Melbourne-based hip-hop group Remi has won the 2015 Australian Music Prize. Rapper and singer Remi Kolawole, along with producer Sensible J (Justin Smith) and engineer Dutch (Daniel Siwes), picked up the $30,000 prize at a ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday.
Kolawole told Guardian Australia the win was “ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous”.
The 23-year-old artist said he was in “complete shock” after hearing the news, and had reacted by “swearing a whole lot and asking the dude if this was a joke”.
The album, Raw X Infinity, was chosen from a list of 65 Australian albums by a 15-member industry judging panel that included chairperson Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus), Chris Berkely (Red Eye Records) and Myf Warhurst (Double J, Guardian Australia).
Kolawole said the entire album was recorded in Smith’s bedroom, with one track partly recorded on a smartphone when the group couldn’t afford a ribbon mic. “We recorded the drums for the opening track Raw X Infinity on an iPhone because we liked how shitty and raw the sound was.”
Since the group’s 2013 breakthrough mixtape F.Y.G Act: 1 and a Triple J Unearthed artist of the year win, several major labels have come knocking on their door. While Kolawole admits, “it’s always quite sexy when someone is offering you an amount of money to go away and do what you want to do,” the trio turned down all offers and continue to bankroll their artistic work with day jobs – Kolawole in retail, Smith and Siwes in hospital administration.
Working outside the major label framework is “liberating”, Kolawole admits – Raw X Infinity was released on the group’s independent label House of Beige. “Unlike this grant, with major labels you have to take that money back. And when you’re recording songs on an iPhone that’s not necessarily the major label sound.”
The album takes its influences from American hip-hop acts like the Roots, Redman and Roger Troutman, and lyrically draws heavily from Kolawole’s life in Melbourne. “It really covers a lot of topics in one record: racism in this country (Ode to Ignorance), drug abuse (XTC Party), the hard working lives of a lot of Australian people, as well as promoting stuff like marijuana (Aviation) – which we love.”
It is not the first prize Raw X Infinity has collected. The group won best independent release at the 2015 Rolling Stone Australia awards, as well as a $50,000 global music grant from the Association of Independent Record Labels.
A nine-strong shortlist for the Australian music prize saw Raw X Infinity compete with Built On Glass by Chet Faker, Gon’ Boogaloo by CW Stoneking, Grassed Inn by Blank Realm, Tales by the Peep Tempel, The Sleeper by Caitlin Park, Typical System by Total Control and Laura Jean’s self-titled album.
Tom Iansek was also on the short list under his moniker #1 Dads, for his album About Face, after winning the prize in 2014 as one half of duo Big Scary. Kolawole says he is a fan of Big Scary and 2013 winner Hermitude. “It’s pretty amazing to be following in their footsteps winning this award. It’s crazy.”
• Raw X Infinity is out now. Remi will be performing at the SXSW festival on 19 March
