Netherlands in Alaska

"Netherlands in Alaska" is a weekly program on KSUA 91.5 FM College, a student run, non-commercial radio station located on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "Netherlands in Alaska" (Saturdays 5-6pm AST) showcases individual Dutch hiphop artists and introduces them to an Alaskan audience, whenever possible playing complete albums in their entirety.

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Netherlands in Alaska

May 7th, 2016

Sef ‘In Kleur’

I can think of no better note to leave on.  Sef’s opening verse from the Flinke Namen track Als Zij Langs Loopt was LITERALLY the first Dutch hiphop lyrics I had ever heard.  Decked out in the sort of multi-colored cardigan that Biggie would have worn if he took over for Fred Rogers, he lamented about snapping into reality after a case of love at first sight; I may have understood no more than the hook “en ik weet niet wat het is” but I was hooked. 

Throughout the years I have listened to his smooth track Flashy with Faberyayo while enduring 12 hour bus rides, danced repeated grad-school nights in basement discos to his infectious chorus on Dio’s Tijdmachine, thoroughly confused friends and family by listening to his Ski themed Ski or Die Mixtape with Ski Leraar Bruin Money Gang, and weathered romantic ennui to Op een Bankje the closing track to his debut solo album.  My various, only partially successful, attempts to see him perform live have lead me to dozens of other hip hop acts (most notably Zwart Licht) but also into enough late night schwarma locales whilst wearing a tuxedo to last me a lifetime.  

Besides maybe Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, Sef has been a singular voice that has guided me throughout college and well into adulthood- it was a primary motivation to learn the Dutch language, and an extra push to live and study in- and for a time base my life around- The Netherlands. 

While my personal trajectory has moved away from the Netherlands as a physical place, Dutch hiphop is indelibly a part of my sonic landscape (humblebrag: I have an ipod with just Dutch hiphop and a double bookshelf for all the cd’s).  

I’ll still be listening to Dutch hiphop throughout the summer and I’ll keep writing about the best discs I’ve been lucky enough to listen to.  

Here’s to whatever comes next. 

Tracklist:

1. Kleuren 2. Wakker 3. Ze Zeggen 4. Toch Houdt ze van Mij 5. De Wave 6. Crème (Remix) ft.Faberyayo, Willie Wartaal & Dio 7. Het Beste 8. Pijn 9. Sex, Drugs & Synthesizers 10. Repeat met Willem 11. Verschil moet er Zijn 12. Hypnose ft. Jayh & Vjèze Fur 13. Champion Lova ft. Dio & Faberyayo 14. Lichaam is een Club

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Netherlands in Alaska

April 29th, 2017

Episode 55:

Gerson Main ‘de Slechste Singer-Songwriter van Nederland’

in a swift change of plans upon hearing he had recently became a father, we opted to play the debut album from Dutch Singer-Songwriter and multi-faceted hiphop collaborator Gerson Main.

I first saw Gerson perform in the backing band for Dio while he was on his Benjamin Braaf’s Festival tour; it was in a small packed club called the Groene Engel in the small Dutch hamlet of Oss.  Gerson Main is instantly recognizable due to his trademark white fur hat, and the energy of a man who clearly is still having an incredible amount of fun.

I got to meet him personally as well, while attempting to help some German tourists in a Falafel shop find music locales; I interrupted his meal to ask if he had a better idea of where to send them; insanely enough, his down-to-earth nonchalance in that fast-food haunt was such that I almost didn’t recognize him.

That duality is all over his first major studio effort: in the bombastic rhythms of the opener ‘Waarom Leven We niet in een Folder’ (Engl: Why don’t we live in a broshure) in which he muses about idealized life, and later in smaller, more intimate tracks like ‘Net Genoeg’ (Engl: just Enough) in which he laments to a lover, perhaps already half-way out the door: “Simply say that it’s just enough.”

Gerson Main is perhaps best know in the Netherlands for his appearance in the 2015 season of the series “The Best Singer-Songwriter of the Netherlands”, in which his eclectic and original songs in the Dutch language made him stand out (in a crowd often made up of people singing in non-native English). 

In order to fill-out the hour we included 2 tracks from the Akwasi album ‘Daar Ergens’ that he sings and has songwriting credits for, and one fun cover to round out the set.

Tracklist:

Waarom Leven We Niet In Een Folder

Schatje Je Stinkt

Net Genoeg

Interlude Ky & G

Spreek (ft. Aïrto)

Kon Ik Me Maar Een Weg Banen (Gedicht)

Deejay

Ons Liedje

Nooit Beseft

Dorst (from Daar Ergens)

Verlegen (from Daar Ergens)

Panda (Desiigner Cover)

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Netherlands in Alaska

April 22nd, 2017

Episode 54:

Fresku ‘Maskerade’

Early on in our history we brought you Fresku’s debut album, a stunning work from the all-over-the-map Eindhoven MC and general gadfly of the Dutch hiphop scene - if not the entire Dutch society.  This CD which alternated between depicting tracks depicting the harsh realities of immigrant women and tracks depicting the perhaps more goofy, but still trying realities of being a young, aimless, male person of color in the Netherlands.  

Last year we brought you his third album: “Nooit Meer Terug" or ‘No turning Back’ an album that, while not a departure in lyrics, perhaps reflected  Fresku’s social critical and mischievous bent going a few steps deeper; even if you couldn’t understand the lyrics, the shouting alone told you what had occurred; a man who found himself in a new physical zip code and a new tax bracket, but mentally in the much of the same place.  

Tonight we bring you his sophomore album, Maskerade (or Maskerade), the cover emblazoned with the young Antillian-Dutch MC siloutted as a sort of caped super hero mid-air against a night sky; as one would expect from this cover the MC looks at the fakeness of whack-MC’s, the masks that we wear out of self-doubt or weakness, and the idea of looking for savior or heroes.  One is reminded of a line from the track ‘Nieuwe Dag’ from his debut album in which he rhymes:

“Fresku’s gonna save hiphop?

Boy, please. Hiphop saved me those shoes don’t fit.”

