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Gatas Parlament

 
Artist: Gatas Parlament
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Similar Artists:

Dirty Oppland, Tungtvann, Klovner i Kamp, Jaa9 & Onkl P

Influenced By:

Jurassic 5, Public Enemy
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "93 Til Infinity

Biography

One of the first Norwegian rap acts to rap entirely in Norwegian (beat out by a year by Stale Stiil's Yo), Gatas Parlament have taken up the mantle of political rap in their homeland and held it since their inception. Formed in 1993 (though renamed themselves Gatas Parlament in response to a right-wing politician's cries after they had thrown rotten food at him), the group consists of brothers Elling and Aslak Borgersrud, along with DJ Don Martin. Musically, the group sounds reminiscent at times of the Jurassic 5, with a playful back-and-forth pass the mic style. At other times, the group can sound more menacing, taking a page from the Public Enemy playbook. Outside of their music itself, the group tends to work with lyrics from the far-left political spectrum, railing against the Bush administration and Norway's involvement in various matters. This has taken the form of lyrical protest (as in "Anti-American Dance"), but has also gone so far as to include a run for the Norwegian congress by Elling Borgersrund (with a Marxist alliance) and a mostly satirical website soliciting contributions for the assassination of George W. Bush (which got the attention of the U.S. Embassy in Norway, among others). The group continues to march forward both politically and musically, collaborating with ska group Hopalong Knut in 2007 and releasing 2008's Kidsa Har Alltid Rett, which cracked the Top Ten. ~ Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Gatas Parlament
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Gatas Parlament

Background information
Also known as Kveldens Høydepunkt
Origin Oslo, Norway
Genres Hip Hop
Years active 1993 to present
Labels Tee Productions
Associated acts Promoe, Jester, Jon Michelet, Tommy Tee, Crazy Minister, Definite, Hopalong Knut
Website Homepage

Gatas Parlament (English: Parliament of the Street) is a Norwegian group of rap artists. It consists of the brothers Aslak and Elling Borgersrud and DJ Don Martin. All three have strong left-leaning political views, and make their feelings on many things, including American president George W. Bush, well known through their lyrics.

Elling Borgersrud has stood for national election as a minor political candidate for the Red Electoral Alliance.[1]

Contents

History

Gatas Parlament claim to be the first Norwegian rappers actually to rap in Norwegian, although they were preceded by Ståle Stiil, whose album Yo was released in 1992. The pioneers of Norwegian Rap, such as Warlocks or A-Team, rapped in English.

Gatas Parlament started out in 1993, taking the name Kveldens Høydepunkt (Highlight of the Evening). Don Martin did not take to the name, however, and thus it was dropped. Later, they attended a public speech by Carl I. Hagen, the chairman of the right-wing party Fremskrittspartiet, where they threw eggs and rotten fruit at Hagen. This caused Hagen to comment that gatens parlament ruled the country, and the three rappers stuck with the name (the riksmål-wording of gaten was dropped for gata, more fitting for their sociolect).

Gatas Parlament's DJ Don Martin is also host of the radio program Goodshit Radio.

During 2007 Gatas Parlament launched a collaboration with Hopalong Knut, a ska band from Trondheim which uses trønder dialect. When the two groups perform toghether, they call themselves Samvirkelaget (English: the workers' cooperative).

Controversy

The band caused controversy in Norway with their video "Antiamerikansk Dans" (Anti-American Dance) together with the Swedish rap artist Promoe and their website killhim.nu ("Kill him Now"), which claimed to collect money for a bounty on the head of George W. Bush. The campaign caused the American embassy in Norway to react, and the website was subsequently shut down. However, the Norwegian police found that their campaign was satirical, and there was no basis for prosecution.

Discography

Albums

EPs

  • Autobahn Til Union (1994)
  • Slå Tilbake (1997)
  • Counter Strike EP (2008)

Street records

  • Bottlegs, Bsider og Bestiser (2004)
  • 93 til Infinity (2007)

Singles

  • Naturkraft (1997)
  • Stem Gatas Parlament (1999)
  • Nå om da'n (2001)
  • Bombefly (2004)
  • Anti-amerikansk dans (2004)
  • Spis de rike (2004)

References

  1. ^ Statistics Norway (2005). "Storting Election 2005. Official electoral lists, by county". Storting Election 2005. http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/01/10/stortingsvalg/tab-2005-10-27-18.html. Retrieved 2007-04-17. 

External links

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Copyrights:

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