Up’ (Feat. Pez)
“Man, I love working with Pez. He actually lives at my house, he moved into my house just last week and we always bring the best out of each other when we’re writing you know. Like, if I’m stuck on some lyrics he’ll always have some input and say ‘man, why don’t you say this or try this’ and then vice versa for his stuff too.”
“I love making uplifting music to bring positivity to people and uplift people. So, I feel like we nailed it, I wanted to do a song talking about ‘one life to live so live it up and nail it’, and I think we did that.”
‘Man On The Moon’
“Basically, it’s talking about heaps of different issues. Stuff that I’ve gone through and growing up. You know how they shoot for the stars but land on the moon? It was all about growth. Me, talking about a lot of homophobic slurs in a lot of songs and a lot of battle raps and shit like that and then growing up to realise that, that’s not ok and it’s quite offensive. Becoming a role model, I see myself as [that] now and know the affect that I have on little kids and I’m trying to make that impact a positive one rather then a negative.”
‘Purple Waterfall’ (Feat. Daniel Johns)
“The song is actually about opiates… My publisher is his (Daniel Johns’) brother. I’ve always wanted to work with Daniel, like for so long and I just said to him ‘dude, I really want to work with him.’ And he said ‘he doesn’t really work with anyone so don’t count your blessings’ and it turned out he actually wanted to. We got together and wrote ‘Impossible’ (available on the Deluxe Version) and he was just writing for it and wasn’t gonna sing and then we got along and clicked so well as mates that he wanted to be on the song and yeah we’ve done three songs since.”
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‘Price Of Fame’ (Feat. Gossling)
“You know how every kid grows up thinking ‘I’d love to be famous, I’d love to be rich and famous.’ Society is obsessed with wealth and fame in a way, maybe more so in America than Australia but there’s still that obsession with famous people when at the end of the day we’re just normal people. It has its ups and downs it’s not just an amazing fun lifestyle… It’s a lot deeper than that.
“The whole thing about money, like, I’m not going to go and buy a mad Mercedes Benz, you’ve got to be smart with money – cars devalue as soon as you buy the shit so there’s no point buying a $70K car. I’d rather spend my money in better ways rather then just flossing and showing it off.
“It felt good to have her [Gossling] back. Me and Styalz (Fuego, producer) were writing that song and when we came up with the chorus we were both just like ‘we need to get Gossling on this shit’.”
‘Must Come Down’ (Feat. Pez)
“A song about fighting your demons and my verse is about getting sober and trying to get addicted to a natural high or performing and just being a rapper.”
‘Speed Limit’
“This is just me. It’s a track where I just wanted to get my rap on again. I wanted to switch up my flow a bit and do a little bit of double time stuff which I haven’t really done before and really just sort of get my brag on and do the whole rap thing – have a bit of fun with it.”
‘Early Warning’ (Feat. Chris Cheney)
“The Living End’s manager is my manager (Crucial Music’s Rae Harvey). So I’ve met the band, all the boys, a number of times. They actually asked me to jump up on stage at one of the Big Day Out sets a couple years ago and do a freestyle over one of their tracks, so I did that a few times. Chris then sent me a song and said ‘ah, dude I’m imagining a rap on this, I’d love to do a song’ and we just took it from there.”
‘Sixavelli’ (Feat. Lunar C)
“That’s just another rap song where I’m talking absolute shit, it’s a funny song, like total comedy raps on that one. I know the dude [Lunar C] because he’s quite a big rap battler in the UK. He’s like one of the best. So it was real good to work with him, me and him have a real similar style when it comes to rap battling so it was good.”
‘Eddie Jones’ (Feat. Miracle)
“It’s very Southern influenced it’s like trill kind of shit, like A$AP Mob kind of. That’s what I wanted to do – make some shit that was international standouts that hadn’t been done here, I mean, no-one’s really touched on that kind of shit here so I wanted to do that and open the doors and hopefully hear others doing it. That’s one of my favourites too, it’s one of the ones I pump in my car all the time.”
‘Spiral Down’
“This is actually about a girl who I know who was addicted to crystal meth. People probably won’t even pick up on that because I didn’t want to say that directly. So if you listen to the verses, I sing the first two verses. If you listen to those you sort of understand what I’m talking about and I really wanted to release a song where I’m singing mostly and not rapping the whole thing. Show a bit of diversity and do something that hasn’t been done again. I really love that song.”
‘By All Means’
“We actually got Lifted [US rapper] from America he’s signed to GOOD Music, Kanye’s label. We got him to executive produce the album and flew him out for a couple of weeks. He made ‘Speed Limit’ and ‘By All Means’ and we made this one in about a day. I had some shit that I wanted to talk about and get off my chest so I just did it. It’s pretty personal.”
‘It’s All About To End’ (Feat. Daniel Johns)
“You see, that’s a song I wrote about religion. It’s about the faults that I see in religion and when I say that, I’m not very educated when it comes to religion so I’m not a mastermind. I don’t know the ins and outs about it, but it’s what I feel doesn’t match up. Man, if we had more time we could go into what I believe in but we’ll need about 45 minutes.”
“He’s [Johns] so unique. The dude is just a freak show when it comes to his vocal capabilities like he’s amazing. He can hit notes that hardly any people can hit and his voice is so incredible and his lyric game is so on point. Like he really is a fucking genius.”
Utopia is out now via EMI Australia.
360 Australian Tour 2014
Wed 3 Sept – UC Refectory – Canberra – 18+
Fri 5 Sept – Hordern Pavilion – Sydney – Licensed All Ages
Sat 6 Sept – The Arena – Brisbane – U18’s
Sat 6 Sept – The Arena – Brisbane – 18+
Wed 10 Sept – Uni Bar – Hobart – 18+
Fri 12 Sept – Festival Hall – Melbourne – Licensed All Ages
Sat 13 Sept – Thebarton Theatre – Adelaide – Licensed All Ages
Fri 19 Sept – Metro City – Perth – 18+
Sat 20 Sept – Astor Theatre – Perth – Licensed All Ages
Tickets including special packages go on sale 9AM FRIDAY 6TH JUNE at 360music.com.au
