Swedish hip hop
Encyclopedia
Emerging in the first half of the 1980s, Swedish hip hop was first heard from the cities of Stockholm
and Malmö
. In the early days, most rappers in Sweden
rapped
in English
. Funkalics and The Latin Kings
, two very different acts united by their innovative use of the Swedish language
, debuted a decade later and paved the way for a second, and bigger, breakthrough for Swedish hip hop
. Today, some of the most popular rappers use Swedish, often in the form of "Rinkeby Swedish
", the youth vernacular of many suburbs dominated by immigrants.
In the summer of 1984, following a major dance competition, Double M Crew, Abdula & The Rockers, Rock Ski, Almighty T and MC II Fresh joined together to form the hip hop collective Ice Cold Rockers, a crew consisting of rappers
, scratchers
, dancers
and graffiti
artists. Broadcaster D and One Eye Que (later recording under the name Ayo) started their collaboration.
Sweden, outside of Stockholm, soon became familiar with hip hop when the popular movie Stockholmsnatt
, which featured the IC Rockers, came out. Pop-C and Snoopy
were on the soundtrack and had a hit in 1986 with their single "Next Time".
New artists followed in their tracks. Rob'n'Raz
produced the album Competition Is None and introduced Papa Dee
's dub
and dancehall
influenced rap to the Swedes. See-Que, from Stockholm, collaborated with the American label Priority Records
on their compilation album Basement Flavor.
The first real rap song in Swedish "Jag Är Def" came from MC Tim in 1989. The year after, Just D
was formed and their decision to rap in Swedish would earn them a huge fan base, and introduce rap to the general populace.
's crossover album, Raw Like Sushi, made the Swedish media take a closer look at the genre
in the context of Sweden's native artists. The Swedish Championship in Rap was held for the first time in 1989 and the winner was ADL's group Sons Of Soul
. The runner-up was Ms Melodie, who went on to have a career as Leila K
. Briefly picking up the torch of Neneh Cherry, Leila K had an international crossover hit with the rap track "Got To Get". There was now a solid market for rap music and record companies were taking notice.
Just D
's ironically
titled album Rock N Roll became popular with many people who had yet to embrace hip hop. Snoopy (aka Quincy Jones III
) had moved to the USA
to produce acts like Young MC
, LL Cool J
and Ice Cube
. The Sure Shot Groove
(MC Stranger
and Complicated C
) debuted with the 12-inch Rhymes R Flowin. The collective Infinite Mass
won the Swedish qualification finals for the World Rap Competition and released their EP Da Blackmass. One of their songs, "Shoot The Racist", was on the soundtrack for the 1993 movie Sökarna
and became hugely popular. It was later renamed "Area Turns Red" due to some media controversy over the lyrics.
The Latin Kings
ushered in a new wave of Swedish hip hop artists. They used ”Rinkeby Swedish
”, sometimes described as a kind of a pidgin language
, to describe life in the 'Million Programme'
suburbs of Stockholm. Their 1994 debut album Välkommen till Förorten (Welcome to the suburb), produced by Gordon Cyrus and founder of first the Swedish Hip Hop label Breakin Bread, was a success in the charts and favorite with the critics. The coming generation of Swedish hip hop artists would be distinguished from the first by their inclusion of Swedish language rhymes, as opposed to the exclusive use of English rhymes by Sweden's first generation of rappers.
debuted with the album Mitt sjätte sinne, which became an enormous success and started the Swedish hip hop boom of the late 1990s. With him came an array of artists, such as Thomas Rusiak
, DJ Sleepy and Eye-n'-I. Other artists that achieved mainstream popularity following Petter's break include Ken Ring
and Ayo. Feven released her acclaimed album Hela Vägen Ut. Looptroop
developed a middle class revolutionary style. Timbuktu
, a native of Lund
, emerged and went on to gain a reputation as one of Sweden's most popular MCs
.
, Snook
, Ayesha, Fjärde Världen, Fattaru
, Ison & Fille, Advance Patrol, Lazee
, and Adam Tensta
.
