Keeping It Organic

Aside from a few festival performances it's been a good two years since Paul Ridge aka Drapht last toured nationally and longer still since his last release. Even so, the local rapper has been doing anything but laying low.

While you may not have caught Ridge on stage, over the past year you'd have found him hard at work in the unlikely yet profoundly fitting restaurant Solomon's, which Ridge conceptualised and created. The venue is indicative of the rapper's philosophy in life and music, from its raw, unrendered brick walls to the intimate setting and carefully selected organic produce.

Ridge likes to keep it raw on stage and in life, but what supporters may not know is he's always had to battle with his own dietary sensitivities. “When I was touring and when I was travelling abroad, whether it was for music or just for holidaying,” Ridge explains, “I always found it super difficult to find somewhere that catered for my needs, somewhere that let you choose what you could eat and allow me to have that intuition body-wise that I feel is so important in terms of the healing process of food and people overcoming illness and whatnot.”

Ridge described his decision to create an organic restaurant as a bit of a light-bulb moment: “I was like, shit, it's been in my face for the last ten years. I've always found it hard to find somewhere that catered for me, there's nothing like this around – so I came home and started working on this restaurant that would cater not only for myself but that forgotten demographic in a similar position to me. It's been insane, to be totally honest.”

Ridge confesses, however, it hasn't kept him from his music – it's more a therapeutic hiatus.

“I never expected to live off my music when I was younger; it was basically just an outlet that I loved to death and a hobby that I couldn't see myself living without, but then when it turned into my job it was like – I have to deal with all these industry folk and labels and just the ins and outs of the industry in general and all the pressure of releasing a single and backing up another single – it was just like, 'Fuck, what am I doing this for?'

“It wasn't feeding the same sort of creative edge that I started it for. So now I'm in this situation where I've got the best of both worlds – a successful restaurant and an album that I'm just about to release – I think if I do release it and when it comes time to release, it's going to be on my own terms.”

Ridge candidly admits that through building and working at his restaurant he's back to creating music the way he did in his early 20s working as a courier – there's a lot of driving involved in finding the best organic local produce for Solomon's. “I'm constantly having to think on my feet and race around the city so the only time I get to write my music these days is when I'm behind the wheel of a car.”

Ridge isn't entirely sure when the album will be released, but he did confirm it's on its way. “I've basically got the whole album mapped out with all my structure and concepts and music but then it's just filling in pieces.”

For Ridge, it was never about success; it was about creating music for the sake and passion of it.

“I think the personal journey for me, like where I saw my music start to be successful, was writing to relate to people but also writing out of pure honesty. I think especially with my genre, it's all good to get influenced by the motherland of hip hop being America but at the end of the day you live in a culture that you should reflect on and not use other people's experiences to guide your music and I think that honesty is the biggest thing.

“That's why WA stands out in so many regards, because we are so removed from the east coast that we don't feel the pressure that the rest of the country feels. We're in that isolation space that allows us to have a little more freedom without the judgement tacked onto it.

“I'm super excited,” Ridge admits of his upcoming performance at this year's State of the Art Music Festival showcasing WA talent. “The one thing I miss since opening the restaurant is that performance time, you know, I don't really miss the touring but I really miss that hour-long stage performance where I can just forget about everything and do something that I really love doing and that's my performing.”