Return to Emerald City is the long-awaited debut album from Australian underground rapper Primitive. The album is produced entirely by the prodigy Supaadry. The full-length feature album from this dream match-up is comprised of 12 tracks and is set for digital release on all major streaming platforms in May.
After the recent promo video release of Forever Grateful, Return to Emerald City is gaining momentum aboard the hype train juggernaut that is Primitive. This blog is all about the creative process behind what has become my life for the past 6 months.
Prim.
The journey through the underground Sydney Hip Hop Scene has been nothing short of absolutely awesome. My 1st live performance was at a the end of an NJE show in the open mic. I bought a ticket for the show so I could spit bars at the end. That’s where it started for me.
That was at the end of 2015. It actually took another 4 years to release my 1st track on Spotify.. I don’t think it’s right or wrong, it just happened that way for me. I spent that time honing my stage craft and adapting to many, many strange arenas with the mic in hand.
I have met many beautiful, gifted artists performing live sets around Sydney. One of the most common conversations I have with rappers and producers is about collaborating. 9 times out of 10 it’s just shit-talk that goes nowhere.. but on rare occasions, something magical can happen.
Return to Emerald City
We used to run fusion Hip Hop nights at a cozy terrace conversion bar in the middle of Glebe called Bed Bar. It was a cool little spot with funky purple lighting and couches peppered throughout the venue. One night there was this dude there deejaying for us and absolutely cutting it up.
He was running the cypher machine and effortlessly scratching and vibing while 2 mics were being passed amongst the emcees. I asked the dude his name and he told me Supaadry.
Later in the night I did a set. I handed him my USB and we transcended. I don’t what the term is but he was doing the ones where he’d drop the beat out and then bring it back in as I was spitting a punchline so the punch would be emphasized. He was dope.
We got talking and needless to say, we vibed. That was really the beginning of Return to Emerald City. Supaadry sent me 10 beats like a month later and I got writing like never before. I had one track written already so I had 9 to write. Supaadry hit me up one day and asked if I wanted a bonus track for the album and I was like fuck yeah.
6 months of solid writing later and the 10 tracks have been written. My friend asked me the other day how it felt.. I think I’m still processing but I guess I’m proud. Once it’s all mixed and mastered I think that’s when I will appreciate it fully.
When we were discussing the name of the album, Supaadry said Sydney is referred to as The Emerald City.. I was like what? For real? Our good friends Mighty Ash and Bugsy O’Campo released an absolute banger of an album last year called Escape from the City of Steel on the indie label Rah! Records and we wanted to give props to the fellas.
We ended up going with Return to Emerald City and I am so excited to share it with all of you!
Just quickly wanted to say that I have been experimenting on this album with double-time, flow schemes and tempo changes and I am extremely happy to have stepped out of my comfort zone. Big shoutout to all the features on the album and the crew at AMPA for getting behind the project.
It is the debut album for the both Supaadry and Primitive.
Much love to everyone supporting my journey over the years. I want to call this album my Swan Song because it sounds cool.. but this is only the beginning.
As always, thanks for rocking with ya boi Prim!