Client: Metro (2018)
He’s not an easy man to read – possessing a calm demeanour through which a droll sense of humour emerges – a trait mirrored in his music, where he’s his biggest fan and harshest critic. His first mixtape (R.EBIRTH) dropped in March 2016, following his 2015 appearance on the fourth season of hip hop survival program, Show Me The Money, which attracts the cream of South Korea’s underground rappers. He was knocked out in the second round, and when the show aired he was unkindly edited into a caricature of his idol self, ostensibly due to his status within the K-pop industry.
He came back fighting on the tape, collaborating with a number of high profile underground rappers, including SMTM4’s winner, Basick, on OX, where RAVI spits: ‘I don’t think I’m underrated, I’m not just an eliminated rapper from Show Me.’ The mixtape is his most experimental in musical terms, drawing from pop to EDM to lo-fi chill, but RAVI shakes his head. ‘R.EBIRTH was a try out. I don’t really like that mixtape because it was a first step to being a solo rapper. Some songs I could have done better. I’ve learned so much and I’m confident I can do so much more now.’
Taylor Glasby 