Raury grabs fourth place on the BBC Sound Of 2015 poll

06 January 2015, 10:47 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(Raury)

Atlanta-born soul experimenter Raury, still only a teenager, has been rapping for over a decade. He's been writing for fifteen years. He's also fourth in this year's BBC Sound Of Poll.

Raury's rise has been coming for a while, with tracks like "God's Whisper", "Cigarette Song" and basically everything on his EP/mixtape Indigo Child pointing at a gleaming future. Hailing from the same suburb area of Georgia as Childish Gambino, he grew up writing and performing, famously self-teaching himself the guitar aged 11 via YouTube clips, and after many years honing his talent, he's found a fascinating, unique take on soul, pop and hip-hop.

Speaking to the BBC about his win, Raury said:

"It's pleasantly, overwhelmingly, honouring. I remember the time Frank Ocean was on it (2012). I was like "man, hopefully I can be an artist of that calibre".

It doesn't go to my head. It actually does the opposite and humbles me - these people out here believe in me, so I have to live up to that and make the most amazing music ever. Even if I hit number one, or just fifteen or whatever, it will set the standard for me to work even harder."

He also speaks of mighty aspirations:

"Slowly but surely I really do want to rise to become among the greatest artists. I want to walk down a street in the most remote place and still give my autograph to somebody. I want to be able to get my music to that many people because I want to make the world a better place ultimately.

But it's just a very far-fetched thing - I have no idea how I'm going to do it! [laughs]."

You can check out our behind the scenes gallery with the meteoric-riser here.