Accident brings 360 perspective

IT IS July 18, 2010. Melbourne rapper 360 is in Sydney celebrating his birthday and the impending release of his first album since signing a record deal with EMI.

hit 360

IT IS July 18, 2010. Melbourne rapper 360 is in Sydney celebrating his birthday and the impending release of his first album since signing a record deal with EMI.

Fellow hip-hop act Bliss N Eso take 360 go-karting. He wakes up in hospital with a torn artery, lacerated pancreas and suspected ruptured scrotum.

"It wasn't ruptured, but it was ripped open," 360 says of his testicular torture.

"I had to get nine packs of blood put into me. The X-ray showed internal bleeding and they operated straight away. They said I was an hour or two away from dying.

"The first thing I checked once I woke up was I didn't need to use a colostomy bag. My sex life is intact. There's no sex appeal if you use a colostomy bag."

The accident - and recovery - pushed the release of 360's album Falling & Flying back from last September to being unleashed tomorrow. He used the delay to add two new songs. One - Miracle in a Costume - references the accident and other dark moments.

As a teenager ("I was trying to be a tough hooligan"), a friend was stabbed - and survived. In the song, he preaches walking away from fights. The lyrics also detail how 360 quit basketball at 18 after an eye disease required a cornea transplant that has left him with fuzzy vision in his right eye - "going half-blind made me see more clearly," he raps.

"Positives have come from bad things. Being virtually blind in my right eye killed my passion for basketball, but forced me to focus on music," he says. "The go-kart accident made the album what it is now; it's the universe cutting you down to say things are going to get better."

Hope You Don't Mind sees 360 revert back to his birth name Matt Colwell ("My friends call me 6 or 60, but I feel like a d---head introducing myself as 360") to vent about his insecurities, including his weight.

"I'm a naturally skinny person. I've tried to put on weight. When someone I don't know says, 'You're skinny, you should eat more', it's offensive. They wouldn't tell someone overweight to eat less. I wanted to be honest and put it out there. That's more ammo for people. I might have to stop rap battling after this album is out!" he says.

The rap battles - many for which he has been flown overseas - have helped build 360's profile since his 2008 indie debut What You See is What You Get. So has a string of mixtapes on YouTube where he's rapped over songs from Tinie Tempah to Lisa Mitchell to MGMT.

He's used Twitter and Facebook to rally his fan base, but learnt there's no middle man.

"At least once a day people call you a sell-out or something. I used to write back. Now I have a zero-tolerance policy with haters. I block them. I've developed a thick skin. For every hater, there's 15 people loving it," he says.

Adelaide hip-hop band Funkoars recently slated 360 on pay TV, saying his new single Killer was too pop.

"Just because I'm a rapper, I don't want to just make a hip-hop album. The dude from Funkoars said I'm like Nicki Minaj, saying it's hip-hop when it's pop. I'm just showing what influences me," 360 says.

"Making the album, I was fighting demons in my head going, 'My hip-hop fans are going to hate this'. But f--- everyone, I'm happy with it."

This week 360 ticked off one thing on his to-do list - a feature album on triple j for Falling & Flying. What else is on the list?

"Playing the Big Day Out. A song with Santigold. Earning over $100,000 in a year. To be nominated for more than three awards at the ARIAs. Now I'm just trying to get the universe on side," he quips.

HEAR Falling & Flying (EMI) out September 30

SEE 360,
QLD Sprung Festival, Brisbane, October 15
VIC Bended Elbow, Geelong, October 20; Kay St Saloon, Traralgon, October 21; Corner Hotel, Melbourne, October 22; Karova Lounge, Ballarat October 27.
NSW Level One, Newcastle, November 10; Waves, Towradgi Beach, November 11; Annandale Hotel, Sydney; November 12.
More info at 360music.com.au