Persistence. Resilience. Grit. These are but a few words one would se to describe Aliff Aolani, better known as Airliftz, especially after you consider all that he’s had to overcome.
“I remember being told that labels were saying I had no potential to be an artist,” the 23-year old Malaysian rapper told airasia.
Words like these still ring in his head. But instead of giving up, Airliftz has used this initial rejection as jet fuel to propel his career to new heights.
Sporting an unconventional appearance because he was born without nose cartilage, the rapper from Kajang has had to overcome stigma every step of the way, defying expectations with a bold and fresh brand of hip-hop.
Airliftz recently signed his first major record deal with RedRecords, a Southeast Asian label by Universal Music Group and airasia Super App – a far cry from the early days when he was messing around with music software in his bedroom and throwing down freestyles with his friends.
“From teachers, to friends that I tried to make, to applying for jobs, [how I look] definitely affected how people perceived me,” he said.
“Not trying to be full of myself, but if they don’t believe in me, then I got to believe in myself. I’ll keep making.”
The early years
Born in 1998 as the youngest of five brothers, Airliftz describes his upbringing as “rough but tight”.
The family started out in Kuala Lumpur’s Taman Melawati neighbourhood before moving down to Kajang, where the would-be rapper recalls getting schooled regularly by his brothers.
“They always taught me that no matter where you go, no matter what you do, remember to stand your ground and be humble,” he said.
Elevating his craft
Airliftz got his first big break when he was taken under the wing of Malaysian hip-hop elder Jin Hackman (now Old Head Jin), who spotted him during a spirited 2014 open mic performance.
His career then began to take off in earnest with the network of collaborators and resources made available to him.
Having never been truly confined to one genre of hip-hop, Airliftz was now free to explore outside typical trap bangers of the time and create his own unique sound.
On Bagel, he enlisted the help of Singaporean producer and rapper FAUXE on a project that showcased his range of influences.
However, the EP’s creation was far from straightforward. Airliftz initially struggled with putting pen to paper on a verse. That all changed when the duo had a brush with inspiration over a meal at the now-shuttered Molecules cafe in Kota Damansara.
“Whatever they added into that infamous salmon bagel, brought us magic,” he recalled.
“We were talking about that bagel, and then from that it mushroomed into a project which took us just five days to finish. I felt like [the EP] was a good introduction to who I am and getting ourselves out there.”
A sprawling Asian tour followed the release of Bagel, with Airliftz performing to sold out venues in Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok and Singapore alongside fellow up-and-comers Zamaera and alextbh.
Around this time, his fanbase started to grow beyond Malaysia’s shores, and he was selected to open for international stars Anderson .Paak, KYLE, as well as Korean rapper Sik-K while on tour.
With the momentum from these high-profile performances, and a string of singles and collaborations lined up, it seemed that Airliftz was on the verge of breaking into the mainstream.
Then COVID-19 happened.
Battling inner demons
“I had to put music on pause, because I couldn’t think of anything. I did pick up new things like Discord and playing Destiny 2, making friends from abroad, but I got too much here,” he said, pointing to his head.
Isolated from everything, Airliftz retreated further into his mind, and he started to question his place in the world. Despite being on the cusp of making it, he felt everything slipping away due to factors outside of his control.
After landing himself in the hospital for observation one night during the first lockdown, he fell deeper into introspection, reckoning with his relationship with his estranged father.
“With everything with the virus going on, I found myself waking up in a hospital room with 24 pills inside my body. I almost died,” he said.
“After that, I started to realise that I never really grew up in a happy family. I grew up in a deadbeat dad kind of situation – he wasn’t really around,” he said.
“But when he was, he would hit me and my brothers, my mom especially. I remembered going to the police station because of the stuff he did to us. We had to do what we needed to do to survive.
“To make sense of it all I started reading books on childhood trauma and the like. The reason I’m telling you this is because it left a scar in my heart and my mind, you know, and it shaped me to be the person I am.”
His father died in early 2021 after contracting COVID-19, which Airliftz says he is still struggling to come to grips with.
“I’m trying to forgive myself, forgive him, because we never had that resolution or closure. These are the things people don’t know, because all I made then were happy songs, which masked how I really feel,” he said.
After feeling lost in the early days of the lockdown, Airliftz found an escape in the beaches of Penang. He now alternates between Penang and his home in Kajang.
Getting to work
With enough time under his belt to get his head straight, Airliftz is now regularly hitting the studio again, engaging frequent collaborators such as producer Irfan “I-SKY” (affiliate of underground hip-hop outfits Hoax Vision and Krayziesoundz), FAUXE and even some new faces.
Airliftz’s sojourn to Penang was prompted by a fateful encounter there with a fine arts practitioner, whom he has been dating for the past few months.
Since then, he has found like-minded sounding boards in members of Penang metal band SICK, whom he credits for reinvigorating his creative process.
He is now primed and ready to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle energy of his early debut, with his latest effort “NOT TODAY”, a triumphant declaration of how far he has come since those dark days.
And although he remains coy about the particulars, Airliftz is already thinking about a full-length project, set to be released in the near future.
“After all these years of making music, I realised, I don’t talk about myself enough. My story. airasia wanted me to be a part of this diversity campaign that they have ongoing and it inspired me to just write what I truly feel,” he said.
“I want to be able to tell my story in a more mature way.”
Airliftz’s latest single “NOT TODAY” is now streaming on YouTube and Spotify.
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