Rapping into the fast lane

Teenage rapper Doron Losky is making his mark in the music world with the release of new songs. Evan Zlatkis reports.

TEENAGE Jewish rapper Doron Losky, aka “Lostkeyz”, is already making waves in the hip-hop industry.

Losky, 18, of Sydney, began writing rap two years ago and has quickly built up a following.

“I started because I was always looking for a way to express my thoughts, and discovered that rhyme was a fantastic avenue,” says Losky, who completed his Higher School Certificate (HSC) at the Emanuel School last year and plans to study music production, performance or sound engineering this year.

He recently played his first gig at Scorcher Fest in Sydney and supported the hip-hop group Daily Meds at Oxford Art Factory.

“It was an incredible experience,” says Losky. “I was both nervous and excited at the same time. It was a huge buzz to perform in front of a supportive crowd.”

Losky says he draws inspiration from many different sources, including musicians such as Mac Miller, Big L, Frank Ocean and the Beatles.

“I am also inspired by life experiences and situations that I have found myself in, and observations that I’ve made,” he says, adding: “A recent one includes having to take my grandfather to hospital in an ambulance. While this was confronting, it also gave me a platform in which to express my emotions through rap.

“I can’t forget my mum who has been supportive and inspiring throughout my journey.”

Losky says he wrote a lot about how he felt about studying for his HSC exams, and about the school system generally.

“I really wanted to create music while I needed to study for the HSC. I incorporated a bit of rhyme into my study notes, which helped.

“I’d have thought that the HSC distracted me from writing music; however, my mother thought that rap distracted me from the HSC!” he jokes.

Losky says he enjoys “the thrill of creating an expressive rhyme, being able to tell a story and hopefully influence others and change lives”.

“I like the way that words have different meanings, and how one is able to connect them all together through rhyme,” he says. “When I researched the origin of hip-hop in New York, I could see that rap was very prominent and I thought that was really cool.”

Losky recently released his second mixtape titled Puzzle Pieces. One of the tracks features Moriah College graduates Aaron Lazarus and Sam Mayer, who assisted Losky in putting together an all-acoustic track.

“We grew up together as I went to Moriah up until the end of year 10, then I moved to Emanuel,” explains Losky.

“We’ve always spoken about putting something down and Sam sent me a couple of ideas. I really liked one of them, so we sat down and it just naturally fell into place. Sam and I agreed that Aaron had the perfect voice for the song.”

Currently, Losky writes about life experiences, friendships, relationships and comments on society and its changing values.

“I want to keep doing what I’m doing – making music, influencing others, living life to the fullest and not taking myself too seriously.”

EVAN ZLATKIS

Rapper Doron Losky, better known in the hip-hop music world as Lostkeyz.