SO HOW DOES A MAN FROM LEEDS WITH NO IDEA ABOUT NORWEGIAN HIP-HOP END UP TALKING WITH ONE OF NORWAY'S MOST POPULAR RAPPERS? TEKST: PETE HILEY / ILLUSTRASJON: ARIL ØRNHOLT / FB.COM/PEOPLEONSTREETS
LEEDS AND LARS Seeing Lars Vaular's Gary Speed video instantly made me want to meet him, which I eventually did, in a café in Grünerløkka. We begin, of course, by talking about Leeds United: "One of the things that attracted me to Leeds [United]," LV explains, "was the idea of me picking something that not everyone was rooting for: the underdog. And maybe I knew something that [other people] didn't." Do I respect LV's decision to choose Leeds? Of course I do; I love it. Gary Speed was a hero to many - he represented an honesty and professionalism that seems to
– SOME OF MY BEST LINES ARE ACTUALLY MORRISSEY LINES THAT I´VE MISUNDERSTOOD. have disappeared from modern football but Gary Speed (the song) is not strictly a tribute to the man: it's actually an important part of LV's identity. Reading the lyrics to the song is a bit like clicking through the 'Related Videos' in LV's own internal YouTube channel: the song cleverly weaves together stories from his own memory, YouTube clips and references to less positive moments in the story of Leeds United. I ask LV why he doesn't rap in English and he explains that he made the decision after visiting Bosnia around ten years, where 38
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he saw local MC's rapping in their native tongues: "I was writing lyrics in English at the time and, after that trip, I understood that: OK, if I'm ever going to make it, I have to do it in Norwegian; I have to do it in my own dialect." Rapping in English might make it easier for LV's music to cross-over to other countries, but that's not the point: "Sometimes your feelings don't translate into another [language]," he explains, "I think in Norwegian […] if I write that down, I'm the closest I can be to that thought. If I think of something and then have to translate it, it's already one step from my original thought […] I can't take that chance." However, mis-interpreting language isn't always a disaster, as LV explains: "A big influence is The Smiths […] Some of my best lines are actually Morrissey lines that I've misunderstood: I thought he was saying one thing but then I understood that it wasn't what he was saying, but it's cool so I'm using it." It is obvious that LV's influences are wide-ranging: "I've always listened to a lot of different rappers, so my influences are from all over the map […] anything that gives me a feeling of authenticity or originality. And that goes for music in general." Authenticity and originality are central themes in LV"s own music: "What I've tried to do is write lyrics that have more layers than traditional rap lyrics […] I'm trying to write lyrics that have a certain meaning for me, as the writer, but maybe it means a whole other thing for the listener." "Ten
years ago," he continues, "I realised that if I were ever going to make it, it had to be because I managed to write something that told people what was special about me as a person or what was special about my perspective." And much of 1001 Hjem, LV's latest album, is told from his perspective, but the stories on there could also relate to any of the people living in de tusen (or tusen og en) hjem. LV invited artists and authors to provide interpretations of the music to be included on the website which accompanies 1001 Hjem, as he explains: "We [dared] to say that [the album] is so important that we can get people to write texts, based on or inspired by the songs and get people to take pictures, make photo art inspired by the songs - just let different creative people interpret the music that's already there, or the feeling that's already there, and maybe they get something different than what I was talking about." LV explains that the aesthetic of the website was also as important as its content: "I think that a lot of the songs could be viewed as a bit more boring and dry and too heavy subject matter if it hadn't been for the kind of naive illustrations. […] somehow it becomes more fun and more about imagination and creativity than the mind of the poet; the Poet, the Teacher." After the interview, LV has to go and buy some clothes and then appear on TV. I have to go and wash some clothes and then watch TV. Life is all about contrast I suppose.