South West Sydney rapper L-FRESH The LION has emerged from the pandemic years like a phoenix rising from the ashes: refreshed, reinvigorated and ravenous to take his powerful music and inspiring message to the wider world.
In this second coming his already incendiary live shows have proved even more epic and passionate courtesy a spectacular new audiovisual production and a renewed self-belief, his connection with his audiences now more personal and visceral, his new music more raw, honest and compelling.
Recent forays such as his spellbinding WOMADelaide set have found L-FRESH The LION cutting through complacency and dragging people out of their comfort zones on an individual basis. Non-religious people have cited spiritual experiences. Non-hip hop fans speak of musical epiphanies.
Chosen to represent the Hip Hop scene in Australia at this years Summerstage Festival in Central Park, New York, L-FRESH The LION took to the stage to express his gratitude to Hip Hop for changing his life. His passion shone through as US audiences, for the first time, fittingly got to experience his message during the 50 years of Hip Hop. He followed this performance with a run of 5 headline shows across Canada, from Toronto to Vancouver, his first tour of the region.
Already one of Australia’s most respected rappers, the career of L-FRESH The LION - born and raised in South West Sydney of Sikh and Punjabi heritage - had been tracking just fine prior to this artistic rebirth.
He’d released three acclaimed albums - the most recent being SOUTH WEST (2020) - a trilogy which saw him gradually find and hone his own voice and identity, his authentic narratives conveying perfect diasporas of multiculturalism, the hustle-and-grind mentality and the often abrasive reality of modern-day existence.
It’s his story. His South West Sydney. His cultural journey and awakening. But the message is entirely universal.
Indeed this message has already allowed L-FRESH The LION access to a mind-blowing array of opportunities and experiences, including:
* speaking and performing at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the International Day For Tolerance in 2018
* performing in front of 35 million viewers on MTV India’s flagship hip hop program MTV Hustle
* being selected as an ambassador for the YouTube Creator’s For Change global initiative, with the resulting video ‘RACI$T / OUR WORLD’ premiering at the Tribeca TV Festival in New York
* touring with Nas and sharing stages with artists the calibre of Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Hilltop Hoods and even Sir Elton John, as well as playing festivals ranging from WOMADelaide to Woodford Folk Festival and everything in between
* having his second album Become (2016) nominated for an ARIA for Best Urban Album
* being invited to write the theme song ‘WE THE KINGS’ for NBL franchise Sydney Kings and performing it for the first time in 2019 at Qudos Bank Arena in front of a record-breaking NBL crowd, as well as performing pre- and mid-game at numerous NBL, NRL and AFL events
* being on the Australian jury for the Eurovision Song Contest
* being invited by respected Australian comedian Nazeem Hussain to act in his episode for acclaimed TV series Summer Love
* contributing a chapter to recent cultural anthology Another Australia (2022, Affirm Press)
But despite this incredible rise from humble bedroom origins to possessing a resumé that would satisfy most artists over their entire career, for L-FRESH The LION that’s all in the past and he’s focused firmly on the future. The pandemic which prompted an existential crisis for many instead allowed him to recalibrate and rediscover the real reason he chose this life path in the first place - the music.
“It all started for me making music for myself in my bedroom as a teenager, and that’s what I was forced to do during COVID,” he reflects. “But what that actually did for me was rekindle a love and passion of just making music for me, not from a place of selfishness but like, ‘This is how I breathe! How did I forget this? This is why I do this!’
“So the new music is just really honest and really introspective about my journey and my family’s journey to migrate to Australia and the insecurities I felt growing up - and still feel - and how I address them now, and where I found and draw inspiration from”.
And while L-FRESH The LION has always practiced what he preaches in his day-to-day life, he’s now found an even higher calling. He dreams of becoming a unifying force, somebody who draws people together from all walks of life, simply by harnessing music’s potential to act as the ultimate equaliser.
“I want to make music that people have’t heard before,” he stresses. “That’s from top to bottom, so lyrically it’s telling stories that people have’t necessarily heard before, and my story’s quite unique in that regard. I have no intention of trying to sound like anybody else or to try and sound like my influences, or trying to sound like what’s trending right now in hip hop or where thing’s are moving.
“I’ve created my own lane and I just want to keep innovating in that space, and do something that no-one else can really replicate, to forge my own style. I’m in a unique position to instill both positivity and change and I want to just keep running with that for as long as I can”.