Many of these artists have been exposed to a domestic hip hop culture since they were born, or very young. In a sense the Swedish scene has become less volatile, and also less vulnerable to becoming extinct. Influence from the U.S. culture
is no longer as significant; American hip hop is still important but outside influences also come from French
, British
, Danish, and Japanese hip hop
, and other regions around the world with vibrant and innovative music scenes.
Due to file sharing
via the Internet and changing consumer markets, the number of records an artist has sold is not necessarily indicative of how popular or important that artist is. There are Swedish hip hop acts who release records for what they know is going to be an economic loss, in hope of earning their money through concerts and other ventures.
The hip hop genres represented in Swedish hip hop are plentiful. Alternative hip hop
is, most likely, bigger than Gangsta
and Hardcore
combined. There are also many fusion genres such as Neo soul
, Grime
, and Reggaeton
.
Swedish rap often deals with themes of multiculturalism
and positive suburban identity. Many rappers affirm their ethnic and racial background, but tend to identify more with their community and with Swedish minorities in general rather than with specific ethnic cultures, or with mainstream Swedish culture. Rapper Adam Tensta
, for instance, takes his name from the suburb of Tensta
and rhymes in his "Banging on the System": "Every burb the same man / and we got every color / we all the same man / at least to them we are / we all immigrants".
2008 is a European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
and part of this effort was a hip hop summit in Stockholm
called Make it blast!, which took place on the 27th of May. Chaired by Timbuktu
, the festival featured rappers from Sweden and elsewhere in Europe and aimed to create dialogue between artists as well as audiences of the European urban music scene.
, Looptroop
, Max Peezay, and Million Stylez
.
has had a significant impact in how media is communicated, and through various online communities people without record deals have also been able to find audiences for their music. Examples of such communities that are centered around Swedish hip hop are Frizon and Whoa.nu.
Other popular websites that are used for sharing (and promoting music) include YouTube
, Facebook
, and MySpace
.
is, to a large extent, seen as an art form belonging to hip hop. In the early 1980s, the American films Style Wars
, Wild Style
and Beat Street
would have a great impact and influence many would-be artists, as would the Swedish cult classic Stockholmsnatt
a few years later. The first graffiti artists in the Stockholm area had names such as Disey, Ziggy, Razor, Merley (aka Liam Norberg), Puppet and Zappo.
In 2004, the rapper Promoe
had a hit with the track "These Walls Don't Lie", recorded and mixed by Soundism
, which dealt with the Swedish graffiti culture, and the dangers of creating illegal art at difficult locations.
:Category:Swedish hip hop musicians
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
. In the early days, most rappers in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
rapped
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Funkalics and The Latin Kings
The Latin Kings
The Latin Kings, abbreviated TLK, was a Swedish hip hop group from the municipality of Botkyrka in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden....
, two very different acts united by their innovative use of the Swedish language
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, debuted a decade later and paved the way for a second, and bigger, breakthrough for Swedish hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. Today, some of the most popular rappers use Swedish, often in the form of "Rinkeby Swedish
Rinkeby Swedish
Rinkeby Swedish is any of a number of varieties of Swedish spoken mainly in suburbs with a high proportion of immigrants and immigrant descendants, which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby in Stockholm is one such suburb, but the term Rinkeby Swedish may sometimes be used for...
", the youth vernacular of many suburbs dominated by immigrants.
The beginning
Percussionisttt Per Cussion along with Grandmaster Funk is generally credited with bringing hip hop to Sweden. In 1984 they released the songs "Don't Stop", "Snow Blind" and "Payin´ The Price". Breakdancing had arrived a year earlier and spread quickly, its forerunners known as Robot Lasse, Mark, Spirio and Perkeles.In the summer of 1984, following a major dance competition, Double M Crew, Abdula & The Rockers, Rock Ski, Almighty T and MC II Fresh joined together to form the hip hop collective Ice Cold Rockers, a crew consisting of rappers
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
, scratchers
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
, dancers
Street dance
Street dance, more formally known as vernacular dance, is an umbrella term used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in any available open space such as streets, dance parties, block parties, parks, school yards, raves, and nightclubs, etc...
and graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artists. Broadcaster D and One Eye Que (later recording under the name Ayo) started their collaboration.
