Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2017, Blaðsíða 2

First
The last issue of the Reykjavík Grape-
vine 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 commu-
nity 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 manufac-
ture young artists, and one cover is not
the root of the gender imbalance in hip-
hop 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 coun-
try today. They have great power in the
industry and a direct line to listeners.
All of them have often invited young art-
ists to make some music with them. Our
young cover star, Aron Can, has made
a song with Emmsjé Gauti. Herra Hne-
tusmjör 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 Rey-
kjavík 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 confer-
ence room at Kex Hostel to have a sym-
posium 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 oth-
ers. 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 hip-
hop and want to do something about it,
be there. The meeting will be in Icelan-
dic, and the Reykjavík Grapevine will of
course report back in our next issue.
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
+354 540 3601
publisher@grapevine.is
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Valur Grettisson
valur@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
WEB EDITOR
Elías Þórsson
elias@grapevine.is
LISTINGS DIRECTOR
Hannah Jane Cohen
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COPY EDITOR
Mark Asch
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Anisha Chandar
Alice Demurtas
Johanna Eriksson
ILLUSTRATORS
Elín Elísabet
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
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 Haralds-
Eiríksdóttir
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
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FOUNDERS
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar
Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine
is published 21 times a
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COVER PHOTO BY
Rut Sigurðardóttir
rutsig.com
Hip-hop needs to
check itself before it
wrecks itself
Grapevine hosts a symposium on the lack of
young women in hip-hop
EDITORIAL
2
Issue 12
Words:
Valur
Grettisson
P16 Meet the women
fighting domestic
violence
P18 What the hell is
Uppreist æra anyway
P25 Award fashion
designer, Eygló Margrét
Lárusdóttir makes
murder mystery
P30 Alexander Kirchner
is in-the-street-bitch
P55 Eli and Timothée
went to Reykjanes for a
day trip
P58 My Bubba jammed
with Bryan Adams and
stepped on his toes
Find today's events
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Why are so many young,
up-and-coming rappers
men? What are the fun-
damental 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!
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
Grapevine Open
Symposium:
Gender
Equality in
Icelandic
Hip-Hop
www.oddsson.isd
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