"Greenland is ice, Iceland is green!!" people kept telling me when I announced my plans to vacation in Iceland this February. I quickly became sick of hearing that little platitude... I mean, Iceland is incredibly fucking beautiful but not terribly green, while Greenland, I discovered, is totally CHILL -- because while perusing the music scene in Reykjavik, my friend Paul of Blek Ink turned me on to Greenland's phattest Hip-Hop band NUUK POSSE!!!
Greenland is the biggest island in the world, hellof north in the middle of the Atlantic surrounded by icebergs, populated by polar bears, Inuits and a few Danes, where reindeer meat and seal fat are staple foods. Who would think that a country of about 50,000 people stuck smack in the middle of the arctic north would also be the home of this most insanely, ultimately chill hip hop-band? Nuuk Posse is the real thing.. old school Greenlandic hip-hop!
What makes Nuuk Posse so cool is that many of their songs are rapped in GREENLANDIC! I guess that is like Inuit! Some songs are in Danish, others in English-- one song features English samples like "We interrupting this program for an S.O.S.... Stop eating the suitcase!"... That is so great!! We run around the grand hallways of Milkycat Industry headquarters repeating that all the time, because it is PHAT with a PH. And in Greenland, Nuuk Posse is platinum FOUR TIMES OVER!!! Nuuk Posse's label ULO produces and sells more Greenlandic CD's and tapes per person than the USA and the rest of Europe! Greenlanders are totally into their nation's music scene. Greenlandic villages and cities are very far apart and hard to access, so CDs and cassettes there are little vessels of communication, community and culture, serving to tie people together...
We give props to Nuuk Posse for being our favorite Greenlandic hip-hop band and being completely, brilliantly awesome! Milkycat highly recommends their album "Kataaq", which features ineffable Greenlandic Inuit drumbeats and unearthly chanting, meshing beautifully with totally pro turntable work, beats and lovely crackly samples, as well as some excellent human beatbox action. Members of the Greenland Hip-Hop Foundation. Old-school rap & hip-hop meets the new-school studio wizardry and production values of trip hop. Kataaq has the Greenlandic/Inuit lyrics translated into English in the liner notes -- cool! In their own words "WE ARE KALAALLIT - GREENLANDERS ARCTIC RAPPERS FUNK OF THE NORTH" - from the song "WE'RE BACK / UTEQQIPPUGUT"... Nuuk Posse is: John Olsen, Peter T. Modzfeldt, Lars Sørensen, Henrik Pedersen, Anda Høgaard and Thomas Hansen.
Nuuk Posse photos © Jan Sanderhoff and Lunby Foto. All Rights Reserved.
want to see a whopping huge photo (125kb) of the band from the cd liner notes?
Milkycat gots the exclusive HOOK-UP with Greenlandic HIP HOP HERO Henrik Peterson of Nuuk-Posse, who was kind enough to take some time out for an interview! Milkycat Secret Agent Pippilina arrived in Nuuk, Greenland after departing from Grindavik, Iceland in a birch bark canoe. After 18 grueling days lost at sea, delirious, reeking of hardfiskur, blue opel, and brennivin, she was picked up by the icebreaker ship "Koko Mjolkllega Kettur" and a 7 day dogsled trek across the arctic tundra. [Editors note: interview may have been conducted by e-mail.]
Milkycat Secret Agent Pippilina: How &when did Nuuk Posse start?
Henrik: HIP HOP came to Greenland in 1984..... Nuuk Posse was formed in 1985, by Peter, John and me, but then we didn't call ourselves Nuuk Posse. We were all deejaying in local youth-clubs........ and breakdance, rap, graffiti were a huge part of our daily life. We formed our "gang", and did some battling against other "gangs" (only for fun). So you can say, that we're a part of the old-school generation.
What were your influences? Which artists inspired you?
We were inspired by: Africa Bambaata, Grand Master Flash, Kool Moe Dee, Rock Steady Crew, etc. and movies like Breakstreet and Breakin'.
What it's like producing music in Greenland?
MMMH....... ;-) F U N!! Not different from other countries.......OK!
The way I see it is that Greenland probably is the last place on earth that has a culture.....other countries - today - are very mixed, and that could be a reason that they forget it.
Please don't misunderstand me...!!!! We are a country that had a primitive life just 60 years ago. The development goes really fast in Greenland. There are still some Eskimos that can't follow. Some are confused, and some can cope. Because of the development we forgot our culture in those 60 years; the development went on, and that's the reason we included some traditional music on "Kataaq". We wanted to wake up the culture, and remind the young people that we after all are INUIT's and we shouldn't forget it. Mixing new music with traditional chants are a thing we like up here. Actually, we won a National Culture Prize in 1996.
Imagine!........5 HIP HOPPERS standing with the Prime Minister and the rest of the government......they are telling you that what you do is a good thing, and if you listen to lyrics on "Kaataq", we are looking down at the politicians..........HEY!!! Only in Greenland.....totally down to earth!
Have you guys ever toured Europe or the USA? We would love to see you perform live!
We have played in Sweden and Germany. But, I think that our dream is to play in USA. Where HIP-HOP was born. That would be an honor.
Can you describe yourselves in three words?
Describe us in 3 words.....HMMM.... PROUD..............PATRIOTS...............INUIT's
Is it very hard to come by musical equipment in Greenland?
It is hard to get musical equipment in Greenland, but 5 mic's and high volume....thats enough!
What do you guys do when you're not performing or writing music?
Our daily jobs:
On Kataaq, you guys rap in Greenlandic, English, and Danish... do you prefer rapping in any language over another?
We prefer rapping in all possible languages. Greenlandic is of course #1.
Stop eating the suitcase!!! Check out these NUUKTASTIC LINKS!
[ m i l k y c a t - h o m e ][ milkycat@milkycat.com ]