Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2018, Blaðsíða 41

Look Who’s
Spitting
BLVCK POX on babies, beats and bombshells

Words: Þórður Ingi Jónsson Photo: Timothée Lambrecq
Info
Check out BLVCK POX at soundcloud.
com/blvckpox
You m ight not have hea rd of
BLVCK POX, but in the local hip-
hop game in Reykjavík, he’s a
strong contender. He’s one of
the rappers that bubbled up on
SoundCloud and social media
during the first wave of Icelandic
hip-hop which surfaced in the
2010s. He’s also one of the coun-
try’s top spitters when it comes to
rapping in English, although he
can code-switch effortlessly.
Power nap
Fans and followers might have
noticed POX hasn’t been super
active lately. The reason for that
isn’t the whips and scorns of the
rap scene but a more familial rea-
son—his first baby.
"At the moment it’s not really
possible for me to balance hav-
ing a baby and doing music,” he
says, with a smile. "I always want
to make some stuff, but my kid
wakes up in the night a lot, so
sleep is the most important thing
I can think of right now. When
he finally does fall asleep I’m not
really thinking of rushing to the
studio. I’d rather take a power
nap or plan the next day, because
it’s always the same party around
here!”
Still chillin’
There’s no need to worry about
n e w m a t e r i a l c o m i n g o u t
though—when we called POX he
was busy working
on B-roll footage
for music videos.
“ T h e p l a n i s
to put out th ree
videos soon with
short intervals in
between. I’m very
hesit a nt to t a l k
about my first full
length project be-
cause I’ve slipped
in interviews be-
fore by announc-
ing it and then ten
months later I’m like ‘I’m still
chillin.’”
The v ideos are shot by h is
girlfriend and baby mama, Stella
Björt Bergmann Gunnarsdóttir,
the fashion editor of NUDE Mag-
azine. “It’s a common interest for
us,” says POX. “We’re both really
thinking about the big picture
in terms of how everything looks
and sounds. We have very similar
ideas and we definitely share a
vision.”
Growing pains
POX’s background when it comes
to rap is quite interesting. He
started rapping in the 10th grade,
as a solitary practice, and never
told anyone about it until years
later. “It was a very closed-off
thing for me,” he says. “I didn’t
tell anyone until years later in
high school. That was quite a
bombshell for my friends, but
they took it well. No one thought
I had any kind of musical output.”
H i s mot her i s f rom Sout h
Korea but she went to school in
the U.S. before finally settling in
Iceland. “She took all that influ-
ence with her be-
cause she was very
big on hip-hop out
there;” he says. “I
k i n d of l e a r n e d
about it from her.
She’s always been
a cool chick, wear-
ing tracksuits and
stuff.”
Finally, BLVCK
POX tel ls us not
to fret about his
d i m i n i shed out-
put. “I know I have
a small but great fanbase, so it’s
annoying not being able to work
on music as much as I want, not
only because of the baby, just be-
cause there’s a lot going on in my
life anyway. But I will return!”
Share this: gpv.is/music
BLVCK POX and a baby
“Me rapping
was quite a
bombshell for
my friends. No
one thought I
had any kind
of musical
output.”
41The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2018
Einskis-mannslandNo Man‘s Land
Ríkir þar fegurðin ein?Where Beauty Alone Reigns?
02.06.–30.09.2018
Hafnarhús
Tryggvagata 17
101 Reykjavík
Kjarvalsstaðir
Flókagata 24
105 Reykjavík
Open daily
+354 411 6400
artmuseum.is