Arno Faraji Interview: WA's triple j Unearthed WINNER is packing some serious vibes

**UPDATE** Literally as we published this we found out the kid won! HUGE NEWS.

A couple of months back triple j did their yearly call out to find the country's next bright spark for their Unearthed High competition, searching for a name to join the likes of Gretta Ray, Japanese Wallpaper, Mosquito Coast and more. Now, two months and over a thousand entries later, they've narrowed it down to five acts - Ninajarachi, Stevie Jean, SYDE, Taj Ralph and the kid you're about to hear from below, Arno Faraji. Coming straight outta Shenton College over in our neck of the woods, the dude has VIBES. Being a young producer/rapper, he understandably wears his influences on his sleeves, but there's plenty hear to love and plenty pointing to an exciting future.

We asked him a few questions, which you can read below along with listening to a few of his fresh as hell tracks:

First up, seen as we’re all pretty fresh to Arno Faraji - can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hey, I’m Arno Faraji, a fairly new rapper/producer coming out of Perth WA, and I make a lot of wavy or vibe-music.

We hear you’ve only been making music for less than a year - how did you get started?

Well, I’ve actually been playing music for a while now, little known fact is I started on guitar and used to make little instrumental covers that I’d post on Youtube.

In terms of ‘Arno Faraji’ though, I started when my friend Innocent, who is another Perth artist, introduced me to beat-making software. I initially didn’t take it seriously. I got the software around late year 10 but it wasn’t until August last year (Year 11) that I posted my first song as Arno Faraji. Even though I was more of the producer type then, the plan at some point was to get into rap, so soon after I did a little demo to test the waters releasing a cover remix to this song I used to bump to.

After that, I released 130 Ego Jump which I feel kickstarted everything else in terms of attention and marking my place as an artist.

What’s your process when it comes to making music - where do you look for inspiration for writing and what kinda programs you running?

It really all comes down to the vibe, whether it’s what I’m feeling, what I want to feel or want to deliver - that’s the where I draw the most from. The vibe inspires my writing and more times than not the beats I make too. In terms of order there’s no strict plan however, I’ll occasionally make the beat first or find the beat then start writing for it.

I make all my stuff on Logic Pro X, which is cool coz it has a notation section where you can space your ideas out and remember things that could easily escape thought.

Congrats on making the Unearthed High Finals, when we were in high school we were only listening to stuff like Spice Girls, what got you listening to triple j?

Truthfully I owe it to my sisters for putting me onto triple j. My eldest sister would always flick onto triple j when she drove because she liked the music and loved a lot of the programs. I got exposed to a lot of dope music through it and it eventually became my go-to station too. Nowadays it’s hard to find our radio off triple j, I guess you can say she converted us all.

You’ve got a pretty great list of influences, what was your introduction to artists like Chance The Rapper, Goldlink, and those kinda peeps?

A lot of my influences stem from music I was introduced to through friends and family. My cousins put me onto Childish Gambino and from that introduced me to Chance The Rapper who lead me to discover Vic Mensa, Saba, Goldlink to Kaytranada. After a while artists I listened to could introduce me to other artists and it opened up a whole new world of music for me, like a domino effect. That’s where most of my influence comes from.

It’s pretty early days yet, but are you getting ready for live shows soon?

YES! I had the chance to perform and support Innocent during one of his shows and it was surreal. I learned that I liked performing more than I thought I would, so as soon as I get the chance to, I’m gonna be jumping on stage again. Hopefully that’s as soon as exams finish.

We also hear you’re a good cook - what’s a signature Arno Faraji dish?

What you hear is true, my signature fried rice combo is the king of any fried rice interpretation. Everyone and anyone who’s tried it says it’s the best they’ve ever had and I take that claim seriously.

Follow Arno Faraji: FACEBOOK