Within a year, Jonny Chopps has gone from a complete unknown to arguably the hottest underground rapper in Australia.
Recently announced on the Rolling Loud Australia lineup, the Western Sydney–based, Sri Lankan-Australian artist is fresh off a Kid Laroi co-sign for his July release “Cognac for Christmas”, an on-stage moment with UK underground standout YT, and praise from Ninajirachi on the ARIAs red carpet — all the result of organic momentum built entirely on his own terms.
Across his nine releases — eight of which he produced himself —Jonny has moved with tunnel vision and at no point checked for oncoming traffic. “Cooler” put him on the map back in February, followed by “WHAT THE UCKY”, “Slumber”, “Cognac for Christmas”, and a run of tracks in between.
When Jonny arrived, people reacted — not always positively. Scroll through the YouTube comments on “WHAT THE UCKY” and you’ll find people convinced he was trolling. “This is horrible, how are people gassing this?” one person wrote. “Brain-dead song,” another said.
But Jonny didn’t flinch. He leaned into the chaos, kept working, and slowly the hate shifted into curiosity; that curiosity is now quickly turning into demand.
“Cognac for Christmas” is where it all clicked. Jonny floats across the beat with a similar ease to Playboi Carti on “Location”, though this version is unmistakably his. If earlier tracks sparked debate, this one feels like a quiet, confident answer.
Under the bravado, his music has an emotional core that catches people off guard. “Cognac for Christmas” may sound loud, but at its heart it’s a heartbreak song. A lot of his other tracks work the same way — vulnerable feelings threaded through the noise — and that’s part of why his music is sticking. The substance is there — it’s just hiding in plain sight.
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Part of what’s resonating is that nothing about Jonny feels manufactured. He taps into slang without faking it. He’s unconventional, unapologetically Aussie, and he talks the way people actually talk, not the way the industry imagines people talk.
Sydney hype cycles are ruthless; a viral moment can turn into a fade-out within months. What feels different about Jonny’s rise is that it’s measured rather than explosive — which is exactly why it’s cutting through.
He’s an evolution of underground sounds that have shaped Australia over the past few years, but Jonny doesn’t feel derivative. Validated with people like Isaac Puerile in his corner, he sits in a sweet spot between instinct and calculation.
Whether it becomes long-term or fizzles out after an early spark, Jonny is bringing something genuinely exciting to Australian rap right now.
The best underground runs are half-accidental and half-inevitable. Jonny isn’t treating this like a moment, that’s why it feels like we’re watching an artist build something in real time.
