Born in Zimbabwe, CHISEKO’s journey has spanned living in London, Leeds and Switzerland, before moving with his family to Australia in 2008. With a lifelong love for visual art, music and adventure, CHISEKO’s childhood and more recent travels frequently influence his creative output, as did some of his earliest musical memories weaving between people’s legs in the living room as they danced at his parents’ house parties in London. Developing his sonic palette after receiving a Ministry of Sound CD in the mail and a copy of Lethal Bizzle’s Pow! single from his dad, CHISEKO also deepened his musical appetite listening to Jay Z and early 90s rap and R&B in his parents’ car, gospel at church services, and watching classic movies with his mother, including Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.
Perth dynamo CHISEKO’s new single, Outside, is out now. It’s a polished blend of abundant grooves and effortless flow.
We chatted to CHISEKO about his top five most influential artists…
- Kendrick Lamar – Kendrick Lamar revived my faith in rap music in the mid 2010’s. Good Kid Maad City and Section 80. were on repeat for me in my adolescence. Up until hearing Kendrick Lamar I was listening to strictly 80’s & 90’s rap. I felt like hip hop was diluted and inauthentic and Kendrick came out rapping about his life in a super individual and unique way, it was like nothing I had heard before. Stylistically my earlier works were really me just trying to imitate Kendrick and I developed a lot through this. My favourite Kendrick Lamar tracks are “Sing About Me I’m Dying Of Thirst”, “Money Trees”, “Swimming Pools”, “How Much A Dollar Cost”, “Rigamortus”, “Poetic Justice”, “B***h Don’t Kill My Vibe”, “Untitled 05”, “We Cry Together” and “Savior”.
- Joey Bada$$ & Pro Era – I love Joey Bada$$ because he reminds me of everything good about the 90’s. Coming out at 17 and having as much skill as he had really blew my mind. He’s another rapper I really modelled my early style from. I remember being into oversized tees and new balance sneakers, colourful bucket hats and 5 panels all influenced by that New York style. I used to skate to his music, listen to it in class & on the bus after school, I spent many hours watching pro era music videos instead of doing my school work. My favourite Joey / Pro Era songs are “Waves”, “Suspect”, “Third eye S**t” “Where it$ at?” & “Funky Ho’$”
- Biggie Smalls – The slickest mc to ever live. No one had a better cadence than biggie smalls, every line Rhymed intricately. Every bar was hard hitting, his delivery was always perfect. If someone built a rapper in a lab it would be biggie smalls. The swagger, the charisma, the charm. It was all simply impeccable. I used to box to biggie a lot, my favourite joints are “kick in the door”, “Unbelievable”, “Machine gun funk”, “Gimme the loot”, “Who shot ya?” and “Hypnotize”. Dude also has the illest freestyle of all time for me. “I make your mouth piece obese like Della Reese, when I release you lose teeth like little cease”. Name a better bar, I’ll wait.
- A Tribe Called Quest – they embodied what it means to be slick and smooth for me. I loved how great their beats felt, I loved the dynamic between tip and phife I loved how conscious it all was. Tip’s hoarse voice really influenced the way I wanted to project my voice on tracks. My favourite Tribe album is the low end theory and my favourite songs are “Check the rhyme”, “Get a hold”, “Jazz (We’ve got)” and “Scenario”.
- MF DOOM – The Vaudeville Villain, Daniel Dumile. Outside of the fact that his heritage is Zimbabwean, Doom has legitimately the greatest story arch in rap history outside of maybe NWA. Starting out as Zev Love X then disappearing for 10 years after his brother passed and coming back as the masked villain is a comic book story line if I’ve ever heard one. Especially given that his whole brand is literally him rapping as multiple different comic book characters. Outside of his insane skill and technique his branding is something to be admired. My favourite doom project is the mouse and the mask and my favourite songs are “Benzie Box”, “Open mic nite part.2”, “Meat Grinder”, “One beer” and “Sofa King”.
