Van: J4
Even on topic weer. Nog eens t allereerste Boombap-stukje... in t engels destijds nog. En onder de naam 'Da Page' (1995)
An introduction to the dutch hiphop scene
"There's a million MC's that claim they want some..." (ATCQ)
Holland might not be the first country which comes to mind when you think of hiphop. Legal smoking, red light districts might seem like heaven to some, but for a B-boy it's not.
Dutch hiphop, or even hiphop in general is one of the most underexposed forms of music in Dutch media. There are no major magazines fully devoted to hiphop. However because of the big graffiti scene there are a few independant graf mags like True Colors, Bomber and Idiots.
You won't find a hiphop radio show easy here.There's one show called Villa 65 which aires every monday night nationwide.Dedicating two hours strictly to the the latest dope beats and rhymes. You also might find some shows in the bigger cities on local stations, but not all of them are hosted by people with knowledge (right Noordwijk ?!).
Standing in an average club it's hard to crack a smile being a true B-Boy.The main music here is house, so if you randomly step into a club, this is the music most likely to enter your earhole. The more stupid and simplistic the songs, the more they're played. Ofcourse people like Snoop or PE have made the chart once,but even Biggie won't come near a top 50 here.
So this brings you full circle. The media doesn't give enough attention to hiphop, or if they do it's mostly in a negative form, people don't get interested, it won't make the charts and it keeps on going circlewise.
Now there are some groups who've made it worldwide. Urban Dance Squad is one example. Originally a group with a lot of hiphop influences, UDS has been heading a more alternative direction now after they lost the DJ. Then there's King Bee who had a small success with "back by dope demand". They even did a track with hiphop greats Ultra Magnetic but turned out to be just another wack, doing too many concessions, commercial group.
By far a rock band and commercial garbage isn't representative for Dutch hiphop. Deep in the underground (to a lot of "civilians" at least) there are crews doing big things on little demos.
The Dutch hiphop scene had its start in the early eighties. Breakdancing became very popular,and after the classic graf movie "stylewars" was shown on TV, a lot of kids were influenced by it. A huge and creative graffiti scene emerged.The graf scene is still big today, but independant of hiphop the music, which had its own development.
While originally a battle between Amsterdam (aka gangstadam) and Rotterdam (aka ruffadam) in the mid eighties, later on the cities of Eindhoven, Breda and Groningen gained some respect. In the late eighties under the influence of the political approach of US artists like PE, Dutch groups started to make songs about the crack problem, or gang situations. Ofcourse this was straight copying of US hiphop, there are no gangs nor crack infiltrated ghettos anywhere in Holland. But copying often is a start for doing good things.
Amsterdam proved to be the main breeding ground for hiphop talent this day.Ruffadam with the reputation of being the most violent city remained to be ruff but without delivering the crews and parties it needed to stay ahead of Gangstadam. Big crews emerged from the troubled A'dam innercity (south east quarter aka the Bijlmer) like South East Alliance who bring forth rappers like Hurricane and Kiddo Cee. They created a significant sound; dark and deep.From the city of Haarlem there comes Shy Rock ,solo,but also working with the funkateers of the band Gotcha! and now with his own band called Gutt. He recently released a cd single which was received very well.
Any major deals? Forget it. Record companies don't want to take the risk, which maybe would be understandable from a projected sales point of view. However the group D.A.M.N, sold 2000 copies in '89 off their first album which is a lot in Dutch terms. But out of a million MC's that claim they want some,only a few still make it to vinyl or cd.M ost acts seek the solution in bringing out their material themselves.South East Alliance rapper Hurricane recently proved hiphop can be dedicated and still sell in Holland, by releasing his own tape. 100 pressings and was sold out a week later.A belgian rapper called Krewcial gets major props here for his tapes which sell very good as well. Very underground,very pure.
But besides the rap in dutch language (more about that later on) most of the hiphop releases till now were independant. A lot of them compilation albums like "Block Buster" from last year.This year the Dutch Masters will be coming out. A crew consisting of rappers who have been down for years and gained underground reputation.People like Deams who got the attention from Gang Starr (supposedly he even has a production deal with them). He is currently working on an album for a label set up by one of the house artists (a rapper) who made big dough with a group called 2 Unlimited. Also a group called Next Chapter,with Extince and Skate the Great (a freestyle master) will be on the Dutch Masters album. Business is partly being handled by Mental Kees who got many cantacts through his work (hiphop journalist and dj). This might be a more succesfull project than it's predecessors.
A genre in hiphop that does sell here (still without airplay support) is rap in the dutch language. This started out with a rapper called Def P who thought it was a good idea translating NWA's lyrics literally into Dutch. This was because some of his friends didn't understand the slang.It grew into Def P and his crew called the Osdorp Posse getting a contract with DJAX, a small label which prodominantly brought out Dutch rap,and more recently, house.The group gained a pretty big and loyal crowd and evolved from straight up translating to sometimes very clever lyrics in the Dutch language. The albums sell very good and it lead to a load of new Dutch rapping groups emerging. This year alone 7 of those acts are scheduled to, or have already come out with an album against 4 or so in English. The Dutch-rap crowd in general comes from "the alternative" scene,and don't know shit about hiphop.While "the real" hiphop crowd,has a dedicated core who stay true to their roots,and has been down for years. It's hard to see some kids take over a market for which they've been struggling for years.
And the frustration doesn't stop with this.
An average recordshop, if they do have a special section, only has a limited assortment.You can find your new PE or Gang Starr there on cd,no problem.But for vinyl and groups that haven't been on Yo! MTV more than twice you'll have to got to the big cities. And only a few selected import stores carry vinyl. Bootlegs are available too, but don't check for old vinyl; it's not, or very hard, to obtain. As for parties, the most regular ones are in Amsterdam. There are three major parties each on a monthly basis. There's B-Boy extravaganza in Paradiso with fat new music,and mostly dutch acts who come present themselves, often followed by a freestyle session.There's the parties by the krazy phat unit, in Aknathon with up and coming artists,not strictly hiphop. And Bassline with DJ KC the funkaholic in the melkweg which goes further than hiphop alone.
Specialized clubs are nowhere to be found,except "de Duivel" a small coffeeshop & bar in the heart of Amsterdam, with sometimes freestyle sessions.The regularity of US artists coming here is about 1 every 3 months. While many of us are waiting for KRS-one to show up, almost all of the bigger names have come here last year.P.E., A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang Clan, and Gang Starr to name a few,and we just had a wack show from Craig mack.
Even though this is not the best place to live if you're a hiphop junkie, the scene is small but persistant. Since people don't get paid by doing hiphop they prove to have heart for what they do, so most deserve to be called "real". Same goes for most fans who don't hear their music on the radio and have to stay up saturday nights to see the same ol videos on Yo! every week.Struggle for recognition could be a good stimulance for creativity and originality, and most people think a scene that's underground is better, because it isn't affected by the main stream.This might be true,but it doesn't make life any easier for an average B-Boy in Holland, then again the easy way might not always be the best way...
"...when you add the hip to the hop kid, it equals out to love..." (ATCQ)
Tekst: Xander van de Velde & Jeroen van Hove (1995)