On the Masquerade track ‘Lintworm’ he reflects once again on his mentality, which he feels despite accolades and community respect, is still that of an aspiring ‘hungry’ MC:

“I’m so hungry,

my tape worm has a tape worm.”

On this album Fresku delves more into multilingualism than on the albums either before or after, between his two native tongues of Dutch and Papamientu, a creole language from the Dutch Antilles; and then further into code switching between different ‘types’ of rapper or person.  

On the track Circles, which details the story of a young Antillian woman coming of age in a society of double standards and inescapable cycles of poverty, familial instability, classism, sexism, and racism the chorus is offered by Curaçao singer Isabel Calister; later on the track ‘Kwantu Mas’ or ‘how many more’ he raps entirely in the Caribbean tongue.  

On 'Op de Hoogte’ him and his collaborative partner Teemong, a producer and director, trade verses in assumed identities of glamour, pop rhyme sayers; but instead of simply coming across as a one-off diss-track it turns into a greater bourgeois critique; a look at how the revolutionary potential of hiphop gets watered down through overwrought EDM beats and an obsession with debauchery.

Another constant theme is his dedication to his daughter Alisha, and his missteps in young fatherdom.  Although at times his perspective what this means, or his forays into playing narrator to the struggles of the ignored immigrant working class women can sometimes venture into moralistic musings, it is non-the-less heartening to hear a panoply of characters emerge in the often id-driven, 1st person-heavy genre that is contemporary hiphop.

On reviews of the past albums by this polarizing rapper I noted how his best moments come out not when he is straining his vocals through barrages of shout rap, but rather in the moments when he employs the Mel Brooks advice: sometimes you have to laugh, because otherwise you’ll never stop crying.  He is at his strongest and most emotionally powerful when the superficial evidence would suggest he is having a laugh.

On his debut it was the track ‘Lammballen’ (the title itself an immature double entendre) where he discusses unemployment, depression, and meaninglessness in what would be, in another MC’s hands, an ode to stoner idleness.

On his third album it was the track “Kreeft” or lobster, in which his tongue-and-cheek braggadocio about eating nothing but lobster and prawns is really a look at the vapid emptiness of wealth.

On this album he does this perfectly on the track ‘Sitcom’ in which bleak confessions over a 90’s sitcom theme sampling beat, are peppered with canned laughter, that with each stanza seem more and more cruel; like the world that looks at the jester crying and assumes it is a skit.

Tracklist: 

Maskerade 

Lintworm 

Sitcom 

Cirkels 

Status 

Alisha

Brief naar Alisha (cut from broadcast for time)

Hedde druksop 

Bijna daar 

Liefdesliedje 

Op De Hoogte 

Tijd Voor Creativiteit 

Littekens (cut from broadcast for time) 

Echte Tories 

Keuzes 

MC Spit Hard (cut from broadcast for time)

Kwantu Mas

Lindsey 

Sukkels

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Netherlands in Alaska 

April 8th, 2016

Episode 53:

Reverse ‘Retro’

Few names have so indeliable impacted the Dutch hiphop sound than producer Reverse.  A talent so large that when he decided to move to the U.S. to continue his career, he was not only spared the LeBron treatment circa June 2010, but many were grateful, knowing that the small-country was lucky to have him around for so long. 

Nearly every artist we have featured on the show has had some meaningful contact with the artist (to name a few: The Opposites, Gers Pardoel, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Kempi, Zwart Licht, Sef, Dio, and Adje).  

His influence on Dutch hiphop not only as a producer, but as an interlocutor for various local scenes across the Netherlands truly cannot be emphasized enough.  I mean, how many producers can you think of with a documentary dedicated to them?

While it isn’t unprecedented for a producer to release their own full-length album, with various featured vocalists, this album’s value lies in the breadth of styles that Reverse is able to channel.  Whether it is the sexy dance-funk track Sexplosief with De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, the summer ready pop-reggae song Portemonée with Willem from The Opposites, or the almost Glee-esque Blijf Hangen with Jayh and Sharon Doorson, there seems to be no sonicscape that Reverse cannot create. 

 In fact his biggest strength seems to be his ability to avoid the crass habit of U.S. DJ’s shouting their own name all over others’ tracks, and instead finds a way to somehow make artist he produces for sound more like themselves.

We hope you enjoyed this survey of the Dutch hiphop landscape.

Tracklist:

Waddup N**** ft. Adje

Dat Wil Ik nu Hebben ft. Idaly, Ronnie Flex, Frenna

Seksploseif ft. De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig

Jong Stunna ft. Idaly

Dat is Dat Ding ft. The Party Squad, Jayh, Cho, Bokoesam, MocroManiac

Voor Altijd

Portemonee ft. Willem, Idaly

Blijf Hangen ft. Jayh, Sharon Doorson

Breng ‘t voor Me ft. MocroManiac, Idaly, Na’Gee

Niet Doen ft. MocroManiac, Kempi

Misselijk ft. Adje, Kalibwoy

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Netherlands in Alaska

February 4th, 2017

Episode 52:

Freez & A.R.T. ‘Les Demoiselles’ 

The album that lead Hiphopinjesmoel.nl to declare in their review: 

“Fakkelteitgroep is on fire this year!”

We here at NLinAK would be inclined to agree; the latest release from the MC Freez and Producer A.R.T. is truly a free-flowing crossover record, without all the obvious, cliched trappings of a release that tries to hard to be ‘multi-genre’ in nature.  In the official press release for the album, Freez describes how the project was recorded during a transitionary time in his life:

“We made the first tracks two years ago.  I was still smoking weed then and was coming out of my funk period, during which I recorded the 8.6ies EP. The last track was finished at the end of last year, and verges more on folk music traditions.”

But it isn’t just the musical style itself that is diverse, instead the lyrics and tone of the album are all an attempt to bridge so-called high culture and low culture.  The title of the album is an attempt at just that: it is the French slang term for Brothel, but simultaneously an intended reference to one of Picasso’s masterpieces, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.  

The painting, unveiled in 1907, includes cubist and primitivist elements in its portrayal of 4 female nudes.  The piece, though perhaps somewhat tame to a modern audience in its portrayal of nakedness, still maintains a lot of its original power.  John Berger, an art expert and biographer of Picasso wrote about the piece: 

“[A] brothel may not in itself be shocking. But women painted without charm or sadness, without irony or social comment, women painted like the palings of a stockade through eyes that look out as if at death – that is shocking.”