Sweden, outside of Stockholm, soon became familiar with hip hop when the popular movie Stockholmsnatt
Stockholmsnatt
Stockholmsnatt is a 1987 Swedish drama film directed by Staffan Hildebrand. The film is loosely based on a true story about Paolo Roberto, later a professional boxer and TV presenter. Because of his Italian roots, Paolo is dealing with an identity crisis...
, which featured the IC Rockers, came out. Pop-C and Snoopy
Quincy Jones III
Quincy Delightt Jones III is a British-born Swedish/African-American composer, music producer, film producer, and author...
were on the soundtrack and had a hit in 1986 with their single "Next Time".
New artists followed in their tracks. Rob'n'Raz
Rob'n'Raz
Rob'n'Raz were a Swedish musician duo of Robert Wåtz and Rasmus Lindwall.After some years of disc jockeying in the late 1980s, they decided to start performing and composing together. They worked on production, remixing and scratching...
produced the album Competition Is None and introduced Papa Dee
Papa Dee
David Christopher Daniel Wahlgren , better known by the stage name Papa Dee, is a Swedish rap, ragga and dancehall musician...
's dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
and dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
influenced rap to the Swedes. See-Que, from Stockholm, collaborated with the American label Priority Records
Priority Records
Priority Records is an American record label, owned and operated by EMI, which has made a name for itself dealing primarily in hip hop, pop and world...
on their compilation album Basement Flavor.
The first real rap song in Swedish "Jag Är Def" came from MC Tim in 1989. The year after, Just D
Just D
JustD was a Swedish hip hop trio formed in Stockholm in 1990. The group consisted of Gustave Lund , Wille Crafoord and Peder Ernerot ....
was formed and their decision to rap in Swedish would earn them a huge fan base, and introduce rap to the general populace.
The first breakthrough
In the end of the 1980s, hip hop became increasingly more popular in Sweden. The international success of rapper/singer Neneh CherryNeneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
's crossover album, Raw Like Sushi, made the Swedish media take a closer look at the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
in the context of Sweden's native artists. The Swedish Championship in Rap was held for the first time in 1989 and the winner was ADL's group Sons Of Soul
Sons of Soul
Sons of Soul is the third studio album by American R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, released June 22, 1993, on Wing Records. It was produced entirely produced by the group, who intended to pay homage with the album to their musical influences. Recording sessions for the album took place at various...
. The runner-up was Ms Melodie, who went on to have a career as Leila K
Leila K
Laila El Khalifi better known by her stage name Leila K, is a Swedish Eurodance singer and former rapper of Moroccan descent.-Biography:...
. Briefly picking up the torch of Neneh Cherry, Leila K had an international crossover hit with the rap track "Got To Get". There was now a solid market for rap music and record companies were taking notice.
Just D
JustD was a Swedish hip hop trio formed in Stockholm in 1990. The group consisted of Gustave Lund , Wille Crafoord and Peder Ernerot ....
's ironically
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
titled album Rock N Roll became popular with many people who had yet to embrace hip hop. Snoopy (aka Quincy Jones III
Quincy Jones III
Quincy Delightt Jones III is a British-born Swedish/African-American composer, music producer, film producer, and author...
) had moved to the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to produce acts like Young MC
Young MC
Marvin Young , better known by his stage name Young MC, is an English-born American singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit "Bust a Move"...
, LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
and Ice Cube
Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...
. The Sure Shot Groove
Sure Shot Groove
Sure Shot Groove was a hip hop act established in Sweden in the late 1980s and early 1990s by MC Lil'C and Complicated C . All beats and music was created, programed and performed by VAL aka J.D.U.Valvassori. Their recordings was produced by Denniz Pop and VAL...
(MC Stranger
David Seisay
David Seisay is a Swedish songwriter, musician and entrepreneur.- Music :A noted pioneer of Swedish hip hop music, he has enjoyed international chart success since the 1990s.- MC Stranger :...
and Complicated C
Chaka Seisay
Chaka Seisay . During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Complicated C formed the Stockholm based hip hop duo Sure Shot Groove with MC Stranger.- Career :...
