Do Muppets Rap?

The answer is yes. I'm not talking about Jim Henson's creations, though. I'm talking about Scandanavian hip-hop. It's only natural that hip-hop is found here, since it's found in just about every corner of the globe. What's weird is how certain Scandie pop-artists do not adapt hip-hop to their own culture or language. Many rappers choose English over the various Scandie languages for reasons ranging from it sounds better to reaching a wider audience to sounding more "real". The Norwegian flash-in-the-pan phenom, Whimsical, is a brilliant case in point.

The boy bought American glitter-ghetto wholesale from a one-stop shop. His songs are lifted from XYZ West Coast gansta from da' burbs and placed directly on top of Oslo. This is why I broke out in hysterical laughter the first time I heard his song. There are no bitches and ho's in Oslo, the city isn't dirty, the ghetto is a place where I take my parents, the streets are clean and the people are nice and play by the rules. (Crossing the street on a red light elicits admonishments from passers-by in the ghetto: "What kind of example do you think you're setting for our children?")

That Whimsical and other Scandie hip-hoppers try to act like they come from an inner-city culture they can't even begin to fathom drives me to ridicule them openly and loudly. They imitate a culture that is not their own, in language that is not their own and they rightly look like the fucking hey-ho hip-hop clowns they are.

To the credit of several Scandie rappers, there exists a minority of characters who will rap in their own Norwegian/Swedish/ Danish dialects. This music is their own, and while it's not as glam as DJ Kid Wannabe, it's worth mentioning. The first is Gatas Parliament, i.e., The Street's Parliament. They are not very good rappers, but their lyrics at least reflect the real problems of Oslo such as immigrant rights, mafias, shady business deals, Norway's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, et. al. As activists, they only pop up when they got something to protest.

The second group is Ravi and DJ Løv. In short, they make pop songs that are heavily laced with word play that starts with their name: Ravi is Ivar spelled backwards and Løv is pronounced "love", but as "Lov" it means "Law" in Norwegian. When not in the studio, DJ Løv studied law and recently passed the bar. These guys have a great sense of humor, laugh at themselves (and others) and have a great command of dialect, slang and drop tons of references to things that only Norwegians would know. I've learned a lot about Norwegian pop-culture by pestering Anders with lots of "what does this mean" and "what are they talking about". Lastly, I give Ravi credit for acknowledging that he looks like a garden gnome. If it wasn't for the humor, none of this work at all. You can check out some of their videos at Nok Records. “E-ore” (“The L-Word”) has probably been their biggest song to date.

Of the Swedish rappers, I dig Timbuktu and Snook. Timbuktu is prolly the best thing going in Scandie hip-hop. He's energetic, smart, writes a good (Swedish) flow and doesn't try to be anything other than Swedish. He does, however, adopt some nice african beats or guitar, like in this song, "Alla vill till himmelen" (Everyone Wants to Go to Heaven) or get a bit funky in "Det Löser Sig" (It'll Work Out). If you click through to "Alla vill till himmelen", hang in there until at least 1:25 - the first bit is just an intro to the song. I've heard that his live shows are amazing, though I can't tell you personally since they sell out in all of about 20 minutes. hmph.

This year, the Swedish rap sensation was Snook with their hit "Svett och Tårar" (Sweat & Tears). I can't understand half of what they're saying because they go soooo fast, but that's OK. From the bits I can gather they talk about themselves, other rappers and I suspect blood, sweat and tears. (Wild guess, yo) Of the song, I dig the horn section and it's got a freakin' great hook. The video, however, is damn cute and I love the penguins...

There you have it, folks. This is my all too brief survey of Scandie hip-hop. It's brief only because I limited myself to ridiculing just one of the many artists like Whimsical. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. It took me a long, long time to stop laughing at the Muppet Language as a hip-hop medium and appreciate those to dared to rap in the language they know best. Learning the language helped me to stop laughing long enough to listen, though you might not ever stop chuckling. God help ya.