‘Australian hip hop’ wouldn’t seem to have any glamorous associations – the words seem to instinctively conjure up the image of tank wearing, pale-skinned dude-bros in their utes, rapping with that ‘G-day’ twang, the sound of which strikes the trigger of our famous cultural-cringe. Yet this stubborn association, cemented by the popularity of artists such as Hilltop Hoods and 360, seems to represent an outdated, if not constrictive view of the reality of Australian hip hop that today is being challenged by a burgeoning class of musicians, reimagining what hip hop is and can be Down Under.

The trouble, however, is that these musicians have remained very much underground, perhaps positively for those who put in the effort to who know where to look but also negatively in being stifled by a cautious young generation of listeners, burnt by the past incarnations of Australia hip hop. If you do know where to look, however – and Triple J’s Hip Hop show on Thursdays at 10pm is a great place to start – you would have undoubtedly come across 27-year old Melbourne native Ry. Ryan Egan, who goes by the name Ry for his music, is one of the many rappers at the vanguard of an unofficial new wave of Austrlaian hip hop that is creating music far from its local ancestry. This brand of hip hop is distinctly cosmopolitan by paying homage to its American counterpart, but in contrast produces a uniquely Australian balance between rap and production that never takes itself too seriously. We caught up with Ry to chat about his music, fashion and Yeezus.

Jess Alcamo How’s the tour going so far?
Ryan Egan It’s my first time touring, so it has been strange meeting people outside of Melbourne who know my music, but a good strange. I’ve just never experienced that before. It has been fun so far, hiring a car and droving along the coast. I was pretty stressed before we went but I’m good now.

I’d like to be known more as a creative than just a musician.

JA You’re helping change the old ideas and image of Australian hip hop that had a lot to do with artists such as the Hilltop Hoods. How you got into this genre of music?
RE Music and rap kind of happened. My cousin was heavily into Ice Cube and Ice T when I was little and to be honest he kind of played it to me as shock value because there was so much swearing in it. And then once I got into high school everyone seemed to be listening to Tupac, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and it just went from there. When I get interested in something, I just go overboard and so I just started studying [rap] and learning about it and then I realised there were other Australian guys rapping. At that stage I was in my bedroom rapping and not telling anyone, but it developed and by the time I was 16 or 17 I was recording. Now here I am.

JA Were you recording for yourself or for a label at that stage?
RE I was showing demos to friends mostly, which I had been recording in my dad’s garage or my bedroom and I’d only do it when no one was home, which sounds so corny now, but that’s how I started learning how to do it – how to rap and to make music essentially.

JA Australian culture seems to draw a lot from British and American culture – what then makes Australian hip hop different?
RE I think Australian hip hop has a lot more of a melodic sense to it; it’s not as raw sounding. At least, that’s my taste; there are a lot of raw Australian rappers, but the ones I listen to have really strong choruses and the production value is super high. And I also think we have that underdog sense to us. We’re fighting against the big dogs and that kind of makes us bring out a better product.

JA So who do you listen to?
RE I have my iTunes up right now. Okay, so since we’re talking about melody, I’ll say Kid Cudi. I’m a huge fan of him; his music has amazing production value. Kendrick Lamar, and not because he’s melodic, but because he does really cool harmonies, which no one was doing up until he did it. I’m going to get killed for this one, but Drake. But I’ve always been a Drake fan, I’m not just jumping on the bandwagon.

JA Why would you get killed for Drake? Is it because he’s reached this ridiculous point of popularity now?’
RE It took a while for people to grasp what Drake was really about, especially in Australia. Australians just kind of saw him as an R&B singer, a pretty boy trying to rap, whereas nowadays he’s seen as a rapper who can sing. We also played heaps of Frank Ocean while we were on the road over the weekend and you know Kanye [West] is god. That’s the number one rule.

I think Australian hip hop has a lot more of a melodic sense to it; it’s not as raw sounding.

JA It’s always risky bringing Kanye up because people have very strong feelings about him and his music.
RE I have strong feelings but they’re all supporting him. I get to see him next week as he’s playing Melbourne then. I can’t wait. It took me a few months to get into his new album [Yeezus], but then I heard Blood on the Leaves and thought ‘Ah, I get it now’, and every other song just made sense after that one. Genius.

JA What inspires your work? Do you write your music mainly to reflect your personal experiences and your life?
RE I’m heavily influenced by visual stuff. The last video I did for a song of mine called Dad’s Porsches was really inspired by the movie Drive. And I’m always on my Tumblr – my Tumblr is basically my inspiration feed, I find all kinds of weird graphic design and photography blogs and fashion blogs and I take bits and pieces and mash them together. I don’t know how it happens, but it all just comes out in my music, in the angles I take, or the direction I go in, especially with artwork and things like that.

JA Speaking of fashion, you have been described as a fashion aficionado. Is fashion something that you incorporate into your music in some way, shape or form?
RE Not really, to be honest, but at the same time I’d like to be known more as a creative than just a musician. But I like to keep [fashion] separate because it’s a different avenue for me, whereas if it’s altogether, it gets a bit messy. I still want to have Ry merchandise and stuff that people can buy at shows but I don’t want people to feel like I’m just selling my t-shirts to make a tonne of money, which isn’t true. Actually, the clothing line ends up costing more to make. It’s similar to how Pharell has B.B.C. clothing, and Kanye did the A.P.C. line, it’s the same thing, but somehow in Australia it throws people back a bit.

JA Your music videos have gotten a lot of attention; Ride For Me has almost 15,000 views on YouTube, and won the Unearthed x NIDA Video Competition. It seems like video is such a big part of how you get yourself out there and also such a great way to get such a strong sense of your vibe. Is creating great videos just as important as music in your mind, or is it a means to an end type thing and you just want to be focused on the music?
RE They are because I’m really big on branding myself. People might take this the wrong way, but I think that sometimes in Australian hip hop we kind of slip on branding ourselves. I mean, take one of my biggest influences, A$AP Rocky, for instance. From the songs, to the artwork, to the fashion to the videos, they’re all on the same par. It’s not as if you see an A$AP video and think ‘Ah, that wasn’t as good as the song’. Kanye is the same. So I always try to keep everything on the same level. It’s just me trying to keep up with my idols, I guess.

JA You provide your music free of charge to download on Bandcamp. It’s unavoidable to have some concern for how to make a living, especially in this day and age for music. Was it an active decision on your part to allow people a chance to get to know you and your music by providing free downloads?
RE Definitely. My whole thing right now is to get as many people as possible to listen to me, so I don’t think that I’m ‘cheapening’ myself right now by giving stuff away for free. It’s just how our generation is – we’re used to getting stuff, especially music, for free. But people do donate, and that’s something that trips me out. My EP that’s coming out soon will be a paid thing, so I’m a bit nervous. But then I’m also quietly confident that after a few free projects, people will be willing to pay for a new release.

Ry will perform in Sydney on 12 September and Melbourne on 20 September 2014.
Click to listen to and download latest album, Nevada.