It’s dark and crisp, typical of this time of year in East Brisbane.
The house is bigger than it seems from the outside, containing a creative energy that is hard to find. A simple room with a couch and a desk is the space of one of Brisbane’s up and coming rappers. Truth One has a cosy studio, with a single bulb lighting up the space. In the left corner of the room sits a mysterious shelf covered by a sheet. The sheet is lifted to unveil a record collection that has taken years to accumulate.
On the shelves sit multiple unopened records, “collectors’ items”, he explains. Truth keeps these ones for down days. When he’s not feeling the same passion, one of the records will be opened, a crackle from the record player as it starts to spin and spirits lifting in the knowledge of owning something not many others do.
He crosses the room and puts on a new track he made today.
Truth’s friend just arrived from a trip to Japan, two records under his arm for the emcee. The records contain soundtracks that are promptly sampled, mixed and turned into a song with a beat that lingers in your brain. Long after the track ends, its beat continues in the background, making every word from Truth sound like a lyric.
His deep voice steadily runs through his upcoming projects. A man who doesn’t seem to have much downtime, Truth spends every second of his waking hours working on something that he loves.
“I think I’m finally finding that happiness,” he says.
Just recently, Truth released an EP titled 'Burnham To Brisbane', recorded with a friend visiting from England. Over and over through each track, lines speaking praise of his city of Brisbane can be heard. Praising it as a “city of dreams”, Truth is testament to the talents the city is producing.
Image © Asher Lagosha
Eager to continue producing more sound, he released another album. 'Raiders Of The Lost Art' is purely instrumental.
These projects hold a lot of meaning for the rapper. Listening to his first hip-hop album, Ice T’s 'Home Invasion', at age eight, Truth has been enthralled ever since. At 23 he is working hard on producing music he loves, and he doesn’t care if you don’t.
“It’s my right to tell you how it is,” he says.
And he does. Through a style that continuously pays homage to the roots of his art, Truth delivers lines filled with experience. He describes hip hop as four elements like “earth, wind, water and fire”, only they are “street art, breakdancing, emceeing and DJing”. Involving himself in most, he is helping ensure that tradition does not die out.
Truth sits back on the couch, he’s wearing a vintage Tommy Hilfiger jacket and a Nike cap. These are finds from his vintage store Story Bridge Clothing which is another one of his passions, continuously giving back to his culture.
Shaped by the experience of age, Truth still seems to hold the excitement of a young boy, a certain spark in his eye when he has an opportunity to talk about what he loves. Such passion he passes onto others, spending time working at Street University in Caboolture, mentoring kids in hip hop workshops.
Image © Asher Lagosha
A glowing love for the community can be heard when Truth speaks on this, and his community loves him back.
Another upcoming album has the men who pioneered the scene rapping over Truth’s own beats. He tells of looking up to them when he was younger to forming friendships now. One of the rappers, Lazy Grey, recently gave him some advice: “If people aren’t hating on you, you’re obviously not doing it right.”
Luckily, doing what he loves right now, Truth is prepared for it: “No one can dampen that shine, no one can take that from me.”
If his younger self could see him now, 'shining' would be the perfect word to describe him. Another upcoming project features the rappers he looked up to as a child, all rhyming over tracks he produced: a project that displays the drive he has to always produce his best. Creating something new each day, it seems like his shine will not die out any time soon.
In the early hours of tomorrow, it can be guaranteed that he will be sitting in his studio, rhythms flowing from his fingers and stories forming of his words. This is his favourite time to create, a few dark hours in which the world is finally quiet enough for him to think.
