Ivan Ooze

No, not the character from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie; this Ivan Ooze is an Australian rapper, singer, and producer who first found fame on social media before landing a record deal with EMI Music Australia. To date, he has released two albums, ’93 KFC Rotisserie Gold and The Social Alien 2: Memoirs from the Milkway. He has also released a string of singles, including 2016’s ‘Bills’, which saw him collaborate with Wu-Tang Clan legend Ghostface Killah. In 2020, he hooked up with producer Tasker to form Rest for the Wicked. The duo released their debut single, ‘Bones’, during summer 2021.

Ooze was born Benjamin Townsend in Melbourne in January 1992. By 2015, his self-produced videos were going viral on Facebook and led to the release of his debut single, ‘Fire’ later that year. He quickly became the go-to support act for any major hip-hop acts who were touring Australia and so opened for the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, and Azaelia Banks. His debut album, ’93 KFC Rotisserie Gold, was released in 2016 and contained what is currently his most-streamed track, the party banger ‘Bap U Remix’, which has been played on Spotify alone nearly 1.8 million times.

Ooze’s most recent solo single came out in 2018. Since then, he has appeared as a featured artist on various other people’s tracks, including Dexter Seamus and Congrats, but he has largely been focusing on getting Rest for the Wicked off the ground with Tasker. The Australian hip-hop scene is waiting for their debut album with bated breath.