Interview: Gnucci Banana

2011-03-26 08:00:00 In

• Interviews

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Gnucci Banana kind of puts the Swedish rap scene on its end. She’s global and seems to be everywhere while Swedish rappers tend to have extreme difficulties to reach outside Ametist Azordegan’s radio show or be featured as “mp3 of the week” over at whoa.nu, especially women since they hardly ever gets mentioned in these forums as actives at all. Gnucci’s strength is to never put boundaries for herself. The same time you can hear her on Sweden’s biggest hip hop export Looptroop’s brand new album “Professional Dreamers”, she raps a cover of Hot Citys ‘If That’s How I Feel’ on hers and Spoek Mathambo’s recent mixtape “Pero Spicey”.

But lets begin with rewinding the time some years, to the summer of 2007 and the first time I actually meet Ana Rab which her real name is. M.I.A. just had dropped her second album “Kala” and to see the similarities between them both was unavoidable since they have the same kind of positive life energy and driving force. Now, four years later the American music bible The FADER wants to see M.I.A. collaborating with Ana’s rapping alter ego Gnucci Banana and it makes perfect sense, like tie two ends together.

But to rap and being an artist hasn’t always been given, especially not for Ana herself:

- Spoek Mathambo talked me into to lay a hook then later became ‘Ayoba‘. I didn’t knew at that time that I could rap, but he knew, clever dude. Then, since ‘Ayoba’ was so much fun to do, he asked me a couple of times more and it became some more releases, (with German producer Tim Turbo, German Malete & Dex and Swedish Mash Up International) and the summer of 2010 I decided to go for it, all in. Spoek was right, I could be an artist, picture someone else believe in you at the same time you’re questioning yourself… But now I’m convinced, I can do do this.

‘Ayoba’ was released as an EP early last spring together with Spoek and the German producer duo Schlachthofbronx. The track beings with Gnucci’s words: “This is for my girls, who unbutton their pants in the club” and anyone who’s been lucky to experience Gnucci Banana live knows the true meaning of that line. It’s like you’re just had the best meal of your life, moving on to heavy itis-mode but with the big difference that you want to unbutton your pants and make room for more. Gnucci on the other hand enters the stage of post-live depression:

- I always have fun on stage. I don’t get the people that complain about it, you get paid, crave for peoples attention, you have the mic = you’re the most loudest person in the room so everyone have to listen to you, a whole scene to dance on instead of standing down on the crowded floor and you get mad compliments. It’s unevidable not to feel good. But the day after I get depressed, I give my all on stage so I have nothing left the next day.

And Ana has been on many stages the past year, most memorable might be Roskilde’s Cosmolpol that she and Spoek entered with Schlachthofbronx in front of 6000 people last summer. This leads us on to the upcoming festival summer of 2011, does she in fact have any bookings cleared already?

- I just confirmed Mundial Festival in the Netherlands but nothing more than that for now. I usually never fix bookings for myself nor do I have people doing that for me but despite that I’ve played a lot. Does it continue that way I’m gonna do festivals knowing like only 1 week in advance.

Spontaneous, unplanned and playful feels like Gnucci Banana in a nutshell. Most things just seem to “happen” for her and I ask about the collaboration she recently did with the biggest hip hop export that has ever come out of Sweden, Looptroop Rockers, how did that happen?

- Promoe basically asked me if I wanted to participate on a track and I thought it was so damn cool. Of all Swedish hip hop acts, Looptroop is the one I’ve listed to the most and they meant so much for me during my teens as a wannabe bandit queen in Västerås. My first real studio recording was in Embee’s studio, regularly I record DIY closet-style, so practically it was taking things to a whole new level but mostly it was kinda amazing to get contacted by people I admire wanting to work with me. The track is called ‘Do‘ and in short it’s “You do the talk, can you do the walk?“. (Peep Looptroop’s & Gnucci’s perform the track live on TV4′s Nyhetsmorgon here).

“Pero Spicey“, the mixtape she and Spoek released together with Nike at the end of January is a crazy story. Gnucci says she’s a buffet-rapper, she like to rap over dubstep as much as folklore and on “Pero Spiecy” she and Spoek creates a global hip hop universe with a Mexican twist and on the question which the funniest collaboration she’s done ’til now she answers everything with Spoek Mathmabo without blinking.

- He understands that there is a connection between Etta James and JME without that we have to define WHAT it is, we have a similar feel about things.

To get back to where we started with M.I.A., Ana doesn’t have any missed calls from her (yet…), but the list of upcoming releases is far from boring. ‘Do’ and Looptroop’s album “Professional Dreamers” dropped earlier this month, one of the best tracks off “Pero Spiecy” dropped last week; the Australian producer Sampology’s ‘Piggy Bank’ (currently racing up Juno’s Bestseller-list), hers and Mash Up International’s tropical remake of Miike Snow’s ‘Animal‘ is expected to drop on Sony in the near future and Gnucci also reveals that one label has contacted her for a upcoming release which will be a single or an EP.

- How it will sound will be a surprise for everyone including myself but as always, I will go all in.

Can we even hope for a full album?

- No, don’t hope for an album, I’m still hoping for a SoundCloud she laughs but continues with:

- Yeah, of course I want to make an album but I’m not there yet, I want it to grow organically. I’m busy just making structure of things, even if I’m a multitasker some things are too much and I’m still in that stage I’m looking for people to make things easier.

But if she could dream completely free about releasing an album today it would include guest features from Nicki Minaj and RnB from the ’90′s like Adina Howard’s ‘Freak Like Me’. She would search out for local musicians to make the music that should consist of sick drums and mad bass. A Greek there, a Bosnian there, a Gambian, a Iranian mixed with productions from Dam Funk and Blaqstarr topped with kids voices since she loves children and their scream-singing. Regarding the lyrics she says:

- Humour is really important for me when I make music and therefore it’s quite natural to get my Biz Markie on in my lyrics
. My everyday life is marked by political discussions so the album would also make me getting my Gudrun Shyman on.

Well, just how Gnucci Banana’s upcoming single/EP and forthcoming album debut will sound is still a big mystery but what’s for certain is that it will not be uniform and boring since those words doesn’t seem to exist in Gnucci’s vocabulary at all.

Catch Gnucci Banana live at Cirkus, Malmö tonight the 26/3 together with Nguzunguzu.
15/4 Ladyfest, Malmö.
16/4 Ladyfest, Göteborg.
29/4 25hr Party People, Stockholm.

Follow @GnucciBanana.

This piece is written by Felicia Alexanderrson and is also published in a Swedish version in Kingsize Magazine #1 2011 and looks like this.

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Blaqstarr, Gnucci Banana, Interview, Looptroop Rockers, M.I.A., MalenteandDex, Mash Up International, Next Up, Nicki Minaj, Pero Spicey, Sampology, Schlachthofbronx, Spoek Mathambo, Tim Turbo