He’s one of the biggest names in Australian hip-hop to date and shows no signs of dimming down. Hitting the road hard, taking his latest tracks country wide in the promotion of his fourth album The Life of Riley, he’s in high demand and he knows it.  Still, rapping wordsmith, DRAPHT made time to chat about his processes, plans and progress.

In anticipation of his debut performance of The Life of Riley in Adelaide, Drapht aka. Paul Ridge, is not the bundle of nerves you might assume him to be. Answering the phone with, “Hiiiiii,” his cheeky, laid back attitude makes it easy to forget that this is Aussie hip hop’s rising heavy weight.

Consumed by a, “shitload of press, rehearsing and travelling ‘round,” Drapht hasn’t had much time to personally reflect on the events of the past month in which he wrapped up album production and began touring. Despite the lack of time he has for himself Drapht is sure to be grateful. “I’m not complaining though, the reaction so far has been really great.”

Working again with producer Trials, Drapht admits that the two share a unique collaborative partnership. The two live across the country from each other, Trials in Adelaide and Drapht in Perth or travelling, which makes sharing beats and lyrics an interesting task. “He doesn’t actually see any of my stuff until it’s almost finished and vice versa. We do our own thing and then see what works. I guess it’s a bit weird but it’s not really an issue.” It’s a technique that also worked with featured artists Urthboy, Mantra and The Funkoars who utilised the power of email to contribute their work.

Drapht has made no secret in press releases that this project was the toughest of his career. A self proclaimed perfectionist he just likes to take things one step at a time. “I don’t really have any future plans at the moment. I put so much into this (The Life of Riley) and it’s all I’m really thinking about right now. We’ll just see how everything goes and work it out from there.” Jumping into the international market is one of these things beyond the current ‘step’. “I’ve definitely still got a lot of ground to cover at home,” he says.

There’s been a growth of maturity between Drapht’s previous release, Brothers Grimm, and The Life of Riley. The record explores the idea of doing what you want to do amidst society’s pressures. It’s a consistent subject matter that’s backed by music that is constantly evolving through genres such as jazz and darker beats. He puts this down to having more energy, time and freedom to discover exactly what he wanted to include in the album. “I had the time and freedom to experiment and do things the right way. That was my biggest influence.”

That isn’t to say that Drapht didn’t feel as if he had freedom before this album. Despite deciding to create his own record label, The Ayems, to release The Life of Riley, he feels that there’s been no change in his process. “Literally nothing’s changed. I always had a lot of say in everything I did like choosing singles and picking songs. Really the only difference is that this time around the money’s coming out of my own pocket.” Why create the label then? “It’s just another step forward at this point in my career.”

Another step forward was the shedding of his Jimmy Recard image. The album centres on the death of Jimmy Recard which is, “definitely a response to jealous remarks made by people saying, ‘I hope you’ve got another Jimmy Recard on this album’. I don’t want another Jimmy Recard. There’s more to me than that. I always want to be approaching things differently you know?”

He’s touring the nation. He’s a headliner at Groovin’ The Moo and is making an appearance at Splendour in the Grass. What really gets him going however is coming home. “Metro City’s the biggest show I’ve ever done so I’m a bit nervous but it’s always good to come home and see what it’s got in store for me.” And we’re just as excited to see what you’ve got in store for us Drapht.