‘Will Rap For Tuka’ is the culmination of years honing his craft, both in written form and performance, and delivers one of 2010’s most diverse efforts right before the buzzer sounds. Tuka is as comfortable rocking over a stomping Gypsy horn line as he is over Dub-Reggae or a driving Boom Bap rhythm.
A collaborator of the highest order, Tuka has worked and recorded with Chasm, Dialectrix, Two Toes and The Tongue. But for his solo debut, Tuka really has wholeheartedly taken on the ‘solo’ mantle, with only two guests on the entire album – Tenth Dan and Radical Son – and with even the cover art being hand drawn by the Sydney MC.
Away from tunes and teaching, who is Tuka? I'm a shell of a man, who believes in aliens...You do the math.
How did you get your start in music?
Watching rage late at night when I was a kid had a lot to do with it, but to tell you the truth once I turned 17 or so, out of the blue I just started writing rap songs. About 3 months later I scored a huge 15 minute set at a club up in Katoomba, I had to sneak in cause I was still underage lol....
For you, what is “music”?
- Tiny vibrating pieces of matter that stimulate an emotional response in my brain when heard by my ears.
-A platform to create beauty.
-A brilliant way to impress the opposite sex.
(Let’s keep this brief, I could really go on for a while with this one).
If you weren’t doing this great job, where do you think you’d be?
I really can't see myself doing ANYTHING else. For real, but for argument sake I would probably be a social/youth worker or a visual artist of some sort.
Your sets are mostly improvised – where does your inspiration come from?
In the past I've been hired to freestyle sets with random DJ's or bands. I'm also in a group called Sketch The Rhyme, in which the entire sets are improvised (speed drawing + freestyling). Inspiration comes from anything and everything, a audience members T-shirt to what I ate on the day....Random thoughts organise themselves in my head and I attempt to make sense of them in 4/4. However when it comes to me performing as 'Tuka' I only do pre-rehearsed material at this stage...
Overall, what would be your goal while working within the Industry?
I wanna make a record for people to interpret/enjoy in any which way they desire. Once a year for the rest of my life.
What do you think is missing in the Australia music scene?
Reggae music on mainstream radio for a start.
Now with the album released – whats next?
I'm gonna be touring it ‘Will Rap For Tuka’ in March, also Thundamentals next record is dropping mid 2011, so I'm busy writing for that at the minute.
Any big plans for Christmas?
This year me and some other like minded artists types started a record label called Big Village. On 17th of December @ Tone night club we are having a Christmas party! PS. I hate Xmas. Hum bug.
What is the meaning of life?
Love and light.
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