På RUST’s scene foran mig står en mand med soundcloud-rap-hår, du ved, det med alle fletningerne i forskellige farver. Han er iklædt en lyserød FCK-trøje – den alle snakkede om, da klubben trak den på i 8-delsfinalen i 2010-11 udgaven af Champions League mod Chelsea. Tilhørende har han løse, røde bukser, der ikke ligefrem skjuler bulen fra hans manddom og en halskæde med et Mercedes-logo i. Ud af munden på ham kommer ordene “Lick her ass music – all my friends do it”.
Céleste er manden bag det ekstraordinære look – og lyrik. Han er en del af treenigheden Capital Fluxus – en hiphop-gruppe fra “Neo-Neo Europe”. Jeg tog en snak med Capital Fluxus forud for deres første headliner-koncert på RUST i lørdags om, hvad Neo-Neo Europe er, og vigtigst af alt – hvem de er.
Hey guys! Could you introduce yourselves?
- I’m Robin, and we are Capital Fluxus, and we are from Neo-Neo Europe!
- Originally we consist of four persons, but Jonas is in New York at the moment. The last two gigs we’ve had Sarah (drums) and Sofus (keys) playing with us, and hopefully going onwards we are going to have a more live setup, when we play. And I’m Céleste by the way.
And you are Jacob, the man pulling all the strings?
- Yeah, I still produce with Jonas, so now we are in a long-distance-relationship.
Robin, you said you are from Neo-Neo Europe. What’s that?
- It started from the concept of Neo-Europe with the fluid borders and so on. Neo-Neo-Europe is the next step where borders don’t even exist and people are just people.
- Jacob: It came from the way we met with everyone having different international backgrounds and we just came together.
- Celeste: It’s a critique of Neo-Europe, which is what happened when Europeans came to South Africa and lived there and so on. It’s what happens, when you can’t really put Europe in a box anymore. We don’t want to be boxed in, and we try to make music and art that shows that whatever stigmas you have regarding gender-roles and sexuality doesn’t matter. Especially in hiphop, you know. Homophobia and such. Fuck that shit. Basically saying: “The old world has failed”. Haha. Our generation is about something new. Wherever you go, you can just feel it in people. It’s like millennials watching Friends for the first time and being like: “Why is it only white people in there?” and “Why does the pretty girl have to be stupid?”.
- Jacob: It’s about deconstruction things and doing something new.
It seems rather philosophical..
- Robin: Yes, I guess you could say that. Maybe we read to many books and that’s why.
Aren’t you afraid of loosing listeners with this kind of abstract philosophical thinking?
- Robin: Yes, and that’s the challenge. Making accesible music with that kind of thought behind it. But then again, that’s the whole game, isn’t it?
- Celeste: Everybody’s welcome in Neo-Neo Europe.
- Jacob: It’s not like we come and say: “This is the thing. Get in on it”. We are trying to do something together with other people rather than be like: “This is our thing – come and dig our thing”. We are not here to hand out manifestos to people on how to live their lives.
And why should our readers listen to your music?
- Céleste: It’s not to sound arrogant, but there are nobody in Copenhagen doing what we do. You should listen to us, if you are tired of artists on the radio sounding like each other. We are doing something that might make you think differently.
- Robin: Bringing some new perspective to the music industry. Maybe that sounds arrogant..
No, I don’t think it’s arrogant saying you are unique – it’s arrogant claiming you are better than others.
- Robin: Yes, exactly.
Tilbage til koncerten er Robin i gang med et af sine lækre franske rim, som giver Capital Fluxus en hel del ekstra kant og som bakker konceptet om Neo-Neo Europe op. I princippet kan Robin rappe hvad som helst, fordi jeg forstår ikke meget mere fransk end Camembert og Jean Luc-Godard, men det klæder alligevel musikken med det franske, fordi rap på fransk bare lyder ret fedt. Jeg bliver trukket tilbage i tiden, hvor jeg hørte Mc Solaar på MTV, og tænkte, at fransk rap har et ret fedt flow, og at det kunne et eller andet. Hvad det kunne, har jeg dog svært ved at sætte fingeren på. Fransk lyder jo selvfølgelig bare altid godt, så måske er det det?
Jakob er den sky svensker bag knapperne og melodierne. Han står tilbagetrukket og sørger for, at det hele spiller, som det skal, mens frontmændene fyrer rundt på scenen
Til sammen har vi altså et kollektiv bestående af en skandinav, en franskmand og en dansk-rwandaner der gerne vil udbrede budskabet om at vende det hele på hovedet og gentænke, hvorfor vi gør, som vi gør. Måske er det netop dér, det største puslespil for mig går op, fordi jeg ikke kunne forene en sang som “Lick her ass music” med et politisk budskab, men det handler om at gentænke hele vores liv og tilværelse og ageren, og der passer sangen ind, fordi den omhandler noget som stadig er tabubelagt, men som Capital Fluxus gerne vil opfordre os til at gentænke. Derfor har sangen en symbolværdi som går ud over det abstrakte seksuelle indhold, og den er bare et eksempel på at udfordre sig selv til at bryde et tabu og ændre på ens værdier og normer. Europas kulturer og grænser flyder sammen, men gå ikke i panik, Capital Fluxus er din guide til det nye-nye Europa.