) debuted with the 12-inch Rhymes R Flowin. The collective Infinite Mass
Infinite Mass
Infinite Mass is a Swedish hip hop group that was formed in 1991.In 1992 the group won the talent show Swedish Championship of Rap. The same year, they achieved fame when they participated in the movie Sökarna and released the single "Shoot the Racist" which was later renamed "Area Turns Red"...
won the Swedish qualification finals for the World Rap Competition and released their EP Da Blackmass. One of their songs, "Shoot The Racist", was on the soundtrack for the 1993 movie Sökarna
Sökarna
Sökarna is a 1993 Swedish crime film directed by Daniel Fridell and Peter Cartriers. Liam Norberg stars as Jocke, a young criminal who after serving jail time becomes a successful bank robber and drug dealer...
and became hugely popular. It was later renamed "Area Turns Red" due to some media controversy over the lyrics.
The Latin Kings
The Latin Kings
The Latin Kings, abbreviated TLK, was a Swedish hip hop group from the municipality of Botkyrka in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden....
ushered in a new wave of Swedish hip hop artists. They used ”Rinkeby Swedish
Rinkeby Swedish
Rinkeby Swedish is any of a number of varieties of Swedish spoken mainly in suburbs with a high proportion of immigrants and immigrant descendants, which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby in Stockholm is one such suburb, but the term Rinkeby Swedish may sometimes be used for...
”, sometimes described as a kind of a pidgin language
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
, to describe life in the 'Million Programme'
Million Programme
The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...
suburbs of Stockholm. Their 1994 debut album Välkommen till Förorten (Welcome to the suburb), produced by Gordon Cyrus and founder of first the Swedish Hip Hop label Breakin Bread, was a success in the charts and favorite with the critics. The coming generation of Swedish hip hop artists would be distinguished from the first by their inclusion of Swedish language rhymes, as opposed to the exclusive use of English rhymes by Sweden's first generation of rappers.
The second breakthrough
In 1998 PetterPetter Askergren
Petter Alexis Askergren, , who simply uses his given name Petter as a stage name, is a rap artist from Stockholm, Sweden, rapping in Swedish. He debuted in 1998 with the album Mitt sjätte sinne , which became a success and started the Swedish hip hop boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s...
debuted with the album Mitt sjätte sinne, which became an enormous success and started the Swedish hip hop boom of the late 1990s. With him came an array of artists, such as Thomas Rusiak
Thomas Rusiak
Erik Thomas Rusiak is a Swedish rapper, hip hop producer, musician and singer. Rusiak's father was the rather prominent Polish jazz saxophonist, Alfred Banasiak....
, DJ Sleepy and Eye-n'-I. Other artists that achieved mainstream popularity following Petter's break include Ken Ring
Ken (artist)
-Career:Ken Kiprono Ring is a Swedish rap artist of Kenyan descent. He was born in Hässelby, a suburb west of Stockholm, Sweden. He got his breakthrough with the song "Mamma", which is about how his mother got sick and died of cancer when he was 13. He released his first studio album "Vägen...
and Ayo. Feven released her acclaimed album Hela Vägen Ut. Looptroop
Looptroop
Looptroop Rockers is a hip hop group from Västerås, Sweden. The members are rappers Promoe , Supreme , DJ/Producer Embee and CosM.I.C...
developed a middle class revolutionary style. Timbuktu
Timbuktu (artist)
Jason Michael Robinson Diakité , known under the stage name Timbuktu, is a Swedish rapper and reggae artist. Earlier in the mid-1990s, he started as part of rap Excel before going solo as Timbuktu.-Biography:...
, a native of Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
, emerged and went on to gain a reputation as one of Sweden's most popular MCs
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
.
In the 21st century
Recent acts that has achieved nationwide recognition include: PromoePromoe
Promoe is a Swedish rapper, and member of Swedish hip hop group Looptroop Rockers, formed in Västerås, Sweden, 1992. He released his fourth album in 2009 entitled Kråksången, and later the same year followed up with the mixtape Bondfångeri...