Subsequent analysis by Leo Steinberg also claims that its provocative power can be traced to the way the women in the painting look outward, but unlike Berger he does not see it is as devoid of social commentary, but rather rife with it. To paraphrase Steinberg, their stare, in a sense, flips the male gaze 180 degrees.  Suddenly the women are autonomous, to quote Steinberg:

 “No longer there solely for the pleasure of the male gaze.”

The first two music videos released for the project are both extremely different from one another, and common in their look at how females relate to themselves, each other, and most of all to the world around them, that in many cases demands their attention and bodies.  

Tracklist:

Last Van ft. Henning

Alles Is Goed

Reus

Loop Droom Arriveer

Wietlied

Superhero

Cliché

Wereldberoemd

Eerste Steen ft. Rico

Doorgestoken Kaart

Nancy

Toonaangevend Toeval

A28 ft. Sticks & Typhoon

Herinneringen van Goud

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Netherlands in Alaska 

Episode 51

December 17th, 2016

Dazzled Sticks

Although this eponymous album released about a year ago, there are few works of art that better sum up the mix of malaise and madness that we have experienced in the world the past few years and, perhaps especially, in the last few weeks. 

The self-titled work, a collaboration between indie rocker/producer Dazzled Kid and well known Dutch-hiphop pioneer Sticks, is hard to pin down as one might assume with such antipodal partners.  It is stripped down, with only one small guest verse from Adje interrupting the otherwise standalone musicians, yet never feels empty, or wanting for sound; it is uplifting in sound, but also contained lyrics which Sticks describes as “The heaviest s••t that I’ve ever written.”  At times it feels like your attending a dance-party handily DJ’d by Dazzled Kid, when all of a sudden that wise, older friend of yours that just drinks whiskey leans in and reminds you about payday loans ripping off the working class, and just as that hits you, the DJ begins singing “Light, oh Light, Light at the end of the tunnel.” Though you now are unsure if it meant as a check-and-balance on the depressing bit, or if it is meant ironically, or if that light is a freight-train.  

“The way we began [this project] itself wasn’t ‘light’” Dazzled Kid, born Tjeerd Bomhof, explained in an interview with 3voor12. “our starting point was: it can come to pass that you suddenly aren’t here anymore.”

That starting point, to be more precise, was the funeral of a young man, whose top streams on Spotify happened to contain Sticks, who was contacted by the boy’s family to perform his song, Spaanse Vlieg, at his funeral.  In the same interview with 3voor12 MC Sticks explained it this way:

“I didn’t want to show up and perform with hard beats at a funeral, I thought it’d be inappropriate; instead I wanted to sort of do an acoustic version, [record producer] Kees de Koning said, ‘I’ll call Tjeerd, he’ll be there anyway.’  The morning of the funeral I went to Tjeerd’s house, shook his hand for the first time and we went through the song a few times and went straight to the service.”

The one time performance quickly turned into more however, as Stick explains:

“We wanted to record the song for his family and friends, as a sort of support.  But once we were in the studio it felt forced...we started messing around, he strummed something out on guitar.  Helemaal Niks (Engl: Nothing at All) the last track on the album came out of that moment.  That song for me exudes that feeling, in the lyrics as well; melancholic, but also: ‘its alright.’”

It didn’t take long for the lyrical depth, expertly executed compositions, and humanity of the album to really hit me; personally I was hooked while listening to the 2nd track, Blijven Lopen (Engl: Keep Going) in which the listener is treated to this, somewhat rambling, musing:

”Everything’s collapsing, 

drastic cuts to pensions,

a season of crisis,

try to keep my head fresh,

Vidal Sasoon.”

He continues:

“The speakers go ‘boom’

Cloaked in black, Roy Orbison.

I wanted to be a good role model for the Youth,

but I never saw it through,

yeah you get it...

Flash mobs, Harlem Shake:

Enjoy or don’t go, or be granite”

When interview Sticks mentioned this song specifically as being important to the album as a whole, 

“On Blijven Lopen I rap; ‘they’re yet to get a cent from each euro of narrative hiphop’, you know.  There are so many stories inside, but many people think: clever, nice rhyming.....and that’s cool if that is what you get out of it.  I find Blijven Lopen to be a really important track on the album, the feeling that it broadcasts - right, wrong, bad, evil, prosperity, adversity -....with hiphop you get it all.”

The final stanza of the aforementioned verse, ‘Enjoy or don’t go, or granite’ may be confusing for some, but it is really a perfect example of what MC Sticks does best: a relaxed but conscious sense of rhythmic delivery, and clever wordplay that never sacrifices content.  In response to some of the most ubiquitous, obnoxious, and public examples of the meme culture of today, flashmobs and the “Harlem Shake” (in quotations) [or the mannequin challenge] Sticks gives us three options, “Enjoy or don’t go, or be granite (that is don’t exist)” which in his warm Zwolle dialect tenor sounds homophonic,“geniet of ga niet, of graniet.”

Indeed the album does not just provide a mirror to the current tumult in which we find ourselves, but also goes beyond superficial finger pointing, never without the clever interjections of popular culture that hiphop is known for, combining levity with deeper, heavier observation. 

In clever hook he riffs on the classic “Too many Mics, not enough MC’s” with

“Too many Berlusconis, too few Balotellis!”

This is yet another talent of the duo that really shines: highlighting hiphops ability to combine levity with deeper, heavier observation.   At one point on Blijven Lopen, Stick comments:

“Right on, like the piano on ‘I Like it Raw’”

[.....as a quote of the piano sample from the ODB hit ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ can be heard in the background, and Dazzled Kid croons the track’s refrain; lyrics plucked from a song about sex without prophylactics, used to showcase resistance to dark times, staring into the abyss and telling the abyss you aren’t bothered by the darkness.]

There is one line, however, which the group has been asked about repeatedly from the track ‘de Tunnel’ (Engl: The Tunnel).  

“People scream, ‘Je Suis Charlie’, but please not at my release party.”

