Swedish Hip Hop Pioneers: The Latin Kings

Naah boo, this ain't about the US gang The Latin Kings, but about the trio of guys who helped pioneer Hip Hop in Sweden. The members of the group are the lead rapper Dogge Doggelito (Douglas Léon) and the two brothers, Salla and Chepe. They all have roots in Latin America (Venezuela and Chile).

They grew up in the concrete suburbs in Botkyrka where a large proportion of the population are immigrants and refugees and the poverty is more visible than elsewhere in Sweden. The hip hop subculture has a large following in these areas of Stockholm. Their songs reflect life in the less affluent suburbs.

TLK were, in 1994, among the first to release a hip hop album with lyrics in Swedish (the first was Just D). Swedish rappers had before that time almost always used English. The debut album was Välkommen till förorten (Welcome to the suburb) and the very first single was "Snubben" (The dude). The group felt like they had been ripped off by their record company and they decided to start their own label, Red Line Records, on which they have signed a number of talented hip hop artists in Sweden such as Fattaru, Kalle Kath, Fjärde världen and Ison & Fille.

Latin Kings has become famous for rapping in the local Rinkeby Swedish, a "multiethnolect language" that is used in areas with many immigrants. It's basically Swedish with loanwords from Turkish, Aramaic, Spanish, Finnish , Persian, Arabic and a few other languages. Consequently, they
ushered in a new wave of Swedish hip hop artists. The coming generation of Swedish talent would be distinguished from the first by their inclusion of Swedish language rhymes, as opposed to the exclusive use of English rhymes by Sweden's first generation of rappers. (source) Below is a taste of TLK doing thier thing!

The Latin Kings - Shonnar Vet

Latinos making waves in the Swedish Hop Hop movement. That's wassup! What's cool is that the video not only reps universal Hip Hop elements - grafitti, Dj'ing, rappin', but also the whole bike thing gives u some insight into what's goin' down in Hip Hop culture in Sweden. Peep the Padres and NY Yankee shirts. As a New Yorker, I am feelin the luv!! Don't miss the jazz like scatting over scratching at the end. (GURU would be proud) What u think? U feelin them or what, kompis?

"Shonnar vet om dem jiddrar me oss de blir aaaaajajajajaj...kompis "

P.S. I heard that kompis means friend, buddy or in the hop hop context homie.

Flava reppin the Hip Hop movement!

Posted by Nikki Strong