, Snook
Snook (band)
Snook is a Swedish rap group from Stockholm. The group consists of Oskar "Kihlen" Linnros and Daniel "Danne" Adams-Ray. The group often makes fun of traditional rap and tries to renew it. They have released two full length albums and several singles....
, Ayesha, Fjärde Världen, Fattaru
Fattaru
Fattaru is a Swedish Hip-Hop group mainly known for their hit songs Mina hundar and Första femman . Their debut album Fatta eld was released in 2001 and quickly branded the group as Sweden's fastest rappers...
, Ison & Fille, Advance Patrol, Lazee
Lazee
Mawuli Kulego is a Swedish rapper from Malmö, Sweden.-Biography:LAZEE was born in Malmö, Sweden, to parents of Ghanaian origin. His passion for music grew from a young age and he was heavily influenced by the musical tastes of his father who was a DJ. He introduced young Lazee to soul, R&B and...
, and Adam Tensta
Adam Tensta
Adam Tensta , is a Swedish rapper. His debut album It's a Tensta Thing was a Swedish chart topper, and was awarded the 2008 Swedish Grammis for best Dance/Hip Hop/Soul album....
.
Many of these artists have been exposed to a domestic hip hop culture since they were born, or very young. In a sense the Swedish scene has become less volatile, and also less vulnerable to becoming extinct. Influence from the U.S. culture
Culture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
is no longer as significant; American hip hop is still important but outside influences also come from French
French hip hop
French hip hop is the hip hop music style which was developed in France, and is considered the second worldwide hip hop scene after the U.S....
, British
British hip hop
British hip hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music...
, Danish, and Japanese hip hop
Japanese hip hop
Japanese hip hop is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s. Japanese hip hop generally tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip hop, taking from the era's catchy beats, dance culture, and overall fun and...
, and other regions around the world with vibrant and innovative music scenes.
Due to file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
via the Internet and changing consumer markets, the number of records an artist has sold is not necessarily indicative of how popular or important that artist is. There are Swedish hip hop acts who release records for what they know is going to be an economic loss, in hope of earning their money through concerts and other ventures.
The hip hop genres represented in Swedish hip hop are plentiful. Alternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop is a sub-genre of hip hop music. Allmusic defines it as follows: -Origin:...
is, most likely, bigger than Gangsta
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
and Hardcore
Hardcore hip hop
Hardcore hip hop, also referred to as hardcore rap, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Schoolly D, Spoonie Gee, Boogie Down Productions, and Kool G Rap, it is generally characterized by anger, aggression and...
combined. There are also many fusion genres such as Neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
, Grime
Grime (music)
Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...
, and Reggaeton
Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
.
Swedish rap often deals with themes of multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and positive suburban identity. Many rappers affirm their ethnic and racial background, but tend to identify more with their community and with Swedish minorities in general rather than with specific ethnic cultures, or with mainstream Swedish culture. Rapper Adam Tensta
Adam Tensta
Adam Tensta , is a Swedish rapper. His debut album It's a Tensta Thing was a Swedish chart topper, and was awarded the 2008 Swedish Grammis for best Dance/Hip Hop/Soul album....
, for instance, takes his name from the suburb of Tensta
Tensta
Tensta is a district in Spånga-Tensta borough, Stockholm, Sweden. There are about 6,000 apartments in Tensta and a population of 17,083 as of December 31, 2007....
and rhymes in his "Banging on the System": "Every burb the same man / and we got every color / we all the same man / at least to them we are / we all immigrants".
2008 is a European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
Intercultural dialogue has long been a principle supported by the European Union and its Institutions. The year 2008 was designated "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue" by the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union...
and part of this effort was a hip hop summit in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
called Make it blast!, which took place on the 27th of May. Chaired by Timbuktu
Timbuktu (artist)
Jason Michael Robinson Diakité , known under the stage name Timbuktu, is a Swedish rapper and reggae artist. Earlier in the mid-1990s, he started as part of rap Excel before going solo as Timbuktu.-Biography:...
, the festival featured rappers from Sweden and elsewhere in Europe and aimed to create dialogue between artists as well as audiences of the European urban music scene.
