Brussels warms up for a hip-hop summer

There’s a popular Flemish idiom that says: “If it rains in Paris, it drips in Brussels”. Events or decisions in France, in other words, have repercussions here.

For a long time, it was also true for Brussels’ hip-hop culture. The local MCs and DJs looked up at their hip-hop brothers in France, who had created their own version of a genre invented in the streets of New York.

But recently, something has changed. The French media, which used to speak with a certain disdain about their neighbours to the north, have even dropped by to have a closer look at this “exotic new scene”.

“We don’t need to carry the weight of the legacy of our predecessors,” Roméo Elvis told a reporter from the leading French newspaper Libération, as it dedicated a full page to the Brussels hip-hop renaissance.

“In France, the situation is different,” says the 24-year old prince of the new scene, who was born Roméo Johnny Elvis Kiki Van Laeken. Sitting on the terrace at his favourite coffee bar in the centre of Brussels, he explains that some of their MCs became real stars and that the new generation has found it hard to live up to their achievements.

“Here in Brussels, we have a totally different relationship with our local pioneers.”

‘We’re not so different’

When the Schaerbeek band De Puta Madre and the CNN109 crew appeared in the 1990s, hip-hop was still a new phenomenon in Brussels, largely turning to examples from the US and France. The scene never outgrew the underground, while young audiences today have grown up listening to urban beats.

“Now the culture is established; it’s in our communities,” says Roméo Elvis (pictured above). “We don’t feel the need to respect those pioneers endlessly.”

This environment appeared to be the ideal breeding ground for the laconic rhymes and no-messing-around atmosphere on Morale 2. Roméo Elvis’ debut album, co-created by his friend and beat-maker Le Motel and released last March, proves Brussels hip-hop has grown up.

Even the Flemish have taken a special interest in him, which doesn’t often happen with French-language acts. “That made me really proud,” he says. “Now I can say I’m really a Belgian artist. I love the Flemish mentality. We are not as different as some politicians want us to believe.”

Raised in a francophone household in Linkebeek, a Flemish municipality with special language facilities for French-speakers, he’s only ever been a short train ride from Brussels. “But when I perform for a Flemish crowd, I introduce myself in Dutch, saying that ‘tonight, even if I rap in French, we are on this trip together. In Antwerp, Ghent, Kortrijk or wherever I may be’. Respecting each other’s language is essential for me.”

Languages have always mingled in Brussels’ hip-hop scene. French, Dutch, English, Spanish… The local MCs, sometimes not raised in the Belgian capital, have always performed in the language they felt like.

Caballero, one of the trailblazers, for example, has roots in Barcelona. Bands have always fraternised here, and language barriers are easily broken.

Lyrics go deep

It was leading Brussels Dutch-language crew Stikstof that introduced Flanders to Roméo Elvis. “Gorik showed me the way,” he says, referring to crew member Gorik van Oudheusden, a real ket, or Brussels kid.

Van Oudheusden has lived almost everywhere in Brussels – Jette, Ganshoren, Molenbeek, Schaarbeek and now the centre. “I had a chaotic upbringing, moving from one apartment to another,” van Oudheusden says.

He left school at 14 to work in construction on an apprenticeship contract. It was deadening. Hip-hop saved him, became his outlet.

As a member of Stikstof and a youth worker, he has been paving the way for a younger generation of acts, often supporting young talent on stage. In April, he released his first mix tape as Zwangere Guy: Zwangerschapsverlof (Maternity Leave) Vol 3.

His videos may look pretentious, but that’s only show, he insists. “I do like the showing off part of hip-hop, but you have to see the art and the playfulness in it. If you listen to my lyrics, you can hear they go deep.”

Honesty is important to Roméo Elvis, too. “It would be ridiculous for me to make statements about poverty or racism,” he says. “I keep quiet about things I don’t know. I only rap about the life I’ve lived.”

His mother is the actor Laurence Bibot, his father the singer Marka, so his middle-class background is totally different from that of Zwangere Guy. It’s probably why he considers himself “more of a rhythmic poet than a street rapper”.

Nevertheless, both MCs have recently joined forces again on the track “Low & Loowgis”, and they have a lot in common. Alongside their laid-back style, they share a preference for self-mockery.

“Maybe that’s what the Flemish and the French-speaking rappers have in common,” Roméo Elvis says. “Hip-hop is one big ego trip. You have to brag about how you are the best, but you can’t really mean it. It’s typically Belgian to immediately counter this megalomania with self-mockery and irony.”

Self-defence

And of course, Brussels is near to their hearts. “As a Fleming I always had to defend myself,” says Zwangere Guy. “That’s how I ended up with such a big mouth. I like the multicultural environment too, though you can find that in any other big city. It’s the je m’en foutisme – the couldn’t-care-less attitude – that makes Brussels really special.”

“The city is far from perfect, but I was born here, I grew up with its values, so I feel the need to stand up for it,” Roméo Elvis adds. Last year, he announced the rise of the local hip-hop scene with the anthem “Bruxelles Arrive”.

“It was a symbolic gesture to connect Brussels with Paris. And look what’s happening now! In Paris they realised that, though they speak the same language, we’re so different. It makes us exotic, exclusive and hot in their eyes.”

Let’s enjoy this success for now, he suggests. “But please, let’s avoid making it a craze, because crazes come and go.”

In the meantime, fine arts centre Bozar has also discovered the local urban scene. The summer exhibition YO: Brussels Hip-Hop Generations focuses on 35 years of rap, DJs, breakdance and graffiti art in the capital, the four-leaf clover of hip-hop culture.

Part of MIXITY.brussels, a festival organised by tourist office Visit Brussels, the curators have dived into the archives of local hip-hop pioneers such as Benny B and CNN199, and present the current generation of artists, led by Caballero & JeanJass, Roméo Elvis and Stikstof.

Interactive rooms make for an immersive experience, with a breakdance tapestry, a rap boat and a golden graffiti wall, while artist talks and workshops provide in-depth information.

Initiatives like this can help spread the good news about the burgeoning scene, which is something to be proud of as far as Roméo Elvis and Zwangere Guy are concerned. But that doesn’t mean the city doesn’t need bottom-up projects.

Zwangere Guy is involved in Biestebroek, a social project that provides a new youth club for 14- to 24-year-olds in the densely populated Veeweide neighbourhood of Anderlecht. “Frontal, the collective around Stikstof, is developing a recording studio there right now,” he says. His eyes gleam at the possibilities.

The Antwerp way

Brussels’ hip-hop scene may be flourishing, but there’s something stirring in Antwerp, too. Unlike their urban brothers and sisters in the capital, here they prefer their rhymes in English and with a touch of soul, funk and jazz.

Take TheColorGrey. Last year, the Belgian-Congolese rapper released the EP Do The Right Thing. Now he has his own label, Corner Vibe, a licensing deal with Warner Music and a first full-length album, Rebelation. His smooth, laid back grooves are catchy enough to climb the charts.

He might soon be joined there by the promising jazzy hip-hop duo blackwave (check out their EP mic check) or the funky DVTCH NORRIS, who have already had a radio hit with “Don’t Care”, a duet with the local hip-hop princess Coely.

Coely, 23, is the talented daughter of a Congolese mother, who used to run a gospel choir in Merksem. She was just 18 when she released the single “Ain’t Chasing Pavements”, followed by the EP Raah: The Soulful Yeah.

This spring, she launched her first full album, Different Waters. Next weekend she will support it at Rock Werchter.

YO: Brussels Hip-Hop Generations, until 17 September, Bozar, Brussels

Photo: Kevin Jordan