$lazy

KYRON SMITHSON

$lazy has been releasing music prolifically since 2020, with their latest offering, full length album Growing Pains, dropping earlier this year. Big things lie ahead for the Esperance act, which is a creative outlet for 17-year-old MC Micah Wallace, who works closely alongside his brother, Izacc. The project has already conquered a heap of live performances in 2023, not only joining Perth lineups, but also launching Growing Pains at 33 Degrees last month, with Laird Polkinghorne joining the lads for the show to lend a hand with live sound production. Instead of diving into my perception of their music, I’m going to leave that in the hands of the drivers of the $lazy project, Micah and Izacc, who join us at Esperance Tide for the very first time.

Hey lads, I’m absolutely wrapped to have you join us at the Tide. How would you describe the $lazy sound to someone who is yet to hear your tracks?

For someone who hasn’t heard a track yet, we would say it’s a kind of chill melodic hip-hop crossed with pop.

Who have been your key musical influences?

At a young age we started listening to a lot of Christian music, as well as other artists like Van Morrison and Rod Stewart, as our parents would play this around the house. When we started looking into music ourselves it was a lot of Michael Jackson and The Beetles, then later on going into rap acts, such as Chance the Rapper and Migos.

In regards to the writing process, do your beats or lyrics come first?

We generally start by laying down a main melody to the instrumental, then put down some vocals, usually starting with a hook for Jimmy to build the beat around, then continue with the rest of the vocals and just build off each other until we’re at a stage we are happy with.

Do you work collaboratively on all elements?

Yeah, pretty much. For the most part we give each other feedback and ideas, making sure it turns out exactly how we picture it.

Which track on Growing Pains do you feel is your strongest?

We’d say it’s ‘Scared of Loving’ with Marksman Lloyd. The song covers the topics of abusive and toxic relationships over a slow piano ballad.

How have you found your early foray into the Perth music scene?

With help and support from Marksman Lloyd we’ve been lucky enough to get a couple gigs and recording time up in Perth, alongside other artists, helping us build relationships and get our name out there.

If you could support any artist, who would it be?

In the Australian hip-hop music scene it’s gotta be Tommy Gunn, because of his unique style. But if we’re talking anyone, it would be amazing to support Kanye or The Kid Laroi.

What are your goals for the coming year?

Just to get our names out there. We’ve achieved pretty much every goal we have set for this year in the first couple months which is incredible, so we’re just hoping we get to do more gigs and be able to build relationships with more artists.

Final words?

Go stream our latest project Growing Pains on all platforms! And thank you so much for having us.