When asked if this was supposed to reflect the reaction one has when reading through the sunday paper and wishing that bad news wouldn’t cloud your weekend Sticks said,

“It is the reaction to the news that always fascinates me, how people behave, how people twist it.   What happened in Paris is of course horrible, but what really shocks me is how it gets twisted so people use it as a form of self-pity to promote themselves.   One to the one hand it really bothers me, but I also find it really surprising that people are using hashtags and avatar-changes on Twitter to show, ‘look how upright my Instagram is.’  Of course you can have honest compassion, but the second you start twittering about someone that died or a catastrophic events, it can quickly turn into a form of self-promotion.”

Dazzled Kid followed up on the subject, explaining how he tries to actively remove himself from the digital world, to form and maintain real connections to those who matter, and have a more balanced view of the world- far from the outrage cycle of the news and social media; adding that, 

“The period of Je Suis Charlie hysteria has really shown how disconnected many people really are.”

Sticks, who had obviously been deep in thought while listening to his musical partner speak added, 

“And you know what’s the most unbelievable part of all of this? A week later and you don’t hear anything about it.  Everyone’s focused on [soccer legend] Johann Cruijf, who was diagnosed with lung cancer. That is the Je Suis Charlie of the week.”

When I went with a good friend Matt D. to see them perform Utrecht’s ‘De Heling’ venue in February earlier this year, I didn’t know what to expect.  Normally speaking, hiphop and indie are two genres that tend to be maligned as ‘non-conducive to live performances.’ With the pre-recorded nature of many modern hip-hop acts and the loss of dynamics on the part of the MC, and the aloof shoegaze of many hipster rock groups I can see where this stems from.  Dazzled Sticks proved to be anything but boring.  Though Sticks arrived wearing what appeared to be an athletic warm-up sweat suit, he immediately began popping and locking between verses, Dazzled Kid literally bounding back and forth between guitar-hero power stances, and meticulously retooling his various sample pads, eyes maintaining a size somewhere between caffeinated owl and teacup saucer. 

Though to many the arrangement may seem like an odd coupling, Sticks is as collaborative and active as perhaps any musician in recent memory; we’ve already featured him as part of the legendary Opgezwolle crew, the Fakkelbrigade, and Greatminds. Though meeting under odd circumstances, some may call it fate that this duo would form; like Sticks’ Tribe Called Quest reference on the albums final track, 

“I Left My Wallet in El Segundo,

Dazzled Kid said, ‘Cool, I have to go that way anyway.’”

Things may look bleak, and the harshness of winter and semester finals might not be helping, but the last line of Sticks verses on ‘Blijven Lopen’ for me, provide a bit of optimism, however small,

“Obnoxious,

all’s going to hell,

you might find yourself thinking...

well, good.”

Tracklist:

1. Zegevieren

2. Blijven Lopen

3. Wat Je Doet Voor Een Ander

4. Body Rap

6. Dans

7. Eind Decembertje

8. Soeffies (ft. Adje)

9. Hooligans In Bloomingdale

10. Trammelant 

11. De Tunnel

12. Helemaal Niks

[dronkengenie]

[nlinak]

Soms is het even mooi te herinneren dat melancholische momenten nog bestaan. 

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

December 10th, 2016

Episode 50:

Blaxtar ‘Ozmoses’

Throughout history there have been many stories of the rivalry between brothers, of the long shadows cast by one sibling over another both inside and outside of the music world, Cain and Abel, George and Jeb, Art Garfunkle and whoever Garfunkel’s brother is.

But thankfully for us, this pressure to live-up to a more established musical family member has seemed to have left today’s featured MC, Blaxtar largely unscathed; after all his brother is the wildly prolific and successful MC Typhoon, known for his solo work and membership in the super-group Fakkelbrigade with fellow Zwolle natives Rico and Sticks.  

Perhaps it is because the two brothers were not alone in their pursuit of music, rather they grew up in an extremely musical household: their brother is the well established MC O-Dog, and their sisters Sharon and Dinopha talented vocalists. 

In this seemingly supportive and inspiring environment Blaxtar, born Kevin de Randamie, grew up; and the brothers have avoided the pitfalls of many musical siblings: either sounding too similar to their more well known kin, or attempting to sound too different from their sibling in a way that seems forced and inauthentic. 

In 2006 Blaxtar released today’s featured album ‘Ozmoses’ his first in the Dutch language, after a longstanding conflict with a previous producer stalled and eventually prevented his English-language debut from ever surfacing.  

The album’s title, and it’s various meanings, is perhaps a good indication of the multi-faceted subject matter of the album; spelled O-Z-M-O-Z-E-S it is meant to allude to both the fantasy world of Oz that Dorthy discovers, and the biblical prophet Moses who brought change in the form of the 10 commandments; one could surmise that this album is a sort of fantastical, formative journey, in which Blaxtar is ushering in a new era of hip-hop for the Lowlands; and together it provides a homophone for the word Osmosis the process of molecules moving through a semi-permeable membrane.  This album is, in as many words, a sojourn, a discovery, a landmark, and a shift on a very rudimentary level.  

And while the language barrier may hinder a lot of listeners today from hearing this lyrical depth themselves, the move to the Dutch language allowed him to seamlessly feature  accomplished friends of the Dutch-speaking scene in Zwolle: Rico, Sticks, and his brother Typhoon just to name a very accomplished few, something that would seem awkward if he were to still be rapping in English.

The linguistic shift to his native tongue could not have gone better; he quickly won the 2006 Grote Prijs van Nederland, one of the country’s top musical honors, and he has since produced two follow up albums and scored a number of great collaborations, most notable perhaps with Norwegian accordion metal band Kaizers Orchest. 

Tracklist:

Ozmoses

De prognose

Kost

Hopen ft. Juiceisdenaam

Tijd

Verstoft toch

Tot

Rijm ft. Neo en Manu

Dus ft. Dinopha

Schrijf ik ft. Rico

Niet

Ten Einde ft. Typhoon

De Tijd

Te Vermoorden ft. Sticks

Ik Schrijf In

Momenten die Niet Tot Tijd Toebehoren

Hand Op

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

November 5th, 2016

Episode 49:

Fakkelteitgroep ‘VL. 4 Sampler’

The Dutch hiphop scene can at times seem like a rearranging on deck chairs on the same boat; indeed the numerically small scene of Dutch hiphop artists means that everyone knows everyone, and unlike the giant distances between the epicenters of American hiphop, the major cities of the Netherlands can be reached in no more than an hour or two.

