SXMPRA

Kalem Tarrant was born on February 8, 2000 in Hamilton, New Zealand..^[2] Tarrant's childhood was spent constantly moving between small-town New Zealand cities and Australia. Growing up, Tarrant was raised on rock and metal passed down from his parents, as well as his own discovery of Eminem in his early years, before finding then-underground rappers including Odd Future and Denzel Curry in his teens, before working his way backwards to pivotal 90's acts such as Three 6 Mafia.^[2]

Beginning his journey on SoundCloud, SXMPRA began making music in 2018 using an Xbox headset^[3] to record songs onto free audio recording software Audacity on a MacBook he financed on a payment plan. Initially outsourcing production via "type beats" on YouTube, he describes his early music at the time as "an extension of the artists that I was listening to who weren't releasing enough music".

After releasing a consistent series of singles since 2018, in 2021, SXMPRA released his biggest track to date, "Cowbell Warrior", which saw US rapper Ski Mask The Slump God contribute to the official remix in 2023.^[4][5] Since signing with US label 10K Projects, Tarrant has also released collaborations with the likes of Juicy J,^[6] 1nonly,^[7] Terror Reid, Pouya^[8] and Jasiah.^[9]

In 2023, SXMPRA embarked on tours of the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including headline tours, a co-headline tour with fellow New Zealand artist lilbubblegum, and a tour supporting US artist HAARPER, as well as festival appearances in the United States and New Zealand.^[1][10]

Tarrant's stage name, SXMPRA, references the Harry Potter spell "sectumsempra", "sectum" being a Latin verb translating as "severed", while "sempra" is derived from the Latin word "semper," which means "continuously".^[11]

Tarrant counts artists including XXXtentacion, $UICIDEBOY$, Ghostemane and Pouya^[2] as integral acts who have shaped the sound he's been refining since 2018; intertwining the energetic expression of both his respective backgrounds in rap and rock to create a crossover of sinister trap metal, gritty horrorcore, and distorted phonk music.