Paul Reid, formerly Paul Gary James Ridge, (born 4 September 1982), better known by the stage name Drapht, is an

Australian hip hop Australian hip-hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and was initially largely inspired by hip-hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of musi ...

artist from

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Drapht is a member of the Syllabolix (SBX) crew, a collective that includes fellow Perth-based hip hop artists such as Downsyde.

Biography

1982–2002: Early life

Drapht grew up in North Perth, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth. His father, Gary Ridge, a jazz drummer introduced Drapht to music from a very young age—he first experienced hip hop at the age of eight. The name "Drapht" is based on a Western Australian Swan Brewery beer, Swan Draught; the company's logo was written on a watch that his father brought home when Drapht was 13 or 14. Drapht attended Perth Modern School in Subiaco but was not involved in the school's music program. At school he became friends with Damien Allia (aka DJ Armee) who introduced him to hip hop via gigs at the Hyde Park Hotel. Drapht became a vital part of Perth's hip hop crew, Syllabolix, at the age of 17.

"I was extremely fortunate. Right place, right time. I was right in the middle of it all, I had access to one of the best producers at the time Dazastah, freestyle sessions at Hunter's and constant schooling from the rest of the MC's within the crew. So I was very blessed with it all." — Drapht

This involvement resulted in his first contributions being recorded and included on

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

and Dazastah's 2000 debut album, ''Done DL'', only months after he had started seriously writing.

2003–2004: ''Pale Rider''

Drapht's first track, "Misunderstood", was released as part of the ''Culture of Kings – Volume 3'' release in 2003 with Drapht saying "It was a song I wrote in a span of a day or so, and it was just lying around. So I had the opportunity to put it on ''Culture of Kings''. And then it ended up being the opening track for the release, which was awesome. That definitely helped in the early days of my career." His debut album, '' Pale Rider'', was released in October 2003, with all production handled by Dazastah ( Downsyde), Fdel and Drapht. Special appearances on the album include: Fdel (Invada Records), Downsyde, MC Layla, Hunter, Selekt, Carlsani and Porsah Lane.

2005–2007: ''Who Am I''

The follow-up, 2005's '' Who Am I'', was co-produced by Dazastah ( Downsyde) and Fdel, and co-mixed by Drapht with Dazastah. The songs touch on topics including politics, sex, and addiction to drunken antics. Guest appearances on the album include

Pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

(

Hilltop Hoods Hilltop Hoods are an Australian hip hop group that formed in 1994 in Blackwood, Adelaide, South Australia. They are regarded as pioneers of the " larrikin-like" style of Australian hip hop. The group was founded by Suffa (Matthew David Lambert) ...

), Downsyde, Layla, Pegz (Obese Records), Clandestien, MJ (Funkola) and Hunter. It was released by

Obese Records Obese Records was an Australian hip-hop, Australian hip hop record label based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was the largest independent hip hop label in Australia and was home to acts such as Pegz, Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals, Reason (Australian ...

in both in a CD and a limited 2 LP vinyl format. Two tracks from the album, "Drink Drank Drunk" and "The Music", received airplay on

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, mostly on the Super Request program. ''Who Am I'' is more an introspective album. The song, "The Music", was selected by

as a featured track for "AusMusic Month" in 2005. Drapht also released a music video for "The Music", which was shown on Rage. He also performed a guest verse on the track, "The Blue Blooded", which was included on the

' 2006 album, ''

The Hard Road ''The Hard Road'' is the fourth studio album by Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods. Released on 1 April 2006 by Obese Records, it debuted at number one on the Australia ARIA Albums Chart, and was the first album by Australian artist ...

''. Drapht has opened for acts such as;

Dilated Peoples Dilated Peoples is an American Los Angeles-based Hip hop music, hip hop trio, composed of rapper and record producer Evidence (musician), Evidence, rapper Rakaa, and Beat Junkies deejay and record producer DJ Babu. The group is better known in t ...

, Downsyde, Koolism,

Apathy Apathy, also referred to as indifference, is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic i ...