I personally feel that this aspect of Nederhop actually works to benefit the art itself; one should think of it like Fairbanks’ local pub league: sure 80% of the participants may be the same from year to year, but with each artist taking turns at the reigns.

This sampler album from the collaborative members of the Fakkelteitgroep is a great example of just that; assorted MC’s and producers collaborate for a great, if somewhat randomly assorted album.

The focus of the album is the universal and uniting nature of hiphop, in its various stylistic sub-genres and chosen subjects matters.  On the opening track, Blues ‘n Blessings, perhaps the volumes strongest, Rico expresses just this when he raps:

“There is a cure-all: 

Tribe’s Midnight Marauders,

the man Muddy Waters,

Dr. Dre’s Chronic, 

medicine cabinet for anything.”

Tracklist:

Blues ’n Blessings (Typhoon & Rico / Prod. Dries Bijsma)

Nasty (Nosa / Prod. Nikes)

Hey!! (Sticks en Rico / Prod. A.R.T)

Alles Staat Klaar (Rosco en Kraantje Pappie / Prod. Ramis)

Halfvol (James / Prod. A.R.T)

Laat Gaan (Boef en de Gelogeerde Aap / Prod. Boef)

Slick Mijn Cookie ( Das Pri-V / Prod. 7LB)

Waarom Doe je zo? (Rosco en Jaleesa / Prod. 7LB)

Angelique (Freez / Prod. Henning)

Comfortabel (Sticks / Prod. Henning)

Brief aan Snoop (Rico / Prod. A.R.T)

Echte Helden Remix (Aapie, Rico, en Freez / Prod. 7LB)

Hond (Seven League Beats / Prod. 7LB)

Glijden (Aapie / Prod. 7LB)

Alles is Goed (Freez / Prod. A.R.T)

Will (Nosa / Prod. Samuel Kareem)

Sticks 2012 (Sticks en Winne / Prod. Dr. Moon, A.R.T., Sticks)

Duck Tape (Fakkelbrigade / Prod. A.R.T)

Klootzakken (Kabel, Rosco, en Faberyayo / Prod. Nikes)

Onderweg (Boef en de Gelogeerde Aap, Rico / Prod. Boef)

Passage II (A.R.T)

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

September 17, 2016

Episode 48:

Adje ‘Vossig’ 

We’re proud to once again bring another season of Netherlands in Alaska to the Fairbanks Airwaves.

In an interview with Ballin.com about his first full-length “Vossig”, the artist we chose for our season premiere, the loquatious MC Adje explained:

“I’m just as valuable for Amsterdam as [Premier Soccer League Team] Ajax.  Maybe not for Soccerfans, but maybe I’m like the Patrick Kluivert for music lovers.” 

And perhaps he is not exaggerating; you wouldn’t know that this is his first full-length, as he seems to be everywhere in the Dutch music scene. His trademark vocal style can be heard all across the hiphop landscape of the Lowlands; a range which can vacillate between the same hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-raising effect of Rick Ross’ growl, and a smooth flow that many on this side of that Atlantic would drop serious stacks to be able to emulate.  

Although the MC and de facto leader of the Sloddervosgang crew put out three, serious buzz-generating, almost completely freestyled mixtapes: “Ikkebenquikkathan”, “Ikkebensickathan”, “Ikkebenfitterthan” it took longer than expected for him to come around with his full studio release.  He explains the final set-back from 2012 to its eventual release in 2013, as being due to general perfectionism and other positive musical developments, namely a chance to work with producer Reverse who was fresh from releasing the track Ik Neem Je Mee with Gers Pardoel, the most commercially successful Dutch hiphop track of all time. Together they released the critically acclaimed “Hele Meneer - EP”; Adje himself put it this way:

“Who was I to say, in that moment, ‘nah, don’t take advantage of this opportunity?’  Sure, during [this time] the album sort of stood still, but it also had advantages; Reverse got better, I got better, and maybe most importantly, the EP paid off by letting me see who my audience was, and what they wanted.  Through this I was able to make less concecssions on ‘Vossig.’”  

Despite all the hype and pats on the back from his colleagues in the Netherlands, he said that the album release was a major turning point for him:

“I can actually call this my job now....at a certain point you reach the age where you’re seen as responsible for yourself in our society: you need your own apartment...your own car, maybe even a dog...after 4 years of [working on music] I have something tangible to show for it, like ‘Mom, look, this is is sold in the stores! It isn’t a mixtape, not something I posted for free on the internet, but a real album, released by Sony!”

Indeed the polished nature of a full album released is something worth taking note of, especially for an artist whose first 3 released were freestyled verses over borrowed beats.  For those unfamiliar with Adje’s work within the Dutch music scene, his lyrical delivery and production style may seem familiar within the mainstream, gritty hiphop coming out of the U.S., but the deeper you look into his work with crew-mates, his younger brother MC Hef, and his comments in interviews about wanting to establish a sustainable and ever evolving, supportive scene you get a clear view of how important Adje is as a multifaceted pillar within Dutch hiphop. Perhaps the clearest indication of Adje’s vision for hiphop in the Netherlands was reveleaded when Ballin.com pressed what he meant by his Patrick Kluivert comment:

“The way I looked up to Patrick Kluivert, maybe now there’s a kid who wants to rap and looks up to me in the same way....I myself never looked to the Netherlands, but instead at what was going on in America.”

In regards to the scene and how it stands in comparison with the Netherlands he conceded that he did not have enough money to compete with Jay-Z, but:

“but in regards to the art and musicality I think I can reach that level.  I’m sure that if a few of my best verses had been in English, I would’ve already bested Jay-Z 10 times over.”

