Swiss Hip Hop Scene: Update!
To paraphrase Harry Doyle: this ain't the best blog about Lausanne hip hop for nothing. Want to know who the latest sensation on the Swiss hip hop scene is? Well, you came to the right place!
Now, most of you are probably rolling your eyes and saying, "Duh, this is just going to be an update about how Stress (my previous favorite swiss rapper -ed.) has a new album that just dropped on April 3 and how he is coming to Lausanne on the 30th for a concert." Wrong. This blog isn't about old info that you could find anywhere; this blog is about what is happening right now on the streets and what everyone will be talking about next. Wanna know who's next? One word: Sisma. (p.s. do not click on that link unless you actually like myspace pages).
Fig. 1: Proof that wearing a bandanna does not automatically make you cool.
Sisma is from the mean streets of Bellinzona, aka "B'Zone", population 17,111, in Ticino but has recently relocated to Lausanne, presumably in an effort to build up his street cred, something which was probably difficult to do in a town that is largely known for being home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since he's from Ticino -- Switzerland's only Italian speaking Canton -- he raps in Italian, so I'm not sure how much success he'll find here in Lausanne. If you want to hear his music, here's a much better link where you can listen to some of his songs and learn a little about him.
How did I find out about him? Checking out all the underground hip hop clubs? Downloading mix tapes? Not so much. What happened was this: last night I was wandering around downtown Lausanne with my buddy Jens when we came across what looked like a music video shoot. As there was some professional looking lighting and even a professional looking fog machine, we thought it might have actually been a professional music video. A quick look at the roughly 3 people standing around watching it suggested, however, that whoever it was could not draw much of a crowd. I wandered over to one of the guys who looked like he might be attached to the project and asked him who the artist was. He gave me pretty much all of the information above and more, along with the promise that I would definitely see the video on MTV soon.
Although he was pretty enthusiastic about this point, I have to admit that it is unlikely this video will ever make it to a wide audience. First, as noted above, Sisma raps in Italian which really limits his potential market in Switzerland. Linguistically, Switzerland is pretty strongly divided and it's rare for an Italian musician to have success in the French or German parts or vice versa. Second, I think Switzerland has pretty much hit its limit of short, white, yelling rappers. Based on the few songs he has on myspace, the only differences between him and Stress are that he raps in Italian and has worse production. And finally, I don't think MTV will ever show a music video that is shot in the courtyard in front of the Ecole-Club Migros. I know there's a weird, futuristic sculpture there, but I think they could have done a better job scouting locations.
For the most part, I have pretty much given up on reading "20 Minutes," one of the free daily newspapers in town. After a while, I got kinda tired of reading celebrity gossip, and more importantly, they stopped carrying Garfield and Dilbert. Thus, it was only by sheer luck that the other day I saw this picture on the cover:
Fig. 2: Does your garage rock band have a color scheme and matching outfits? I didn't think so.
The story (which can be found here) was about how a local Vaudois rock group had unfairly had their own songs removed from myspace by Warner Bros, due to some mistakenly directed anti-piracy measures. Pretty dull. What is not dull, though, is that I recognized one of the people in the picture! In the lower right corner, in the glasses and with the megaphone, is my French professor from last semester!
Easily my favorite of the French professors I've had here in Switzerland, Raphaël Noir is better known as Jerry Black, the lead singer of Climax. Climax is "the new garage mod sensation" or, better yet, the "prophète helvétique du garage rock." Pretty awesome. I have yet to hear them live, but the songs they had available online sounded promising and I will admit to having a weakness for any group that uses a megaphone as an instrument. They are performing in Lausanne at the end of May, so hopefully more news to come.
Now, most of you are probably rolling your eyes and saying, "Duh, this is just going to be an update about how Stress (my previous favorite swiss rapper -ed.) has a new album that just dropped on April 3 and how he is coming to Lausanne on the 30th for a concert." Wrong. This blog isn't about old info that you could find anywhere; this blog is about what is happening right now on the streets and what everyone will be talking about next. Wanna know who's next? One word: Sisma. (p.s. do not click on that link unless you actually like myspace pages).
Fig. 1: Proof that wearing a bandanna does not automatically make you cool.Sisma is from the mean streets of Bellinzona, aka "B'Zone", population 17,111, in Ticino but has recently relocated to Lausanne, presumably in an effort to build up his street cred, something which was probably difficult to do in a town that is largely known for being home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since he's from Ticino -- Switzerland's only Italian speaking Canton -- he raps in Italian, so I'm not sure how much success he'll find here in Lausanne. If you want to hear his music, here's a much better link where you can listen to some of his songs and learn a little about him.
How did I find out about him? Checking out all the underground hip hop clubs? Downloading mix tapes? Not so much. What happened was this: last night I was wandering around downtown Lausanne with my buddy Jens when we came across what looked like a music video shoot. As there was some professional looking lighting and even a professional looking fog machine, we thought it might have actually been a professional music video. A quick look at the roughly 3 people standing around watching it suggested, however, that whoever it was could not draw much of a crowd. I wandered over to one of the guys who looked like he might be attached to the project and asked him who the artist was. He gave me pretty much all of the information above and more, along with the promise that I would definitely see the video on MTV soon.
Although he was pretty enthusiastic about this point, I have to admit that it is unlikely this video will ever make it to a wide audience. First, as noted above, Sisma raps in Italian which really limits his potential market in Switzerland. Linguistically, Switzerland is pretty strongly divided and it's rare for an Italian musician to have success in the French or German parts or vice versa. Second, I think Switzerland has pretty much hit its limit of short, white, yelling rappers. Based on the few songs he has on myspace, the only differences between him and Stress are that he raps in Italian and has worse production. And finally, I don't think MTV will ever show a music video that is shot in the courtyard in front of the Ecole-Club Migros. I know there's a weird, futuristic sculpture there, but I think they could have done a better job scouting locations.
For the most part, I have pretty much given up on reading "20 Minutes," one of the free daily newspapers in town. After a while, I got kinda tired of reading celebrity gossip, and more importantly, they stopped carrying Garfield and Dilbert. Thus, it was only by sheer luck that the other day I saw this picture on the cover:
Fig. 2: Does your garage rock band have a color scheme and matching outfits? I didn't think so.The story (which can be found here) was about how a local Vaudois rock group had unfairly had their own songs removed from myspace by Warner Bros, due to some mistakenly directed anti-piracy measures. Pretty dull. What is not dull, though, is that I recognized one of the people in the picture! In the lower right corner, in the glasses and with the megaphone, is my French professor from last semester!
Easily my favorite of the French professors I've had here in Switzerland, Raphaël Noir is better known as Jerry Black, the lead singer of Climax. Climax is "the new garage mod sensation" or, better yet, the "prophète helvétique du garage rock." Pretty awesome. I have yet to hear them live, but the songs they had available online sounded promising and I will admit to having a weakness for any group that uses a megaphone as an instrument. They are performing in Lausanne at the end of May, so hopefully more news to come.
Comments
Post a Comment