, Rodney P & Skitz, Mystro, Killa Kela, and

Resin Dogs Resin Dogs is an Australian hip hop group, formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1996 based around the founding trio of DJ Katch (Andrew Garvie), produceBlunted Stylus(Geoff Boardman), and drummer, Dave "Acosta" Atkins. The group is a loosely str ...

2008–2009: ''Brothers Grimm''

Drapht's third album, ''

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

'', was released 10 May 2008, with the first song from the album, " Jimmy Recard", receiving significant airplay on

, where it became the second most played song on the station in 2008 The album debuted at No. 64 on the ARIA Album charts, reached No. 9 on the AIR (Association of Independent Record Labels) Charts and No. 10 on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Top 40 Urban Album charts.

2010–2015: ''The Life of Riley''

In an interview with The Vine in November 2010, Drapht advised that he had not renewed his contract with Obese Records and that he will be releasing his forthcoming album ''The Life of Riley'' independently. The first song released from the album is "Rapunzel", for which he describes: ''

The Life of Riley ''The Life of Riley'' is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, as well as two different television series, and a comic book. Radio series The radio program initially aired on the B ...

'' was released 1 April 2011 and was the first release on Drapht’s own label The Ayems, which is distributed through Sony Music. The album debuted at #1 on the ARIA Album Chart and was the first Australian artist to do so in 2011. The second track to be taken from the album was "Sing It (The Life of Riley)".

2016–present: ''Seven Mirrors'' and ''Arabella Street''

Drapht released ''Seven Mirrors'' in August 2016, which peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart. ''Arabella Street'' was released in November 2018.

Touring

In March 2009, Drapht undertook a national tour of Australia with fellow Western Australians, Downsyde with a number of the eastern states performances being supported by Pez. Drapht also made appearances at

Homebake Homebake was an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup (with the occasional artist from New Zealand). The festival was first held on 3 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New Sou ...

, Pyramid Rock Festival, Southbound, Open Arms and MS Fest. Drapht appeared at the 2011 Groovin' the Moo festival and undertook a national tour to promote the album, with support from Mantra and The Tongue. Drapht was the opening act for American musical duo

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...

during the Australia and New Zealand leg of The Bandito Tour in December 2018.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Charted singles

Compilation appearances

* ''Culture of Kings Volume 3'' (2003, Obese) (song: "Misunderstood")

Other appearances

Alongside many other Australian hip hop artists, Drapht appears in the music video for the Hilltop Hoods song, "Rattling the Keys to the Kingdom" (2012).

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, himself , Best New Independent Artis , , - , rowspan="2" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, rowspan="2" , The Life of Riley , Best Independent Album , , - , Best Independent Hip Hop/Urban Album , , -

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". Drapht has been nominated for four awards. , - ,

, , "Rapunzel" (Paul Reid, Daniel Rankine, Larry Siler) , , Urban Work of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2",

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , rowspan="2", "Sing It (The Life of Riley)" (Paul Reid, Daniel Rankine) , , Urban Work of the Year , , , - , Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year , , , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , Paul Reid, Daniel Rankine , , Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year , ,

ARIA Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are presented annually from 1987 by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA). In 2011 Drapht won two awards from eight nominations. , - , rowspan="7",

, , rowspan="2", "Rapunzel" , , Single of the Year , , , - , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , , - , "Rapunzel" – Dave Parkin , , Engineer of the Year , , , - , rowspan="3", ''The Life of Riley'' , , Best Male Artist , , , - , Breakthrough Artist – Album , , , - , Best Urban Album , , , - , Drapht , , Most Popular Australian Artist , , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , ''Seven Mirrors'' , , Best Urban Album , , , -

J Award

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

, ''The Life of Riley'' , Australian Album of the Year ,

West Australian Music Industry Awards

The West Australian Music Industry Awards (WAMIs) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on annually by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). Drapht has won two awards. (wins only) , - , 2009 , Drapht , Best Urban/Hip Hop Act , , - , 2011 , Drapht , Best Urban/Hip Hop Act , , -

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drapht 1982 births ARIA Award winners Australian male rappers Living people Obese Records artists People educated at Perth Modern School Rappers from Perth, Western Australia Sony Music Australia artists