Music / Features
Blue Kami -
A Chat with Daniel Elia
A Chat with Daniel Elia
Last week, Melbourne rapper and GRID alumni Daniel Elia dropped Blue Kami, two new cuts of his striking, groove-heavy hip-hop. With GRID’s South East Melbourne series just around the corner, we got in touch with Daniel to find out about his new singles and his experience partaking in the program.
TJ: Hey Daniel, how’s it going? Tell us a little about yourself?
DE: Hello, I’m Daniel. I am a rapper/producer, I’ve been making music for about five years.
You’ve just dropped two new singles - can you share a bit about the two tracks and how they came together?
I haven’t released music for about six months to work on my first project, I made a bunch of songs and Blue Kami didn’t fit in the project so I felt they needed to be out since the project won’t be out for a while.
‘Blue’ is a tribute to the situation that was happening in Sudan a few months back, ‘Kami’ represents the shift I made in creating a different sound.
You’ve described your music as “conscious rap”, how important do you think it is to share your experiences through your music, and to use it to make some kind of statement?
It’s very important for me to have something to say in my music. I find myself doing without being aware of it sometimes, I think it’s my way of healing myself and to relate to other people who are experiencing the same thing.
You were also part of GRID’s 2017 program - can you tell us about that experience?
My experience at GRID 2017 was great, I learned so much in a short amount of time. I think that any local upcoming artist should experience the GRID program. I learned about the business side of the music and also got to create a single that was played on Triple J.
GRID have just launched their next program in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. If you could say anything to someone who was trying to decide whether to apply or not, what would you say?
I would say they should do it to experience the full process of making a single and planning a campaign release for it. That process is often never in the minds of an independent artists or local artists who are just trying to make music.
What’s coming up next for you?
I’m looking to release my first project with a few videos in late October. I’m pretty excited for the project to be out!
DE: Hello, I’m Daniel. I am a rapper/producer, I’ve been making music for about five years.
You’ve just dropped two new singles - can you share a bit about the two tracks and how they came together?
I haven’t released music for about six months to work on my first project, I made a bunch of songs and Blue Kami didn’t fit in the project so I felt they needed to be out since the project won’t be out for a while.
‘Blue’ is a tribute to the situation that was happening in Sudan a few months back, ‘Kami’ represents the shift I made in creating a different sound.
You’ve described your music as “conscious rap”, how important do you think it is to share your experiences through your music, and to use it to make some kind of statement?
It’s very important for me to have something to say in my music. I find myself doing without being aware of it sometimes, I think it’s my way of healing myself and to relate to other people who are experiencing the same thing.
You were also part of GRID’s 2017 program - can you tell us about that experience?
My experience at GRID 2017 was great, I learned so much in a short amount of time. I think that any local upcoming artist should experience the GRID program. I learned about the business side of the music and also got to create a single that was played on Triple J.
GRID have just launched their next program in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. If you could say anything to someone who was trying to decide whether to apply or not, what would you say?
I would say they should do it to experience the full process of making a single and planning a campaign release for it. That process is often never in the minds of an independent artists or local artists who are just trying to make music.
What’s coming up next for you?
I’m looking to release my first project with a few videos in late October. I’m pretty excited for the project to be out!
Have a listen to Daniel’s latest release Blue Kami above, and follow him on Facebook to keep up with everything else he has going on. Applications for GRID’s South East Melbourne program are open now, featuring mentors Ecca Vandal, Allysha Joy, NEDA and Millie Dwyer.
