The Founder of Western Sydney Mixtape

Hey guys, 

 

My name is Ryan, and I am the founder of WSM. I’m a 2000 baby, born and raised in Western Sydney, repping the 2770 postcode with pride. When I was younger, I was one of those kids who would write short stories, upload them onto Wattpad and make vlogs with friends. At 16, I started writing poetry which evolved into rap when I was 17. Creativity has always been a central part of my life, whether as a form of release or expression. Art, although therapeutic, was quite lonely; I lacked an artistic community growing up. I didn’t have any like-minded creatives around me, no one I could connect with who would understand that aspect of me. Between 18 and 19, I released ten tracks onto Soundcloud and didn’t get much engagement; at 19, I was very insecure and discouraged. I kept working on music but kept everything private, thinking my art wasn’t relevant. I soon went into a hiatus. It wasn’t until meeting the right people that I came out of my shell again and took pride in my creative side. I bring up my lack of artistic community and my artistic journey because it’s from those places WSM stemmed. I wanted to build a platform where artists like myself could perform on a stage and connect with like-minded individuals. Western Sydney Mixtape is the artist community I didn’t have growing up. This is for my 18-year-old self and anyone who spends hours working on their craft without an audience who will listen.