Q&A: meet Kiyanosh, Sydney jazz rapper teases with tasty track

Sydney-based Iranian jazz rapper Kiyanosh has recently dropped some killer new tracks for us to crank up the volume to. KARMA and 4BAR4 are none other than feisty tracks that show off the Sydney-siders versatility. 4BAR4 is giving us a look into an old school dirty London vibe, whereas KARMA is giving us a more contemporary feel that shares similarities to Tyler the Creators more recent music. 

Kiyanosh brings a unique perspective to the Australian music scene with his background and experiences at the core of it all. Born in Sydney with most of his family overseas, Kiyanosh explores his Iranian roots, his Australian upbringing and the clash of the two cultures, it’s a super interesting expression. Australia is, let’s face it, not as diverse as it should be in all industries, so it’s refreshing to see Kiyanosh make waves and slay with what he is putting out.

An incredibly explorative artist, he fuses the sounds of jazz, electronic and hip-hop to express his creativity. KARMA is a thought-provoking track of introspective hip-hop. It is unapologetic and commanding with the lyrics effortlessly depicting a fun but chaotic story. High key a killer tune that we for sure have on repeat. 

We caught up with Sydney creative Kiyanosh to chat about his two new tracks, his hand in The Spretbot Syndicate and who he’d like to collaborate with.  

Check out our chitty chat below through a snippet of our conversation:

Tell us how you got into music?

I think I was pretty much always into music, but I only got into hip-hop later in high school. During a trip to Vietnam with my school in Year 11 I was listening to a bunch of smaller, more independent rappers making some crazy shit and kinda figured what the hell, started writing and that was that.

Talk us through your single KARMA, how did you go about creating this track?

Jordan (shue) was over at my place showing me his project, and after he played me the EP he started playing me some other beats and they were obviously crazy. He played me the beat for what would eventually become KARMA and it just made me want to go so hard, so I did. 

Does the song come from a personal experience?

Not really. Mostly just having fun and going hard. But I feel like your personal experiences always show up no matter what you write about.

Can you tell us a bit about The Spretbot Syndicate record label?

Sure. We’re an independent record label and a community of eclectic artists and friends who make music and a bunch of other stuff together. The idea of the Syndicate is to collaborate and build a network to be able to do as much as we possibly can in-house, keep it in the family. 

If you could perform at any festival, which one would it be and why?

I don’t know actually. Probably something like one of the The Roots Picnic’s or South by Southwest, they were always iconic to me. Also, I’m trying to meet Nardwuar.

What’s the weirdest meal you’ve had but it ended up tasting great?

I don’t know, but it was probably in Indian.

The Sydney music scene is producing some pure talent of late, who would you love to Collab with?

Oof, there’s a lot of them. Right now, probably Godriguez and Jazz Nobodi.

What is your new track 4BAR4 about and how does the title of the track tie in?

4BAR4 was one of those few authentic, effortless experiences in making music where one minute you’re just bouncing ideas off each other and before you know it, you’ve got a song. Stoyan came over to my house and we played with some beats he’d previously sent me, and within an hour it was done. The track isn’t really about anything in particular, for us it was more about evolving the flows & rhyme schemes throughout our constant back and forth. 

4BAR4, is an homage to those game changing cypher tracks, new and old, where the whole song is essentially 2 or more rappers trading bars. One of the most iconic examples is Brooklyn’s Finest with Jay-Z & Biggie for sure, plus I’ve always been in love with the cypher culture. Up until the end of the song, Stoyan and I go back and forth every 4 bars, so 4 bars for 4 bars, or as I like to call it – 4BAR4.

Are you pumped to get your EP out? When does it drop? 

Very keen. Every song feels really different which I like. Plus, it’s called ‘Dying Alone’, so it’s heaps of fun. It drops on October 2nd. 

The Sydney musician has bought fourth excitement and anticipation around the drop of his EP, with his two singles doing nothing but hype us up.

Listen to his latest release below and follow our Vibes Vibes Vibes  ✨ playlist to discover more tracks like this one.

By Samuel Seedsman.