Lyrics Born is one of the most successful independent artists in recent times and James Broadhurst caught up with Lyrics Born, aka ‘the whirlwind,’ ahead of his Australian tour to talk about his latest album and what it takes to stay at the top.

Hip-hop is one genre of music most have encountered in one form or another and those who follow hip-hop will attest to the number of artists that shoot through the ranks to stardom and disappear from view just as quickly. 

Making a living as a hip-hop artist is far from easy, but Lyrics Born, aka Tom Shimura, has proven you can do far more than just make a living off hip-hop.

For more than a decade Lyrics Born has been ‘all about the funk’ and become one of the most successful independent hip-hop artists in history and he has done this through constantly creating music that moves people in more ways than one. 

Shooting through the ranks of underground hip-hop faster than a speeding Cadillac with prominent releases on what was to become one of the most prestigious independent labels of the late 90s, Quannum Projects, Lyrics Born did far more than announce his arrival.

Skipping forward a couple of years brings us to the present. A time where Lyrics Born juggle the roles and responsibilities of being a label executive and producer on top of an intense touring schedule that has seen him average 150 sell out shows a year all while recording his fourth artist album, Everywhere At Once.

Exactly why Lyrics Born keeps himself so busy is anyone’s guess, but a man better known as ‘the whirlwind’ says it might be something he has no control over.

“I think that is just the way that I’m wired. I think that is just the way that I’m built. I definitely want to leave, when I decide to leave this game, a body of work and a legacy that is historically significant.”

His latest project, Everywhere At Once, is exactly the contribution he needs to leave a historically significant collection of music that will stand the test of time. 

His fourth album is touted as being Lyric Born’s most personal to date and the energy, vibe and hi-fi sounds of Everywhere At Once will make an impression on any one who listens to it

With tracks like chilling ‘Whispers,’ the down tempo ‘Is It The Skin I’m In,’ the party starting vibes of ‘Don’t Change’ or the big beat bliss of ‘I like it, I love it’ Lyrics Born takes his sound in a number of directions, some of which he has not taken before.

Lyrics Born says his latest collection of hip-hop inspired treats works on more than a personal level and gives his audience a different perspective on him, his life and the music he has made so far throughout his entire career.

“I think on one level, it is my most personal album and on another level it is probably my most accessible album. I think it is my most personal album because I haven’t written songs where I talked about myself at all, in terms of my life experiences, my challenges and my victories.”

Saying Everywhere At Once is his most accessible collection of music to date would be one hell of an understatement. Lyrics Born’s music is, and has been used, in years gone by for everything from television commercials for mobile phones thru Diet Coke, television shows like ‘Entourage’ and ‘Six Feet Under’ and movies like 'Collateral' and 'Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.'

With his music represented across a variety of media even the Packer and Murdoch families would envy, Lyrics Born still struggles when he hears his own music unexpectedly, but nothing excites him more than when his music is incorporated into another’s artistic expression.

“It is kind of a trip. It’s come to the point where I can turn on the radio and hear my stuff, I can turn on the TV and hear my stuff, go on the internet and hear my stuff. It is really interesting. I think it is great. It is fantastic. I’ve always wanted my music to function on a variety of levels and when that happens it is fantastic, particularly in movies. I love seeing my music in movies because you see your music, your art suddenly becomes part of someone’s art.”

Lyrics Born is one artist who has continually sought new challenges and often treads down the road less travelled to inspire and accelerate the creative process and making things personal was a challenge he met on while writing Everywhere At Once.

“The challenge as an artist as you grow and make more albums the more difficult it is to find new places to go and this was definitely one of those places that I had not been yet so I made that decision to take that direction.”

With over 15 full length tracks and a couple of entertaining interludes Lyrics Born gives an incisive and confronting view into some of the experiences that have shaped him not only as a musician, but as an individual and when you combine these personal insights with some damn fine beats you get what Lyrics Born describes as ‘cherry flavoured bullets.’

“I took a lot of the criticism that I took over the years, both negative and constructive, and really focused it in on this record. Clearly one of the strengths that I have is being able to make music that makes you move and I think I really did focus on that with this record.”

Making people move is something Lyrics Born has made a career out of and he says he has ‘found his niche’ while producing Everywhere At Once, which showcases his production skills and his new found passion for working with live musicians.

Becoming bored with the predictability of drum machines, samplers, synthesizers and the headaches associated with licensing rights lead Lyrics Born change the way he worked in the studio. 

He decided to use musicians and live instruments to back up his wraps, songs and lyrics on Everywhere At Once and even though it was challenging at first, his experience of touring with a live band helped him make the right choices while making Everywhere At Once.

“I’m not a musician so I don’t know the vocabulary and I can’t read music and I don’t know notes and things like that so that part at first was kind of challenging because I had ten guys in a room looking at me for direction, but I learnt how to work through it… sometimes what I had written didn’t work so we would have to sit around together and figure out something that did work. It worked in a variety of different ways, sometimes things we had worked out on the road during sound checks before our shows were brought into the studio. So it just depended on the situation.”

Lyrics Born has been an independent artists for his entire career and this has allowed him to just make his music because he says ‘I’ve never had anybody, at any time tell me what type of music I should be making.’

The music he makes is modern, inspiring, cutting edge hip-hop that works as well in the living room as it does in front of thousands of hip-hop junkies so after all these years what does hip-hop mean to one of it’s most prominent purveyors?

“Hip hop is one of the rawest forms of true expression and I think one of the things that is so beautiful about hip hop is that it is probably the most versatile music in the world. The fact that you don’t need to take guitar lessons or need to be classically trained, that is what drew me to the music is the fact it is so accessible and so versatile.”

Lyrics Born is on a mission to share his life experiences and talent with all those willing to listen and with Lyrics Born’s silky smooth vocals and funk fuelled vibes throughout, Everywhere At Once is one hell of a way to get acquainted with one of the worlds finest independent hip-hop artists.

You can catch Lyrics Born doing his thing live with his band during their Everywhere At Once tour at Capitol on Thursday August 7.