Sydney emcee The Tongue (aka Xannon Shirley) is known equally well for his singular work ethic and creative wordplay, a combination which has not only earned the rapper the right to his pen-name, but has also yielded three excellent albums, a handful of free mixtapes, and explosive singles “Crazy”, “The Show” and newest banger “Drums”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His third full length album, “Surrender to Victory” released on Elefant Traks, is in stores now. Entirely produced by Cam Bluff and featuring guest verses from some of Australia’s greatest hip hop talent (Suffa, Illy, Joyride and more) it’s a cohesive and relentless party record, one that’s bound to provide the young rapper with plenty of attention and accolades locally and abroad.<\/p>\n

Who was the first rapper that inspired you to write?<\/strong>
\nChuck D from Public Enemy. His presence on the mic, his integrity, his creativity, his passion…still not too many MCs that can match him.<\/p>\n

Was music a big part of growing up for you?<\/strong>
\nI never played an instrument, never learnt how to read music, no one in my family is musical…so in that sense no. I used to listen to the radio when I was young and discover bands that way. I used to love metal, then I discovered Sarah Vaughn the jazz singer and was obsessed with her. Then after that it was hip hop….then reggae and then soul music. As James Brown once said “theres only two types of music…good music and bad music”…people assume I only listen to hip hop because I rap but thats a long way from the truth.<\/p>\n

The new album is called “Surrender to Victory”. How do you feel you have you grown as an artist since your last official release in 2010, Alternative Energy?<\/strong>
\nI studied songwriting for the first time before beginning this new album. There were a few bits of advice I picked up that really helped. Things like – put the chorus before the first verse, not after it like most people do in rap songs. Little tips like that I think have made a big difference in terms of making the songs tighter.<\/p>\n

I also write a lot of the choruses for the singers on the album and I feel that I’m more confident in my ability to write a good hook or come up with a nice melody. I can’t sing that well but I can come up with a hook and sing it to a vocalist and get them to repeat it back to me until its sounds how I imagined it. I love that process.<\/p>\n

You’ve mentioned in interviews that the song Rhymin’ is supposed to sound like a cypher at a party. What other rappers, past or present, would be the participants in your dream party-cypher?<\/strong>
\nRedman, Gift Of Gab, Nas, Skinnyman…from Australia Delta, Dialetrix…Ozi Batla and I have had a lot of great party cyphers over the years<\/p>\n

If you could show The Tongue sceptics one song from Surrender to Victory, which would it be and why?<\/strong>
\nProbably the opening track “Bittersweet”….I think that songs demonstrates my strengths as a writer…I don’t think any other rapper in Australia could have written that song. Not because its ‘superior’ in any way, just because they don’t think how I do.<\/p>\n

What was the best part of the recording process?<\/strong>
\nNailing a verse in the one take.<\/p>\n

How was it working with Cam Bluff?<\/strong>
\nThat’s my brother right there. That guy is so talented and so humble and he really let me know that he respected my skills as a songwriter. When you have that mutual respect and a mutual love of music great things happen. A lot of the album reviews so far have commented on our chemistry, this was the first time I’d ever worked solely with one producer for an entire album. The funny thing is we really only spent about a week together because he’s in Brisbane and I live in Sydney…I honestly reckon we could bang out the next album in a month if we tried….we just work so efficiently together<\/p>\n