VOLDY on the Artists Who Influenced His New Mixtape ‘Solplay Tape, Vol. 1’

November 28, 2022

Melbourne-based hip hop and neo soul artist VOLDY has released the mixtape, Solplay Tape, Vol. 1. Clocking in at under 20 minutes, the latest release from the South African-born singer and rapper includes guest appearances from Amara, SwimGood, Benny Morrell and Aman.

VOLDY was unequivocal about his intentions for Solplay. “I am trying to bring back some things that I think are lost in rap music, and that’s soulfulness,” he said in a statement. Here, VOLDY expresses his affection for a number of artists who inspired the writing of Solplay.

VOLDY: Solplay Tape, Vol. 1

Anderson .Paak

VOLDY: I’ve always been a fan of Anderson .Paak because the dude really knows how to express a sound that you feel. Silk Sonic really inspired Solplay.

Saba

VOLDY: The dynamics in Saba’s cadence is unmatched. In Solplay, I definitely was inspired to be dynamic. Sometimes I’ll sing, sometimes I’ll rap-sing and sometimes I’ll just rap. So, I can keep the playfulness interesting and fun.

GoldLink

VOLDY: I’m a big fan of GoldLink in the way he attacks his records. You can tell he has refined the ability to cater his voice to any sounding production. He’s unapologetically him and I know I have a similar way of rapping, especially in the Solplay outro, ‘Goodthing’.

SiR

VOLDY: SiR has a unique way of layering his voice with harmonies that pierces through your soul, which is something I learnt at church and apply into my songs like ‘Virus’, ‘Lost’ and ‘Tonite’ (feat. Amara). I really gravitated to singing and using harmonies to bring out the soulful aspect of Solplay.

Cordae

VOLDY: Funny, me and Cordae are the same age so we would have been listening to the same kind of music growing up. Cordae is real and remains real regardless of the influences of today’s music. The Solplay song, ‘Breathe’, is similar to some of his songs, which is a sound I describe as “evolved boom bap rap”.

Outkast

VOLDY: The playfulness of Outkast is something that really inspired Solplay, switching between real rap shit to colourful singing and with a twang in my voice. To me, that feels very André 3000.

Shane Eagle

VOLDY: Shane Eagle is a South African rapper who really inspired me to rap in the first place. Back where I’m from, we live a very different reality than in Australia that doesn’t mean there’s no struggles. Shane expresses struggle from a different perspective, which I drew from when I wrote ‘Pain’ on the EP.