South West Sydney rapper L-FRESH The LION has emerged from the pandemic years like a phoenix rising from the ashes: refreshed, reinvigorated and ravenous to take his powerful music and inspiring message to the wider world.
In this second coming his already incendiary live shows have proved even more epic and passionate courtesy a spectacular new audiovisual production and a renewed self-belief, his connection with his audiences now more personal and visceral, his new music more raw, honest and compelling.
Recent forays such as his spellbinding WOMADelaide set have found L-FRESH The LION cutting through complacency and dragging people out of their comfort zones on an individual basis. Non- religious people have cited spiritual experiences. Non-hip hop fans speak of musical epiphanies.
Chosen to represent the Hip Hop scene in Australia at this years Summerstage Festival in Central Park, New York, L-FRESH The LION took to the stage to express his gratitude to Hip Hop for changing his life. His passion shone through as US audiences, for the first time, fittingly got to experience his message during the 50 years of Hip Hop. He followed this performance with a run of 5 headline shows across Canada, from Toronto to Vancouver, his first tour of the region.
Already one of Australia’s most respected rappers, the career of L-FRESH The LION - born and raised in South West Sydney of Sikh and Punjabi heritage - had been tracking just fine prior to this artistic rebirth.
He’d released three acclaimed albums - the most recent being SOUTH WEST (2020) - a trilogy which saw him gradually find and hone his own voice and identity, his authentic narratives conveying perfect diasporas of multiculturalism, the hustle-and-grind mentality and the often abrasive reality of modern-day existence.
It’s his story. His South West Sydney. His cultural journey and awakening. But the message is entirely universal.