Reykjavík Grapevine


Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Blaðsíða 20

Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Blaðsíða 20
COSTCO ZEITGEIST The first coming of Joey Christ Words: John Rogers In the summer of 2017, Icelanders were in a frenzy over the arrival of the Cost- co supermarket, lapping up the offer of bargain goods in a notoriously ex- pensive country. At the same time, Ice- land’s rap music explosion was going full tilt, with new artists coming out of the woodwork on a regular basis. It was an opportune moment for rapper Joey Christ to introduce himself by combining the two phenomena on his debut track—an instant hit called “Joey Cypher,” which crisply distilled the zeitgeist into three short minutes. “I like hearing that,” says Joey. “I felt that the decision to do the video in Cost- co was actually crucial for this release. The track had leaked previously, and people were so excited about it, but the video gave them something they weren’t expecting. Costco arriving in Iceland was a pop phenomenon. I liked putting it into context with the other pop phe- nomenon of Iceland—the rap scene.” 101DERLAND Joey cut his teeth as a part of the col- lective behind Sturla Atlas, working out of the infamous 101derland Studio. He often hung out with rappers Birnir, Aron Can and Herra Hnetusmjór, the trio who ended up as guest vocalists on "Joey Cypher." “We were sitting around playing some beats, and we just caught a vibe,” Joey recalls. “Herra Hnetusmjór and Birnir did their verses, and I recorded the hook and my verse. Then Aron Can wrote a verse during a class in school. He freestyles a lot, and talked about how fun it was writing out a whole verse. I like bringing people together, so it was a perfect statement for my vi- sion in this scene at the moment.” At first, there was confusion about Joey’s artist name, with some people mistakenly thinking he was called Joey Cypher. “A cypher is when you have a beat, and many rappers rap to it,” he laughs. “It’s an old thing in rap, like at the MTV awards and so on. People got confused, but I embraced it.” LANGUAGE BARRIER After some English language work with Sturla Atlas, Joey took a mind- ful decision to rap in Icelandic on his solo project. “I like joking around,” he explains, “and I found I could more easily channel my persona in my na- tive language than in English. But I feel like, to a certain extent, music is a universal language. I listen to a lot of Scandinavian and French hip hop, and don’t understand the words, but if there’s something that catches your attention, that can be irrelevant. If you connect with the aesthetics, attitude and vibe of a track, the language bar- rier is a small fence to hop over.” When pressed to translate the lyr- ics, Joey furrows his brow as he thinks it through. “The first line is like… ‘I got friends who do crime, not me though, just the vibe. Just applied for a job, took a pill and smoked a joint…’” he peters out, laughing. “It sounds dumb when I translate it! It’s a basic rap song, which is the point of a cypher—letting ev- erybody do their thing. Cyphers aren’t always released, but we couldn’t not re- lease this one—it was just meant to be. It was a breakout record for me. I owe a lot to this track.” 20 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 01 — 2018 ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Högni - ‘Two Trains’ When choosing the best album from 2017, the panel was adamant to select an album that was excellent in its en- tirety; an LP on which the whole experience could be en- joyed without disappointment. Högni’s album ‘Two Trains’ won by a good margin for being a well constructed opus that sits independently from Högni’s previous collabora- tions, whilst bearing the hallmarks of his career to date. Högni’s electrifying voice was first heard in the band Hjaltalín then, later, as a powerful collaborator and stage presence in techno-pop outfit GusGus. In his solo project, the scope of Högni’s talent truly shines through. ‘Two Trains’ is at once a nod to the past, with a sonorous male choir and heart-wrenching string arrangements, and a glimpse of the future, with its elec- tronic textures. “The album has a good flow, but the songs also work individually,” one panellist said. “Listening to it can be a strange experience at first—almost transcen- dent—but it truly is the gift that keeps on giving.” Track Of The Year: Joey Christ - ‘Joey Cypher’ A blood-sworn 101 boy, and partner in crime of local R’n’B star Sturla Atlas, Joey Christ arrived in style in 2017. His sound is fine-tuned to the hip-hop vibe that permeates downtown Reykjavík, and the Icelandic music scene in general. ‘Joey Cypher’ turned out to be the hit of the sum- mer—the video, filmed in the newly opened Costco super- market, went viral immediately. Perhaps, because it was a collective mash-up that in- volved fellow artists and friends Birnir, Aron Can and Herra Hnetusmjör, the song “easily summed up the rap explosion in one top notch track,” as one of our journalists said. “It was a real high point in a scene that often gives mixed re- sults.”
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