Tracklist:

Hooligan

Beloofd

Dierenwinkel

Nikszeggings

Gangsta ft. Mocro Maniac, Hef & Crooks

Hoe Laat  ft. Willem

Hele Meneer

B.A.M ft. Akwasi

Ik Ben Je Homey

In De Bus

Liever Alleen

Never Stop ft. Beenie Man

Hoor Ze Niet ft. Reverse

Houdoe ft. Faberyayo, Jayh & Reverse

Niet Meer Als Toen ft. Willie Wartaal

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

May 8th, 2016

Episode 47:

Fresku - Nooit Meer Terug

Fresku is upset; he is mad at his critics in the music industry and media as well as everyday haters; he is mad by the state of music royalty payments in the Netherlands; at what he sees as a racist status-quo in Dutch radio and music promotion.  He is mad at the lesser skills of what he deems effeminate MC’s; at the lax attitudes of men and women towards sex and self respect in the Netherlands; at global socio-economic inequality; at the Israel-Palestine conflict.  Even those who cannot understand the Dutch language, can tell merely by his verbal delivery just how much more upset the MC has gotten in the 5 years since his self-titled debut album .  Those who heard our feature of that album may find his move to rap almost entirely shout-rapping hard to bear during the course of his hour-plus long 3rd album “Nooit Meer Terug” (Engl: No Turning Back).  

Much of the source of his ire is hard to understand unless you are well versed in multiple quixotic subjects (such as the aforementioned debates on race and profit sharing in the Dutch music industry).  In one video for “Zo Doe Je Dat”, he slowly applies white face makeup and a blonde, straight haired wig, before getting an acoustic guitar and playing pop-rock, following the song’s formula on how one ostensibly achieves radio-play and success in Holland.

All this having been said, one should never pigeonhole Fresku as a wholly angry rapper spouting from the id.  Much like the track ‘Lamballen’ (his musing on lethargy and the post-modern condition off of his self-titled debut) “Nooit Meer Terug” contains the track Ik Eet Kreeft (Engl: I Eat Lobster).  

As the first song, the album’s title track “Nooit Meer Terug” about his life’s struggles concludes, we hear an interviewer asking him what changes he’s noticed in his life since gaining fame in the Netherlands, to which he replies:

“I eat lobster and prawns every day....

no....really....some rappers buy clothes, I just buy food.”

Thus he launches into a song that not only aims to poke fun at the habits of the newly rich, but also juxtaposes with his introductory song of financial and social woes.  It is perhaps on these moments of Fresku’s albums that his strengths as a rapper truly come to the forefront; not when he is screaming himself horse, belting out political grievances the audience can hardly decipher, nor when he is pedantic with his mores on love, sexuality, and the genders, but when he is following the advice of Mel Brooks who famously said, 

“...the only way to deal with the world is to laugh - because if you don't laugh you're going to cry and never stop crying.”

We hope you enjoyed our feature of this third album from outspoken mc Fresku. 

Tracklist:

Nooit Meer Terug

Kreeft (ft. MocroManiac)

Gooi Jezelf Weg

Trots

Nooit Goed

Zo Doe Je Dat

Bitchboy

Ik Wil

Gevangen

Alzheimer

Altijd Alleen

Rustig Aan

Meisjes / Jongens

Is Het Ver Weg

Waarom Ik Schrijf

Angst

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

April 30th, 2016

Episode 46: 

Zwart Licht - “Leeroy Draait Door”

Zwart Licht is a group that holds a special place in my heart.  I first heard them, and pardon if you’ve heard this anecdote before, when I was attempting to see Sef and DJ Flexican perform in one of Rotterdam’s city Parks for the hiphop section of the EDM festival ‘Booth Stock.’  Sef had cancelled the show in favor of a performance with Dio, and his bandmate from Flinke Namen, Fit had jumped in as a sort of hype man for Flexican’s beats, but not to rhyme in any major form.  It would have been a very disappointed day if it were not for Zwartlicht, a group that moves from hard-hitting, social commentary hiphop verses, to grime-step tracks, and back again.

While their 2nd album that we featured last year, “No JuJu”, was largely in the latter camp, focused more on the EDM side of things, today’s album "Leeroy Draait Door” or Leeroy Loses It’ (a reference to one of the group’s MC’s, Leeroy) is in some ways a reconciliation of the groups sound and message from their first two discs.  

At the time of this recording, this 2012 release was their last album together, leaving fans desperate for new material.  Luckily this has come in the form of a number of smaller releases by Leeroy, as well as the epic double-disc “Daar Ergens” released by Akwasi after his graduation from An Academy of Theatre.  

Also for those of you with Netflix, the group makes a brief cameo, performing at a house party in the beginning of the film ‘Zombibi’ (Engl: Kill Zombie).  

But one should not fear that this 3 year old album is the final note from this veritable hiphop powerhouse; in a May 2015 interview with funx.nl, Akwasi said: 

“I want to put out a good Zwart Licht record....it has to be something completely different.  I’ve been looking at others’ classics and with these in mind I’d like to make the hardest Zwart Licht album to date.  I’m prepared to begin working hard on that.”

Until then, we have this 3rd album from the group to tide us over.

Tracklist:

Leeroy Draait Door

Op Me Grind

Weg

Hoopie Music

Niemand

High/Tofu

Lach Eens Met Me Mee

Space Doll/Tik Tak

Gooi Wat Liquor Op de Grond Voor Em

Ja Toch!

Galtar Riddim 2.0

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska 

April 16th, 2016

Episode 45: Kenny B

Although we seek to always maintain a 100% hiphop, 100% Dutch language show, occasionally some concessions must be made.  Some may remember our episode featuring folk-singer Lucky Fonz III and his first Dutch language album Hoe Je Hooning Maakt*. Lucky Fonz III is not only signed to major Dutch Hiphop label Top Notch, but also has made frequent appearances on hiphop tracks as either a collaborator or a sampled artist.  Truly his presence on both a hiphop label and on the music itself helps paint the picture of how deeply inclusive the Dutch hiphop scene often is, and the artist we featured this week, we believe does the same.

Kenneth Bron, better known as Kenny B, is a multifaceted man, known not only as a musician, but also for his role in leading peace negotiations in 1991 during the Surinamese civil war. 

