The way the two act, it’s easy to believe that they’re actually brothers. The young rappers share the same toothy grins, the same contagious laughs, and a nearly identical collection of frequently uttered slang.

Eric Graham, aka AMFM (Always Making Filthy Music), and Ashton Hemmons, aka Koala T, might as well be. The duo has been inseparable since the day in seventh grade when Hemmons wore sugar-daddy pajamas to zero hour at Cascade Middle School ­— a day they both remember vividly. The then-class clowns quickly bonded, and from then on out, hip-hop just happened. After going to Hemmons’ house to fool with instrumental tracks pulled off of Kazaa and the Microsoft audio recorder, the young musicians-to-be had their first brush with their art form. The next year, Graham pirated a program and began making his own beats; the developmental progress sped quickly from there.

“Our music has been built up around our friendship,” said Hemmons, a student at South Seattle Community College and employee at the prestigious Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle. “The music was inevitable just because I’m a creative person, and Eric is a musical genius, and that just enveloped us as we grew up together. I can honestly say I never thought it would come to this.”

As the two grew up, the neighborhood they shared, while living just a block apart, came to influence them more and more. They lived in White Center, a south-end town that Graham and Hemmons describe as both “otherworldly” and simply “home.”

“There’s a weird attachment to your city; the streets are bumpy, there’s shacks everywhere that look like crap, the buildings have tags on them that don’t get washed off,” said Graham, now a student in the UW Evening Degree Program. “You can go and kick it there in the middle of the night and not get robbed but meet some very interesting people — or you can get robbed. I’m not going to sit here and claim that I’m hood because I’m not, because White Center’s not hood. It’s just an area with a distinct edge to it and [a ton] of character, and I love it.”

That attitude appears continuously throughout the duo’s music, a decidedly upbeat take on typical Seattle-style hip-hop. When discussing the album, both emcees echo the word “fun” dozens of times. The rhymes and flow seem expertly developed for a couple of young rappers that have taken a do-it-yourself approach to music their whole lives, and Graham’s years of beat-making practice make their mark, too; some of the best moments on the E.P. happen when the production shines.

“No matter where we go, we take a slice of White Center with us,” Hemmons said. “What it comes down to for me is that I got a wide range of perspectives from the mishmash of everybody that doesn’t fit in everywhere else.”

December heralds the release of the duo’s debut, titled Wait Like Five Minutes and Meet Me on Will’s Street E.P., an apt homage to the local landmarks and inside jokes White Center has created over the years. The eight track project — recorded, in the style of The New Deal, exclusively in Graham’s basement — only features one guest vocalist, Graham’s sister Madison, and one assistant producer, Dustin Lagos. Avoiding filler songs and played-out skits, the duo culled their best material for a thoroughly solid compilation, and the depth of the album is proof of their talent.

“What it all comes down to is just me and Ashton, me and Koala T. It’s the Eric-and-Ashton show,” Graham said. “We love the fact that there are other people making music out there, but we don’t really care because, at the end of the day, The New Deal is us, and it’s fun, and it means [the world to me].”

Reach reporter Nick Feldman at weekender@dailyuw.com.