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Melbourne-based Mantra is a little unsure of his job title. “MC, vocalist, occasional farmer, midget, turkey - all of these things… but, generally, a hip hop artist, that’s my day job.”

Formerly of Illzilla and Equills, Mantra is one of the most spoken-of names in Aussie hip hop at the minute. The genre is speedily racing from the preconceptions of those that associate it too closely with the thuggery, misogyny and crassness of American hip hop.
“There’s misogyny in Aussie hip hop, just like there is in American hip hop [but] it’s definitely not as prominent in commercially successful hip hop songs [in Australia] because I don’t think an Australian market en masse would accept it, but in America that’s become a norm.”

Mantra is cautiously optimistic, yet passionate about the future of Australian hip hop.
“I don’t think hip hop will ever overtake or detract from things like rock & roll or other things that have been really popular in this country, but I think it will get to a level where it’s nearly on par. You see it at big festivals now; Aussie hip hop artists headlining big festivals over rock bands.

“There is a real focus on good lyrics and good lyrical content in Australia now, even in the mainstream stuff, which is really good because it suits somebody like me. I’m a lyrically-focused kind of person. Obviously, you never want to sacrifice good beats in order to have good lyrics - they need to be mutually exclusive.”

Speaking in more specific terms, Mantra discusses his own writing style, as well as giving his new album, ‘Speaking Volumes’, a quick plug.
“I’m never conscious of what I’m writing. I don’t even know what it is until it’s out there. Once I was on a train and came up with an idea for a chorus. I wrote it down as a text message on my phone. As I got to the end of writing it and I was feeling satisfied with it, my phone rang. I answered the call and when I got back to the original screen, the lyrics were gone and out of my brain. It was heartbreaking.

“It’s kinda different to my first album; musically, I think it’s a lot more consistent than the first album was. The first album was recorded and produced over a couple of years and I would start work on it and stop again because I would have other commitments, so it took me a while to get it all together.
“This one musically feels like it blends a lot nicer; it’s a lot more focused, as I was when making the album so it took me a lot less time … I was much more in control of what I was doing. I was working with the producers in a more hands-on way than I was before.”

Mantra will be appearing in Brisbane next month for Sprung Festival, an event he’s quite excited about. And rightly so: the MC will share the stage with fellow heavyweights like Drapht, Joelistics, Resin Dogs and Illy.
“It’s something that’s only started happening recently, where there are these big-scale festival line-ups that are completely Australian hip hop artists, which is very exciting for us… it means, not only is it validating for us as Australian hip hop artists and a good indicator of how successful it’s becoming, it’s also a way for us to rock a show with all of our friends.”

I note that the event, being all ages, will probably do some good to establish a better image of the hip hop community than wizened crones undoubtedly have.
“That stuff [violence, etc.] exists but I don’t think it exists necessarily in just hip hop … there’s bad people all over the place, but there’s good people all over the place and I think if you’re worried about youth violence and misbehaviour in any way, excluding and pointing fingers at them is probably not going to do any good. If anything, it will exacerbate things.

“Including them in events like this and making it known that we respect the kinds of cultures that they’re involved in is gonna be much more helpful; they’ll feel like the whole world isn’t against what they stand for, because standing for hip hop music is a good thing, standing for music is a good thing, standing for art is a good thing.”

‘Speaking Volumes’ is out now. Mantra joins Drapht, Funkoars, Illy, Phrase and others for Sprung Festival at the Brisbane Riverstage, Oct 15. sprunghiphop.com.au