Rates - Untold

If you're into gritty hip hop that comes from a real place, you'll already be across Rates. Describing his 2013 debut album 'Destroy And Rebuild' as his ode to hip hop, Rates now brings something completely different to its follow-up. 'Untold' sees Rates blending lyrically sharp rhymes (think Big Pun and Tech N9ne) with a big creepy sort of sound musically (Rates: Deftones are a big influence for me). All tracks for this new release, except for Suicide 2, were written collaboratively with Bennie On The Beat at the producer's Coffs Harbour studio; lyrics written alongside beats during their creative process. Rates doesn't shy away from rapping about his demons; Over the years [music has] definitely defined who I am now, he tells. I mean, since I was a kid I woke up with a song in my head and would go to bed with a song in my head, you know? And I'm still obsessed with music. So can Rates imagine life without music? I'd go mad. It's all I know... It's everything, music. On his second album Rates tells us how it is, leaving nothing 'Untold.'