Jaecy is riding a wave right now. Tbh, he might even be the wave. It was around this time last year that the Bankstown rapper appeared on Red Bull’s 64 Bars and put the Australian rap scene on notice. In March 2022, he dropped his mixtape Movin Groovin, and this month, he finds himself front and centre in a new campaign for The North Face and JD Sports. There’s no stopping this guy.
From the outside, it appears Jaecy has experienced a lightning-fast rise to the top, but appearances can be deceiving. Jaecy has been putting pen to paper and bars on basslines for a full six years now. There have been setbacks and distractions along the way, but with the momentum he’s built over the past 12 months, Jaecy is motivated, focused and ambitious. It’s not just a matter of dropping tracks anymore. Now it’s unifying the community and positioning himself as a role model for the many kids looking up to him.
Talking to Complex AU, Jaecy explains his motivation, the process of track creation, and the way he looks to his upbringing for inspiration.
Jaecy is riding a wave right now. Tbh, he might even be the wave. It was around this time last year that the Bankstown rapper appeared on Red Bull’s 64 Bars and put the Australian rap scene on notice. In March 2022, he dropped his mixtape Movin Groovin, and this month, he finds himself front and centre in a new campaign for The North Face and JD Sports. There’s no stopping this guy.
From the outside, it appears Jaecy has experienced a lightning-fast rise to the top, but appearances can be deceiving. Jaecy has been putting pen to paper and bars on basslines for a full six years now. There have been setbacks and distractions along the way, but with the momentum he’s built over the past 12 months, Jaecy is motivated, focused and ambitious. It’s not just a matter of dropping tracks anymore. Now it’s unifying the community and positioning himself as a role model for the many kids looking up to him.
Talking to Complex AU, Jaecy explains his motivation, the process of track creation, and the way he looks to his upbringing for inspiration.
Before we even get started, we’ve gotta cover one thing – you’ve got a birthday coming up next week.
Oh hell yea how did you even know that bro. The 10th!
You’ve definitely spoken a lot about turning a corner, living a more positive life. So when you’ve got this birthday coming up are you looking at it like a ‘new year new me’ situation?
Not really bro, I really don’t care about my birthday that deep. I think something switched to me the last year. It’s not deep for me anymore. Obviously I’m happy, grateful for everything, but I just feel like I can’t really be celebrating. I still got work to do. I’m happy I was able to see another year, but I just keep pushing.
What are you trying to do? What do you feel like you need to achieve?
Where we’re at right now, I’ve got a whole movement going. SOA – Sons Of Africa, me and my guys. I’m trying to unite Africans to make them feel comfortable or confident because growing up, as an African, [it’s important to] embrace yourself, embrace your culture. So many little kids look up to me. It’s crazy every time I even think about it. The way I act on social media sometimes, like I’ve got to watch every single move I do because these kids look at me and copy me.
So you can feel that you’ve got a responsibility now that you’ve elevated your status.
I’ve always felt that role. I have that big brother role, that responsibility to just to make sure everyone was feeling comfortable and safe.
You’ve mentioned uniting African people in other interviews as well. That could be taken different ways, but talking to you it seems like what you want to do is show people what can be done if you apply yourself.
Oh, hell yeah. I’ve been doing music since I was 16. I’m about to be 22 next week cuz. Like obviously the last few years, bruh, hella drama, controversy, you know, but through all that, we still make music. We still shine through.
Now I’m at a point I feel like, I can proudly say that this is my first full year. If I finish this year, without no trouble, no nothing, this is my first full year doing this full-time and I feel good about it. I feel so motivated right now. Usually there’s other aspects or scenarios that are in my brain when I’m doing music, so I don’t really fulfill my potential the way I felt like I was supposed to.
I feel like everything’s going so smooth. Everything’s going so well. The music, the whole culture, everything’s just getting up there and nothing can really fuck it up. I think the power and the vibration is just too strong to be stopped.
I just want people to know this shit is ongoing, it’s a marathon but don’t ever think that anyone’s better than you. Don’t watch other people’s pockets, focus on yourself because your world is your world.
You’ve also talked in a couple of interviews about growing up in a multi-cultural area, and I feel like in this project I’m starting to actually hear the result of that. You’ve got “Slap” and “City Lights” which to me have that Afrobeat vibe, but then you hear something like “Departure”, and I feel like I can hear that Bankstown, Fairfield area in that one.
That’s good, that’s good. I tell you why, because heaps of people think I’m from America or London or something, but I’m from right here. I guess that’s what it is – I guess my plan worked out man.
Is that a little bit of the thinking with “Crikey” as well? You’ve got that Crocodile Hunter intro there and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the theme of the song?
[Laughs] Nah, it doesn’t.
It’s more just an intro to set the scene and establish where you’re at.
My thought process then was just like, ‘why don’t we add some Steve Irwin, why don’t we add some stuff from him, I like the way he talks, I like his accent’, and plus, we’re showcasing an Aussie, do you know what I mean?
And yeah, that was one of the first times I tried a new type of structure on a beat. Because usually it’s just the basic hook, verse, hook, verse, finish – but ever since then, I’ve been trying to expand my thinking and expand my creativity. So yeah, I’m glad that you brought that up. Like, thank you, you made my day.
That’s interesting you’re talking about that different process, because I felt like with “Crikey”, it was one of the strongest tracks because of the way you worked with the beat on the song. So it’s interesting to hear that you’d actually gone in with a different process that time.
Yeah, I mean, because from like 2019, when the whole drill [sound] came up, I was stuck because I’ve been making my shit for the last six years. Like how the did all this start, you know what I mean? I’m not the only artist who was stuck, like, we didn’t know where to go or how to keep moving – do I jump on the wave or do I just say ‘fuck it I’ll just keep doing my thing’. So I didn’t hit the studio for a few months, but I went to the studio that day, and a different demon came out of me; it was just like ‘I’m free, I’m expressing myself, I can sing – I can do what I want’. Every time I go in the booth now, I murk it, I kill it.
Just being free, being yourself, not worrying about the future, worrying about what’s in front of you: the studio and the mic. Don’t worry about what people are going to think. Don’t worry about your voice. Everything that comes out…everything you project – just let it out.
So, tell me about the North Face, what’s your relationship with the brand?
The North Face, they’ve always been rocking with me. JD’s been rocking with me crazy too, since day dot.
The North Face, for people my age – in a culture like this – you wear it everywhere, you see it everywhere.
I don’t even gotta talk about The North Face, I know you’ve seen the price tag jump as the brand gets with the youth. The colours, the designs, the themes behind them – even the video we did for the campaign, bro that shit’s crazy.
I rock with [them] so crazy. That whole day that we did the campaign was crazy: everyone showed me love, everyone’s so nice – they respect the culture. Yeah, big ups to The North Face and big ups to JD for always rocking with me.
