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Grapevine Open Symposium:
Issue 12
Gender Equality in Icelandic Hip-Hop
Hip-hop needs to check itself before it wrecks itself Grapevine hosts a symposium on the lack of young women in hip-hop EDITORIAL Words: Valur Grettisson
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík www.grapevine.is grapevine@grapevine.is Published by Fröken ehf. Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association www.saf.is Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25,000 copies. PUBLISHER Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson hilmar@grapevine.is
The last issue of the Reykjavík Grapevine came in for some harsh. People on social media raised some good point, objecting to the fact that there were no women in the Grapevine’s cover story on Iceland’s newest hip-hop artists. Later some members of the hip-hop community echoed these concerns. It is obvious that hip-hop in Iceland has a grave problem. Grapevine mapped out the frontline of hip-hop in the last issue, with the feature focusing on the youngest talents in the industry, and found out that there was not one girl among those young boys. This is not Grapevine’s doing: we do not manufacture young artists, and one cover is not the root of the gender imbalance in hiphop or the music business in general, although it might be part of the problem. The Reykjavík Grapevine did not address this issue in the article, because it was a culture feature about young artists, not gender politics. It does not take long to realise that girls are not allowed into this little boys’ club. If you just look at the Icelandic rap scene, you quickly see that artists like Úlfur Úlfur, Emmsjé Gauti and others are the most popular acts in the country today. They have great power in the industry and a direct line to listeners. All of them have often invited young artists to make some music with them. Our young cover star, Aron Can, has made
a song with Emmsjé Gauti. Herra Hnetusmjör and Gísli Pálmi have made one with Úlfur Úlfur. But how many female hip-hop artists have they made songs with? None. It’s understandable that the industry blames the media instead of facing the hard truth. It’s easier. But we at the Reykjavík Grapevine are far too concerned about the future of hip-hop. We will not merely sit on the sidelines in this one and make excuses for ourselves, for we are feminists. The industry needs to check themselves before they wreck themselves. They got 99 problems and they don’t even have girls to bitch about. That’s why we have rented the conference room at Kex Hostel to have a symposium about the issue. We have invited some of the our vocal artists to talk about this problem and how to change it. The symposium will be held next Monday, the 17th of July at 20:00. The director of Kítón, the music association of women in Iceland, and Vigdís Howser of RKVDTR will be speakers, among others. We sincerely hope that members of the music scene industry will be in the audience, as well, because we have a lot to talk about. So if you are serious about the issue of gender imbalance in hiphop and want to do something about it, be there. The meeting will be in Icelandic, and the Reykjavík Grapevine will of course report back in our next issue.
+354 540 3601 publisher@grapevine.is
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Valur Grettisson valur@grapevine.is
WEB EDITOR Elías Þórsson elias@grapevine.is
MANAGING EDITOR John Rogers john@grapevine.is ART DIRECTOR Sveinbjörn Pálsson sveinbjorn@grapevine.is NEWS EDITOR Paul Fontaine paul@grapevine.is TRAVEL EDITOR John Rogers john@grapevine.is
PHOTO EDITOR Art Bicnick art@grapevine.is
LISTINGS DIRECTOR Hannah Jane Cohen hannah@grapevine.is COPY EDITOR Mark Asch EDITORIAL INTERNS Anisha Chandar Alice Demurtas Johanna Eriksson ILLUSTRATORS Elín Elísabet
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alice Demurtas Anisha Chandar Árni Grétar Jóhannesson Björn Halldórsson Björn Teitsson Elías Þórsson Eli Petzold Davíð Roach Hannah Jane Cohen Johanna Eriksson Laufey Elíasdóttir Mark Asch Nanna Árnadóttir Parker Yamasaki Óli Dóri Steindór Grétar Jónsson Shruti Basappa
Ragnheiður HaraldsEiríksdóttir Valur Gunnarsson PHOTOGRAPHERS Art Bicnick johanna Eriksson Timothée Lambrecq Juliette Rowland Varvara Lozenko Rut Sigurðardóttir SALES DIRECTORS Aðalsteinn Jörundsson adalsteinn@grapevine. is Helgi Þór Harðarson helgi@grapevine.is
P16 Meet the women fighting domestic violence P18 What the hell is Uppreist æra anyway
Why are so many young, up-and-coming rappers men? What are the fundamental problems with the Icelandic hip-hop scene that creates this situation? What steps can we as a society, and members of the scene, take to improve things? If you have ideas, we want to hear them. Make your voice heard at Grapevine’s Open Symposium on gender equality in Icelandic hip-hop. The event will be held July 17 at 20:00 at Kex Hostel, in the Gym & Tonic Room. If you have an opinion, we strongly encourage you to attend. Your voice matters!
P25 Award fashion designer, Eygló Margrét Lárusdóttir makes murder mystery P30 Alexander Kirchner is in-the-street-bitch
Please note: the opening talks are in Icelandic. The Reykjavik Grapevine will report on the symposium in English afterwards.
The Reykjavík Grapevine and Kex Hostel
P55 Eli and Timothée went to Reykjanes for a day trip P58 My Bubba jammed with Bryan Adams and stepped on his toes
EDITORIAL +354 540 3600 editor@grapevine.is ADVERTISING +354 540 3605 ads@grapevine.is DISTRIBUTION & SUBSCRIPTIONS +354 540 3604 distribution@ grapevine.is PRESS RELEASES listings@grapevine.is GENERAL INQUIRIES grapevine@grapevine.is FOUNDERS
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson, Hörður Kristbjörnsson, Jón Trausti Sigurðarson, Oddur Óskar Kjartansson, Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 21 times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from December through February, and fortnightly from March til October. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes, Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road
#1, and all major tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the country. You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
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COVER PHOTO BY Rut Sigurðardóttir rutsig.com
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