Grace Shaw, better known as Mallrat, is an up-and-coming Brisbane rapper who calls herself the ‘Hannah Montana of the rap game’. 

She recently moved to Melbourne and took the time to chat with us about her busy year so far, Splendour in the Grass and her good mate Allday. Check out the full interview.

This year has been massive for you! You’ve performed at Hyperfest and Groovin’ the Moo, supported Peking Duk around Australia, and you did your first headline tour. How are you enjoying it so far?

It’s so fun. It’s been a really good year I suppose. I’m just having a good time. It’s crazy but it’s just a good thing really; I’m nothing but excited and grateful.

As well as that, your song For Real was used in Google’s ad. How did that come about?

I know! How crazy is that! It was like somebody who is in charge of finding the music for ads, I’m not sure what that job is called, but he frantically messaged me on Facebook and he was like ‘What’s your manager’s number? I’ve got this major tech company that needs a turnaround immediately.’ And I was like ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, here’s my manager’s email,’ and then it was the Google ad!

Also, you’re playing Splendour in the Grass! What are you looking forward to most?

I’m really excited to see Paul Kelly and Gretta Ray play. I’m really excited to see my friend play and I’m really excited to see Lil Yachty and Stormzy and – wait is Stormzy playing? Maybe I imagined that -Schoolboy Q maybe…

How do festival shows differ when compared to a concert?

This is the order of fun-ness of shows. So, number one; headline shows because it’s people that really wanna be there, and then number two; festivals because you get to see your friends and go and see other people perform, then number three; support shows which can still be really fun but they’re a bit hit and miss.

I know that you’ve said going to an Allday concert was one of your biggest motivators for you to start making music. What was it like the first time you met him?

It was at a meet-and-greet at that concert. That was the first time really. But after that, it was just music related. We’re besties now.

When did you work with him for the first time? Was it on Baby Spiders?

We’ve done a few songs before that but a lot of them were never really finished. Once I went down to Melbourne and we started working on some tracks for [Allday’s] album but I don’t think any of those ones made it from that Melbourne trip. We’ve kind of always been hanging out really for the last little while.

So you’re 18 now, what’s the difference between you performing live shows as a minor and you performing as an adult?

If you’re under 18 and the people at the venue know you’re under 18 they’ll try and get you in and out as quickly as possible or they might be really reluctant to let you in. So it’s just a nicer experience now that I’m 18. But it’s also kind of less fun because the sneaking in and around was pretty fun. You win some, you lose some.