After making an awesome mini mix for my 18th edition of my Little Miss Sunshiine show, and being one of the guest on my 10th birthday show last year, I thought it was about time to properly introduce Lyrical, a worldwide Laid Back member who is a very talented and ambitious Swedish emcee, producer and entrepreneur.

Orsii: I’ve known you for quite a while now, you were even on my 10th Laid Back show last year! But for those readers who don’t know, who is Lyrical?
Lyrical: I’m a rapper from Stockholm, Sweden and at the moment I’m working on a project called “Going Places” which will be out in the beginning of next year (didn’t that sound generic lol)

O: How come you got into rapping?
L: I”ve always been a great fan of music and growing up I listened to alot of rap music. With everything from the Sugar Hill Gang, Brand Nubian, Black Star, Snoop Dog, Master P, The Outsidaz etc. So in high school I wrote my first raps, started recording with a cassette player and later on I formed a group with me, another rapper and a dj. And I kept on making music ever since.

O: Have you always been rapping in English or did you rap in Swedish when you first started out?
L: Actually when I first started out I wrote in Swedish but I quickly switched to English, which suited me a lot better. Mostly because English is a much broader language, if you know what I mean, and Swedish just felt too restricted.

O: You have this website called the Rah Rah, what is that and how did you get started with that?
L: The Rah Rah is the official blog for Nothin But Skillz which is my clique and record label. The idea for “The Rah Rah” is to have a place where we as artists can express ourselves in a free manner. So I wanted to create a site for our record label which is directed towards business partners and keep The Rah Rah focused on our fans. As the name suggest its more street, more upfront and direct. I’m always up for trying new things and I sometimes feel that labels sites become a bit lame because they won’t let their artists speak to their fans because there is a risk of them saying something offensive that would hurt the labels brand. So why not create two sites for two different target groups.

O: And how did you end up starting Nothing But Skillz?
L: NBS is the brainchild of me and my good friend and producer Duggud. When I started up I was working with a lot of different producers and eventually it got to hectic. So I ran into Duggud and we formed a emcee/producer relationship and we formed NBS. For there on our fam grew and today we’re 6 people in the inner circle and our NBS fam keeps growing worldwide.

O: How come you didn’t include any Swedish hiphop/rap in your selection for the show?
L: Haha you caught me there! On the real, I was just picking out some tracks I was listening to at the moment. To be honest I don’t listen to that much Swedish rap acts. Not to say there isn’t any good Swedish rap, cuz there really is but the music that has stuck to me the greatest is usually foreign artists and not Swedish. Like right now I’m listening to J.R. Swinga

O: As you know, I grew up in Malmö which is in the south of Sweden, would you say that southern Swedish hiphop differs from what you guys are doing or are into in Stockholm
L: I would say there was a clear difference in the late 90’s. Then Malmö hade more of a smooth sound which still resonates in acts like Timbuktu, Spotrunnaz, Breakmecanix. But if you listen to an emcee like Lazee he goes hard with a more euro/club style of music. But of course in Stockholm you can find all sorts of styles of music. We got people doing old school boombap, funky j dilla detroit sound, electro rap, east coast, gangsta rap. I would say Stockholm has a more diversified scene. But then we the capitol of rap in Sweden, no pun intended.

O: Obviously I am going to be very biased and disagree with you but then again, I lost touch of the scene when I moved to London 5 years ago, so maybe things have changed since I’ve been away
L: It’s all good, but to me Malmö has a warmer sound their music

O: Yeah that’s true. Last but not least, and might be a tricky one, but if you could describe yourself with one song, which one would it be and why?
L: Damn, give me a second… I got to go with one of my newest favorites Frankie Beverly and Maze - Happy Feelings (Live)

O: Nice! Never heard of it so will have to check it out
L: This might sound pretentious but if I was to remembered for anything I would like it to be that I tried my best to do as much good as possible and that song, especially the live version, sounds mad happy and positive. Then again, it’s almost midnight… I’m sure if you would ask me earlier today I would go with Biggies Warning, that’s a powerful track with heavy hitting drums, bass and the lyrics are laidback but still aggressive, sorta like my daytime persona.

O: well thanks for being part of the show and for having a chat!

You might have heard some of Lyrical’s songs on rotation on the LDBK player, we played the tune below a couple of months ago when it got released
Lyrical x Anterluz x Kodie - The Thrill is Gone [remix] by The Rah Rah

You can cop “The Thrill Is Gone” for free and check out the Rah Rah Soundcloud for more releases and downloads.