Kenny B was born in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname a former Dutch colony which resides in the northern part of South American, adjacent to the caribbean.  Kenny B himself belongs to the ethnic group called the Maroons, the descendants of slaves who escaped the Dutch plantations and settled in the hinterland jungles; a designation, which meant a good deal of societal discrimination.  He served in the Surinamese military during the 1980′s, ascending rank as a political commissar.  Soon after his time involved in the ‘91 peace-talks he relocated to the Netherlands where he gained some notoriety for his music especially in Suriname in the Dutch Caribbean for his songs sung primarily in Sranan Tongo and English. 

 Then in 2014 he switched to Dutch, and the whole of the Lowlands lost their mind.

Although the other initial single off of the album Als Je Gaat may have more overall replay value, the entirety of the Netherlands couldn’t seem to get enough of the superbly radio friendly Parijs.  The song is simple enough, about Kenny B encountering a beautiful French woman in the city of lights.  But as  he attempts to talk to her she apologizes, saying that she is Dutch and only speaks a little bit of French; and that’s when Kenny B’s soaring chorus of “Praat Nederlands met me!” (Speak Dutch to me!) rings out.  The song quickly shot up the charts and spawned what seems like a never-ending series of parody youtube clips, in which the protagonist cries out to his new-found love she should speak any number of dialects of Dutch with him; in one the two new lovers speak Frisian, in another Rotterdam dialect, in a final one Brabantish.

His album is much more than a one off song-gone-viral however; such as the album’s second to last song, Jij Bent de Liefde, a track he worked on with Dutch oldies legend Guus Meeuwis, and both artists recorded and a released their own take on the chart; most agreed that Meeuwis, the definition of a household name in the Lowlands, couldn’t hold a candle to this new-comer to the Dutch language charts. 

We hope you enjoyed the debut Dutch language album from Kenny B. 

Tracklist:

 Alleen Jij

 Als Je Gaat

 So Yu Ben Taigi Mi

Een Man Mag Niet Huilen ft. Jayh

 Tjaipi Lobi ft. Tekisha

 Zij Is De Duivel

 Na Regen Komt Zonneschijn

 Yamba ft. ND

Parijs

Neks Ne Tai ft. Tekisha

 Vrienden

 Jij Bent De Liefde

 Paramaribo ft. Jeffrey Spalburg

*At the time of this show’s recording it was reported that this was his only Dutch language album to date.  On February 5th, 2016 he released a follow-up to his interim English language album All of Amsterdam with In Je Nakie.

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska 

April 9th, 2016

Episode 44:

EP Showcase

This semester we have an exciting crop of EP’s and mixtapes that didn’t quite make the cut to be a main feature, mostly due to their short length, but together may be one of my favorite episodes of the semester.

Our first featured short length disc is ‘Chocolade’ which was put out by Dutch hiphop wunderkind Typhoon with the up and coming jazz group known as ‘The New Cool Collective.’  The disc provides little ‘new’ material, rather it is mostly made up of reworkings of Typhoon classics, mostly from his debut ‘Tussen Licht en Lucht.’

Our second disc is a fun, collaborative effort from MC’s Diggy Dex, and Reazun, both featured previously on the show.  The disc, along with more serious tracks, features a mock rap battle between the two musical compatriots as well as a clever dutch reworking of Biz Markee’s classic “Just a Friend”, this time offering multiple perspectives as a duet.

Finally we have one of the most interesting and oddly enjoyable EP’s released in some time; “Achtergrond Muziek voor Gearrivierden” or background music for those who have arrived, released by another famous collaborative duo, Faberyayo and Sef.  Credited as simply, Yous and Yay (Yous, much like the moniker Sef, being a shortening of the MC’s birth name ‘youssef’) it is a experimental yacht-rock hiphop disc, providing a fitting soundtrack for any UAF students extravagant lifestyle.  We hope you enjoy this semesters short-length offerings.

New Cool Collective and Typhoon ‘Chocolade’

Bumaye

Licht UitA De Na Oso

Chocolade ft. Fakkelbrigade, O-Dog

3Luik (Live)

Naamval (Live)

Brand Los (Live)

Diggy Dex and Reazun ‘Werk Hard, Speel Hard’

Werk Hard Speel Hard

Daar

Een Vriend

Toe Vergeef Me

Wat Denk Jij

Yous & Yay ‘Achtergrondmuziek voor Gearriveerden’

Achtergrondmuziek voor Gearriveerden

EspressoStress

Niks

Rustiek

Smeulend Sneeuw (met Spacekees)

Wasted (met Oeverloze Gitaarsolo)

[nlinak]

[nlinak]

Netherlands  Flanders in Alaska

March 26, 2016

Episode 43:

Sebu and Karma, “Puur”

[Producer’s Note: this week’s episode was originally set to air later in the Spring Semester, but in light of the tragic events that unfolded this past week in Belgium, we felt it was appropropriate to air this episode to highlight the lively culture in Belgium; Belgium is much more than these attacks, and the airing of this episode was intended to show solidarity with the Belgian people and to give Alaskan audiences a more complete image of life in the country.]

Besides the Netherlands, some for of Dutch is spoken in several other places; Aruba, Bon Aire, Curaçao, Suriname, and of course Belgium.  Belgium is split into three linguistic regions, with the Dutch-Speaking Flanders in the North, French Speaking Wallonia in the South, a smaller German region in the far east of the country, and Brussels- the officially bilingual capital in the middle.

While the issues of creating a common national identity amongst linguistically diverse peoples within Belgium is fairly-well known, fewer people outside of this small slice of Europe know about the relationship between Flanders and the Netherlands, two countries divided by a ‘some-what common language.’

In the U.S. we generally have positive things we associate the two countries with: The Netherlands is at once a progressive pioneer of cannabis laws, sex-workers’s rights and marriage equality, and a tradition steeped land of tulips, canals, and masters of the painted canvas; Belgium is the land that blessed us with waffles, fried potatoes, diverse libations, and Brussel sprouts.

