Hip-hop continues to move at a rapid pace – trends rise and fall, sounds, flows, deliveries burrow further into niches or evolve into all new pockets.
But the mid-2010s still stands to many as a golden era of traditional ‘lyrical’ hip hop. When underground rappers could become major stars, harness major label resources to make complex, thought-provoking albums with rollouts less-encumbered by streaming numbers or social media eyeballs.
It’s this era of hip hop that Brisbane based rapper and producer Miles Nautu draws from. He proudly reps rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Joey Bada$$ as key inspirations; hardly uncommon for many new, young rappers. However on his new EP, ALLUDE Miles Nautu avoids the cheap nostalgia or poor imitation that other new rappers can fall into when harkening back to this era of hip hop. On it, he explores “religion, music, Australian and American culture, and (his) experience as a Blak musician.” It’s a powerful showcase of an already confident artist.
Like most great hip-hop, its somewhat simply a vibe thing; Miles Nautu has it. His flow flips between different rhythmic cadences and syllablic phrases with the dexterity of, yes, Kendrick Lamar’s best tracks. It’s organic and constantly shifting, never clunky but fluid, sliding together in neat arrangement.
ALLUDE is impeccably produced. Airy and laidback, but with just the right amount of grittiness; unfussy, but still soulful. These songs come alive on the stage too - Miles twisting and turning through each track, without missing a beat; backed by a live band who bring to life the impressive sonic arrangements of Miles’ beats.
Miles Nautu is undoubtedly going places – talent like this can only go one way. But he’s also here already, now, a fully formed artist. Now is the time to tap in.
Words by Lindsay Riley