Well-known artists
The list of people who have made a name for themselves in Swedish hip hop can be made very long. With a few exceptions (Feven, Melinda Wrede, Remedeeh), most of the artists are men. Acts that have had some international success include Polarbear, RebstarRebstar
Rebin Shah better known by his stage name Rebstar, is a Swedish rapper.-Early life:Rebin Shah was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is the only child of a Persian mother and a Kurdish father. He found his love for hip hop at an early age, having mentioned Fresh Prince and Redman as his early influences...
, Looptroop
Looptroop
Looptroop Rockers is a hip hop group from Västerås, Sweden. The members are rappers Promoe , Supreme , DJ/Producer Embee and CosM.I.C...
, Max Peezay, and Million Stylez
Million Stylez
Kenshin Iryo , better known by his stage name Million Stylez, is a Swedish dancehall artist.Kenshin Iryo was born on June 1, 1981 in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Sollentuna, and has been living there for 26 years...
.
Non-commercial hiphop
There have always been elements within the Swedish hip hop scene that has reacted against the commercial aspects of the music industry and have tried to find alternative distribution and marketing channels for the music. InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
has had a significant impact in how media is communicated, and through various online communities people without record deals have also been able to find audiences for their music. Examples of such communities that are centered around Swedish hip hop are Frizon and Whoa.nu.
Other popular websites that are used for sharing (and promoting music) include YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
.
The graffiti culture
GraffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
is, to a large extent, seen as an art form belonging to hip hop. In the early 1980s, the American films Style Wars
Style Wars
Style Wars is a 1983 documentary on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent...
, Wild Style
Wild Style
Wild Style is a 1983 hip hop film produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically in 1983 by First Run Features and later re-released for home video by Rhino Home Video, it is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture...
and Beat Street
Beat Street
Beat Street is a 1984 drama film, following Wild Style in featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s; breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti.-Plot:...
would have a great impact and influence many would-be artists, as would the Swedish cult classic Stockholmsnatt
Stockholmsnatt
Stockholmsnatt is a 1987 Swedish drama film directed by Staffan Hildebrand. The film is loosely based on a true story about Paolo Roberto, later a professional boxer and TV presenter. Because of his Italian roots, Paolo is dealing with an identity crisis...
a few years later. The first graffiti artists in the Stockholm area had names such as Disey, Ziggy, Razor, Merley (aka Liam Norberg), Puppet and Zappo.
In 2004, the rapper Promoe
Promoe
Promoe is a Swedish rapper, and member of Swedish hip hop group Looptroop Rockers, formed in Västerås, Sweden, 1992. He released his fourth album in 2009 entitled Kråksången, and later the same year followed up with the mixtape Bondfångeri...
had a hit with the track "These Walls Don't Lie", recorded and mixed by Soundism
Soundism
Music producers and sound engineers Soundism, with a music recording studio located in Västerås , are part of the Swedish hip hop culture. Not only have new artists emerged, but also other actors in the hip hop culture that are less visible to the general public...
, which dealt with the Swedish graffiti culture, and the dangers of creating illegal art at difficult locations.
See also
- Music of Sweden#Hip hop
- European hip hop#Sweden
- List of Swedish hip hop musicians
:Category:Swedish hip hop musicians
External links
- Links to (English language) Swedish hip hop resources
- CapitalSTHLM Graffiti site from Stockholm
- Djbattle.net DJ/Scratch related site
- qd3.com Hip hop broadband channel (founded by Quincy D. Jones IIIQuincy Jones IIIQuincy Delightt Jones III is a British-born Swedish/African-American composer, music producer, film producer, and author...
)
- Links to (Swedish language) Swedish hip hop resources
- Frizon Hip hop site (established in 2001)
- JustDet Newsmagazine about the Swedish hip hop scene
- Kingsize Magazine Hip hop magazine
- Metropol Ametist National Radio-show focused on Swedish hiphop
- Streetzone.com Hip hop site (established in 1996)
- Whoa.nu Hip hop community
- Links to Swedish hip hop labels