When viewing each other, less positive images come to mind.  The Dutch often see the Flemish as a little brother of sorts, less populated, less politically and economically influential, and perhaps a bit culturally and linguistically backwards; their own image of the Flemish, much like that of Flanders co-countrymen is derived from the days when Flanders was much more agrarian, when mussel harvesting was a bigger part of the economy, and before Antwerp emerged as a major global port and processor of uncut diamonds.  This image has been inaccurate for at least 150 years, but the image lives on.

The Flemish are usually no less flattering in their view of the Dutch: a monolithically tall, nasally speaking, greedy, and misguidedly arrogant bunch.  When I once dared to call out a Flemish friend for painting in broad brush strokes she gave what she viewed as concrete proof of this stereotype:

“A dutch guy came over with a friend of mine, I asked if anyone wanted coffee, out of politeness you know, and the guy said ‘yes, sure, I’d love a coffee!’.....can you believe that?  I didn’t know him, so rude and arrogant.”

However, besides a few misunderstandings here and there, and a good bit of humor shared over superficial differences the Dutch and Flemish are intwined culturally, economically, and politically in a multitude of ways.  As members of NATO and the EU the two are economically, politically, and militarily connected, no border separates the two.  The two neighbors have a common agency, which audits and verifies accreditation for post-secondary education.  On a much larger scale the border is crossed daily by shoppers, commuters, and students.  One could even say the region of Noord Brabant, which hugs the Flemish border, has more in common with its neighbors to the south than to the non-Catholic countrymen in the Randstad area; similarly the Limburg region of Belgium has more connection economically and culturally to the neighboring Dutch city of Maastricht, than to the relatively ‘distant’ port of Antwerp.

So just how much does these neighbors share in terms of hiphop culture? 

Unfortunately it has seemed to be a largely 1-way street; Dutch artists regularly tour into Belgium, and Dutch hiphop regularly gets play on the airwaves of Flanders, but less often the other way around.  A lot of this has to do with the larger population of the Netherlands (16 million compared to Flanders paltry 6.4 million); because the Netherlands produces more music, more books, and more films than Flanders, the Netherlands dialect of Dutch is more widely understood by Flemish-dialect speakers than the other way around.  

Besides the early 90′s pioneers ‘t Hof van Commerce, most Belgian hiphop has made its way to the Netherlands in the last few years, partially influenced by self promotion through social media.  Most notable have been the Gent based duo Safi en Spreej, and self-described hiphop troubador Tourist Lemc, all signed to Netherlands based Top Notch records. 

Today’s featured artists are a duo known as Seba en Karma, two young Antwerp based MC’s who met in a DIY recording studio in 2011, and ran paralell in the city’s hiphop scene, eventually putting together 2015′s “Puur” (Engl: Pure) the product of- according to their bandcamp page, “Years of procrastination and a single productive weekend in the Dutch province of Zeeland.”

The initial quality of the music that caught my attention was the inescapable nature of their Antwerp dialect; it was ever-present without seeming like it was being channeled as a novelty.  The thing that kept me listening to their album on repeat was their complimentary ranges and styles, one slightly higher and nasally and the other’s lower and raspier, perhaps betraying the two baby-faced Flanders true age; for me it is personally a winning formula, much like the combination of Mike D and MCA or Phife Dawg and Q-Tip.  Finally it was the visuals of their music video for “Het Gaat U Goed”, which they filmed walking backwards through the streets of Antwerp, then played forward, a sort of surreal, zero-fun homage to the famous video Drop by Pharcyde.  

We hope you enjoyed this brief peak into the Dutch-speaking hiphop scene of Belgium.

Tracklist:

Deadline

Kracht van Muziek 2

Tijd

Droom

Kring Klein

Nattigheid

Mental Rust (ft. Froze and DJ 2 Ez)

Puur (ft. Stef)

Het Gaat U Goed[

[nlinak]

Netherlands in Alaska

March 19th, 2016

Episode 42: Ginelly, ‘Revolution Time to Grow Mixtape’

Last semester, in a move that unfortunately came much too late, we played the debut album “De Laastigste” by female MC Nina.  The release marked the first time that a female-MC in the Netherlands had released an album.  Although the album itself was, perhaps unfairly, panned by critics, it played a much larger role as a symbolic milestone; since its release several female MC’s have made their mark on the contemporary Dutch hiphop scene, including I Am Aisha

In an interview with funx.nl titled “Why Does the Netherlands have so Few Female Rappers?” Mc Melodee said that hiphop culture can often be an impediment, because many see ‘true hiphop’ as dealing with limited subject matter and thus what female MC’s rap about a deviation from that established ‘norm’:

“For example, I never rap about bling bling or ‘poppin’ bottles in the club....as a female MC you have a different perspective, but that’s exactly what makes [female hiphop] so good.”

Some here in the U.S. may bemoan the male dominance of hiphop, and the nature of discrimination against female artists through less afforded opportunities and unsafe or unwelcoming spaces in the community.  But interestingly enough in most articles and interviews on the subject the U.S. is brought up as a positive example of what the Netherlands could be; afterall each successive wave of Hiphop in the U.S. has had its female pioneers (Queen Latifa, Missy Elliot, Ladybug Meca, Lauryn Hill).  Most Dutch MC’s, when asked, seem able to point to their favorite female MC’s in communities an ocean away, while struggling to name more than one or two in their own small country.

While the mainstream releases by female artists are increasing in the mainstream, the pace is still slow, and full length material very hard to come by.  Luckily we’ve managed to track down the debut mixtape from one of the most interesting and solid new artists out there.

With laid-back delivery, thought provoking lyrics, and solid production Ginelly caught my ear with the music video for ‘Focus.’ Her sound could’ve been pulled straight out of the streets of Bronx circa 1993, and yet she was wandering the streets of Paris, rapping in the language of Van Gogh. 

While she’s yet to be signed to a label, if her mixtapes keep sounding this good, does it matter?

Tracklist:

Tegen Mezelf

Vraag Me Af 

Van Alles 

Keuzes 

Its Time

Geen Refrein

Hier Zit Ik Weer

Hoe dan Ook 

Revolutions Sound 3

Dheemahi - Ginelly

Werken 

Geen Refrein II

Focus (ft. JZB)

Nieuwe Generatie ft. Jazz JZB

Heldere Ideen (independent release)

Stand Up!