Too often, success in the music industry brings with it an inflated sense of self-importance. Thankfully that’s not the case with Melbourne rapper Ben Townsend, AKA Ivan Ooze. An up-and-coming star of the Australian hip hop scene, Townsend has plenty to be boastful about, and yet our chat reveals no trace of an ego. As a matter of fact, he says he doesn’t even like the sound of his own voice.
“It just sounds weird,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Who the fuck is this?’”
To be honest, until recently, we might have been asking the same question. While he’s been rapping for a while now, it was only in the lead-up to the release of his debut EP Ringwood Rich in August last year that Townsend really blew up, in large part thanks to a series of freestyle rap videos he released online. Since then he’s performed at the Beyond The Valley and Raggamuffin festivals as well as opening for both Ice Cube and Cypress Hill on their recent Australian tours.
“That was really crazy, because I grew up on Ice Cube and Cypress Hill,” Townsend says. “I chatted heaps to Cypress Hill. They’re like the chillest people, which you can probably imagine. Ice Cube I didn’t get to meet until I think the last show, in Brisbane. We got to meet his whole posse, he brought his whole family … it was sick just talking to him. They’d tell you stories, and it’s just like being a little kid again.”
Touring with hip hop royalty also provided a valuable opportunity for the upstart Aussie to hone his skills. “The Cypress Hill crowd was chill,” says Townsend. “The amount of weed you could smell in every venue was sick. But the Ice Cube crowd was a lot harder. They don’t give a fuck about who’s playing at the start, because all they want to see is Ice Cube. So you have to try really hard. [That] was probably the best experience I had; having to try my hardest just to get their attention.”
In any case, he’s certainly got our attention. Ivan Ooze’s new release, The Social Alien Mixtape,dropped at the end of last month. Described by Townsend as “a reflection of the good, the bad and the ugly from my life on the planet so far”, the mix sees the rapper continue to develop his style and explore “every avenue I could in terms of styles of rap”.
“I put all different kinds of tracks down,” says Townsend. “I’ve got some trap songs on there, and some boom bap songs, and then there’s some more personal songs … I just wanted to see if people connected with it. And there was some really good positive feedback. I posted the other night on Facebook asking, ‘What was your favourite song?’ and it was all mixed. It’s good to see that everyone has a favourite.”
“The rhymes I used to do were a lot more violent and stuff. It wasn’t really me. I was more adjusting to a crowd, rather than being myself. I had a lot of anger in my childhood, so I pretty much just aimed it towards my music – that’s probably why, when I first started, I was writing all that hardcore shit.”
Townsend heads on the road at the end of April, touring around the country to promote the mixtape’s release. “The most fun part is that I get to see all the people who are supporting me,” he says enthusiastically. “I get to see all their faces and meet them afterwards. I’ll always drink a beer with them and get fucked up with them. I think that’s the most fun. Like, it’s fun doing the shows as well, but it’s even more fun connecting with the people that buy your music … I know that that’s what I’d like to do if I was a fan of someone. I’d definitely want to see them after the show and show [my] appreciation.”
Townsend’s relationship with his fans seems likely to hold him in good stead. “I hate it when people are dicks,” he says. “Like, I fucking hate Kanye West. I hate him. He used to be cool, but now he just sucks. All those artists. Like they’re pretty big, but I just hate arrogant arseholes. You don’t need to be like that – you weren’t raised to be like that.”
Asked about Ivan Ooze’s future direction, Townsend says he’d like to get wider exposure, but only if he can do it on his own terms. “It’s cool to hear your stuff on the radio and get it out to heaps of people. But it’s just the way that you do it. It can be really hard to do a song that you enjoy that also gets on the radio … I’d like to see a track of mine on rotation, but one that actually means a lot to me.”
In the meantime, he’s happy just going one gig at a time. “I guess I’d just like to see people enjoy my music for what it is,” he says. “But I’d also just like to play a lot more festivals, and just have a lot more fun. You just want to have the most fun you can over making this sort of shit. Hang out with people and meet heaps of new people, and just see what’s next.”
Ivan OozeplaysBeach Road Hotel,Wednesday April 29, and thenalongside Seth Sentry, Thundamentals, Horrorshow and more at Come Together 2015, Big Top Sydney, Saturday June 6 – Sunday June 7.The Social Alien Mixtape is out now independently.
