BANGS TOOK THE WORLD TO DA MOVIES

NOW Vice: Hey! Do you mind if from now on I refer to you exclusively as “my boy Bangs”? My boy Bangs: Perfect, now it’s like we’re BFFs. How long have you been living in Melbourne for? What’s your opinion of the Australian ladies? I bet you do. When did you first start rapping? So you didn’t rap back in Sudan? What do you think of how “Take U To Da Movies” has blown up on the internet? You’re a bonafide international hip-hop superstar! My boy Bangs. Tell me something. How did it happen? Hang on. You kept posting the same video every day? Good tactic. Talk me through how you made the video. You mean the images? You chose the images of the roulette table and the Australian money? It’s waterproof and pretty colorful. That’s better than most money. Are you saying that you didn’t know you were destined to become an international hip-hop superstar? I first heard “Take U To Da Movies” in London. The editor in the office was playing it every day for three days straight. So do you consider yourself to be a worldwide superstar? I sure will. My boy Bangs, I have a good question for you. If you had the chance to take just one “shorty” to the movies, who would it be? Do you have a girlfriend? What kind of girl does my boy Bangs normally go for? I see your game, keeping the options open, right? You have quite a unique style of rhyming, so I’m just wondering how you go about writing? Like Jay-Z, huh? All in the head? Smart tactic. I keep loads of stuff in the corner. I’ve been looking on the internet and you’ve been called the “50 Cent of Sudan”. How does that make you feel? How about this: you’ve been called “the greatest rapper of all time” with “the illest rhymes this world has ever heard” who “lays out the greatest first date of all time”. How does that make you feel? I’ve heard a bad one too though. One guy, after listening to “Take U To Da Movies” yelled out loud that “Sudan should drown for this!” How does that make you feel? Yeah. What do you say to these haters? Who’s your favorite rapper? Oh yeah, I should have guessed. You’ve got that song that’s just like Chingy’s song “Right Thurrr”, except yours is called “Take You Right Thurrr”. Right Thurrr, Right Thurr, Right Thurrr! What makes you like Chingy, then, and not, let’s say, Outkast, Lil’ Wayne or Jay-Z? One of the little trademarks of your songs is this thing where you go “Ahaa!” like an ecstatic small child at the end of your rhymes. How did that come about? So who else is a big influence for you? Yeah! My friend was saying you’re so much like 50 Cent that you should be called 50 Sudanese Dinar. Unlike most rappers, you actually come across as kind to girls. Is that something you try to do? You’ve got a song on your album called “My Life is Hard”, and I listened to the chorus, which goes, “My life is so hard to lead, and I never ever have a good time.” That’s kinda sad. Is there anything else you want to tell your worldwide audience? Have you started work on the second album? Who would you like to contribute on your next album? I think you and Soulja Boy would be perfect together. It’s been a pleasure, my boy Bangs. WORDS: BEN COHEN PHOTOS: TOMMY THOMS