1982–2002: Early life Drapht grew up in
North Perth, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth. His father, Gary Ridge, a jazz drummer introduced Drapht to music from a very young age—he first experienced hip hop at the age of eight. The name "Drapht" is based on a Western Australian
Swan Brewery beer, Swan Draught; the company's logo was written on a watch that his father brought home when Drapht was 13 or 14. Drapht attended
Perth Modern School in
Subiaco but was not involved in the school's music program. At school he became friends with Damien Allia (aka DJ Armee) who introduced him to hip hop via gigs at the Hyde Park Hotel."I was extremely fortunate. Right place, right time. I was right in the middle of it all, I had access to one of the best producers at the time Dazastah, freestyle sessions at
Hunter's and constant schooling from the rest of the MC's within the crew. So I was very blessed with it all." — Drapht This involvement resulted in his first contributions being recorded and included on
Hunter and
Dazastah's 2000 debut album,
Done DL, only months after he had started seriously writing. His debut album,
Pale Rider, was released in October 2003, with all production handled by Dazastah (
Downsyde), Fdel and Drapht. Special appearances on the album include: Fdel (Invada Records),
Downsyde,
MC Layla, Hunter, Selekt, Carlsani and Porsah Lane.
2005–2007: Who Am I The follow-up, 2005's
Who Am I, was co-produced by Dazastah (
Downsyde) and Fdel, and co-mixed by Drapht with Dazastah. The songs touch on topics including politics, sex, and addiction to drunken antics. Guest appearances on the album include
Pressure (
Hilltop Hoods), Downsyde, Layla, Pegz (Obese Records), Clandestien, MJ (Funkola) and Hunter. It was released by
Obese Records in both in a CD and a limited 2 LP vinyl format. Two tracks from the album, "Drink Drank Drunk" and "The Music", received airplay on
Triple J, mostly on the
Super Request program.
Who Am I is more an introspective album. The song, "The Music", was selected by
Triple J as a featured track for "AusMusic Month" in 2005. Drapht also released a music video for "The Music", which was shown on
Rage. He also performed a guest verse on the track, "The Blue Blooded", which was included on the
Hilltop Hoods' 2006 album,
The Hard Road.
Killa Kela, and
Resin Dogs.
2008–2009: Brothers Grimm Drapht's third album,
Brothers Grimm, was released 10 May 2008, with the first song from the album, "
Jimmy Recard", receiving significant airplay on
Triple J, where it became the second most played song on the station in 2008 The album debuted at No. 64 on the ARIA Album charts, reached No. 9 on the
AIR (Association of Independent Record Labels) Charts and No. 10 on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Top 40 Urban Album charts.
2010–2015: The Life of Riley In an interview with The Vine in November 2010, Drapht advised that he had not renewed his contract with Obese Records and that he will be releasing his forthcoming album
The Life of Riley independently. The first song released from the album is "Rapunzel", for which he describes:
The Life of Riley was released 1 April 2011 and was the first release on Drapht’s own label The Ayems, which is distributed through Sony Music. The album debuted at
#1 on the
ARIA Album Chart and was the first Australian artist to do so in 2011. The second track to be taken from the album was "Sing It (The Life of Riley)".
2016–present: Seven Mirrors and Arabella Street Drapht released
Seven Mirrors in August 2016, which peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Arabella Street was released in November 2018. ==Touring==