When we reported earlier this month that Australian rapper Kerser had pretty much blacklisted himself from triple j, reactions were mixed to say the least. For the most part, news about the wordsmith was met with a collective groan.
The emcee is a cult favourite among a certain portion of Australian hip-hop lovers, but remains a controversial figure for the rest, who’ve never quite jumped on board with his confrontational, battle-style rapping.
But he reckons the joke’s on them, because it’s the very fuel that feeds Kerser’s considerable fire. Every Facebook post, tweet, or Instagram pic maligning the Campbelltown rhyme-slinger is simply free publicity and feeds his social media groundswell.
Kerser, real name Scott Clarke Barrow, even used that incendiary, social media-savvy approach to the music industry to hit the top five of the ARIA Albums Chart and the top of the ARIA Australian Artist Albums Chart.
Released through his own ABK Records with distribution via Warner Music Australia, Kerser’s fifth album in as many years, Next Step, managed to nab a place alongside releases by the likes of Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber.
Of course, Kerser doesn’t have the kind of marketing budgets bestowed upon Sheeran and Bieber, so he does it all himself. In fact, Kerser’s devoted nationwide following developed largely thanks to social media.
Kerser maintains a consistent presence on Facebook, where he boasts almost 250,000 followers and regularly updates fans on his activities; a hyperactive YouTube account with over 35 million views; and an Instagram account with 60,000 followers.
He claims to write raps every day, in addition to producing a video every month and an album a year as he juggles countless festival appearances, live shows, and the production of tour DVDs and management of his label.
“I am pioneering and setting a blueprint.”As News Corp notes, all of this is done without a single song heard on mainstream radio. “The industry tries to block me out and ignores me, I have to use my own avenues to reach my fans,” he told News.com.au.
“I struggled to get my name out on MySpace, but then I went to YouTube,” he said. “Pushing stuff with crazy visuals and staying consistent really blew me up. It kind of overshadowed what the radio could do for me.”
“I kept dropping promos between albums, one a month for last four years including (an) album every year, so I really haven’t stopped.” Make no mistake, maintaining such a devoted following is a lot of work at every level.
“I think the fans are entertained by the fact they can really see I am keeping it real from music to my lyrics to what I post on Instagram,” he said. “I post what I want and I think a lot of rappers are like ‘my mum might see that and might not like that’, but I’m not like a lot of people.”
“Excuse the language, but there are no f***s given when it comes to social media, I am straightforward with it,” he added. “When I make status I am rarely thinking about it. I am a very quick witted person and some status will make headlines on a website and I think what the f***, I made that in three seconds.”
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“If I want to go at someone I’ll go at someone. I heard of a lot of rappers quit because they couldn’t handle the hate. I block them. I only want fans on my pages, I don’t want to hear what other people criticise. They can write it on their own page and get the seven likes on the status.”
“The worst they do make a status saying ‘Kerser blocked me from his page’ and then it sends more people to my page and works in my favour.” As far as he’s concerned, he’s laying down a new rulebook for artists in Australia.
“It feels like I have proven a lot of people wrong,” he told News Corp. “I am pioneering and setting a blueprint. Rappers can say I don’t have to send 50,000 demos to every radio station to see if I hear back and never get a reply because they only play certain style of music.”
“I pushed that aside and I reckon 70 percent of rappers coming up wanting to do it on their own and they know it’s possible because I have done it.” At the time of writing, Kerser’s Next Step is still in the ARIA Albums Chart Top 30.
