S an Francisco rapper Watsky has earned a loyal cult following for his distinctive blend of rap and spoken-word performing, and has played a number of prestigious Stateside venues, including the Filmore in San Francisco and New York’s Irving Plaza. In addition, he’s clocked up an impressive number of YouTube hits, with his humorous breakthrough video, ‘Pale Kid Raps Fast’, racking up an impressive 24 million views.

“I actually took it down a few weeks ago,” explains Watsky, shortly after soundchecking before his show in Dublin’s Academy. “I didn’t want to become known just for that one track. It was getting to the point where it was all anyone was talking about in relation to my output. The video certainly reached a large audience though, and that’s what we were looking for. It wasn’t like we felt we’d masterminded this surefire massive success, but we did sit down and think, ‘Okay, what are some of the elements that might make this a viral hit?’ So, we kept it short and made sure it was humorous, and I think it’s a good showcase for my style.”
Watsky’s rapid-fire wordplay translates easily to the spoken word arena, and indeed that’s where the 26-year-old started out, winning a series of slam competitions whilst a high school student, before getting more active in music when he moved to Boston to go to college. He still incorporates a couple of spoken-word pieces into his shows, and cites Saul Williams – the US rapper whose third album, The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust!, was produced by Trent Reznor – as being one of the leading figures when it comes to mixing music and poetry.
“He’s probably the guy who mixes spoken-word and rap most successfully,” Watsky proffers. “There are definitely other people who do it, but in terms of people who are touring on a large scale, there aren’t that many. I mean, Henry Rollins does stuff like that – I guess that’s more like storytelling, but there are definitely tinges of it. There are examples; there’s this old guy called Jello Biafra who does it too. Kanye West has actually started to do it, his new material is more spoken-word than his previous stuff.”
Watsky is currently touring his latest album, Cardboard Castles, of which he says one of the central lyrical themes is finding himself at a crossroads in the development of communications, technology and entertainment.
“It’s about aspiration,” he explains. “I try to capture what it means to be a 21st century creator, especially as a young person when you have access to an audience, but not necessarily access to resources to do what you want to do. That comes with the transformation in technology that’s happened in the past few years. More than ever before in history, an aspiring artist can get their work out there without corporate backing or the approval of the entertainment industry.
“You don’t need anyone to say, ‘Here’s your golden ticket’ or ‘Here’s your record contract’. You can have a webcam and if your idea is good, you can capture someone’s imagination and it could catch fire. That is what Cardboard Castles is about.”