By Odeisel

Norway is famous for a few things. Vikings. Fish. Rappers. Waitaminute rewind that. Rappers? Okay maybe not. But that may change with 18 year old artist LidoLido. The Norwegian prodigy has been playing instruments since a toddler as the son of dual musician parentage. With a choir director for a father, a career as a rapper goes even further away from the realm of believability. But that’s what life is all about isn’t it? The impossibly possible.

Recently, as part  of the The Bloom Effect’s International Hip-Hop showcase, as par tof the larger CMJ music festival in New York City, LidoLido completed his first ever live performance in the birthplace of the artform. We caught up with him a few days later to discuss why on earth a 18 year old Norwegian white kid with a gospel background would ever venture into the cold world of Hip-Hop.

Planet Ill: How long have you been in music?

LidoLido: I’ve been in music all my life. My parents are both musicians. I grew up listening to a lot of gospel. My dad’s a choir director, so I grew up with Kirk Franklin, and Fred Hammond and all of them. I started playing the drums when I was two years old, I started writing songs and playing the piano when I was like ten.

Planet Ill: Gospel and Norway don’t seem to go together.

LidoLido: Not at all, but we’ve had some pretty cool acts, Kirk Franklin was there about a year ago so the scene is actually big but the vibe is way cooler over here[USA]

Planet Ill: There aren’t man music acts that have gotten anywhere from Norway. What motivates you to be the first or to even try it out in the first place?

LidoLido: What motivates me is the music. I’m doing it for the music, not where I want to go with it; it’s actually for enjoying the moment of it. Of course it’s motivating that not a lot of acts have come out of Norway. Not a lot of acts have made it out at least not in the Hip-Hop genre. So it would be cool to be the first one. I’ll definitely aim for that.

Planet Ill: Drake’s situation as the first from Canada to blow, does that add any hope to your situation?

LidoLido: First of all Drake is a big inspiration in himself, I love his music. The fact that he made it from somewhere that not a lot of cats come out of, of course that’s motivation, definitely.

Planet Ill: If you have a gospel background and you’re from Norway in the first place, why Hip-Hop?

LidoLido: I don’t know it was just a lot of coincidences. It started when I was like 10, 11 and an exchange student from Chicago came to my city. I was the only kid that spoke English well enough so we had to become friends. He just showed me everything pretty much, like basketball, Hip-Hop and everything.

So it really started with him and then I started listening to musical Hip-Hop, like Kanye West’s first stuff; that was really easy for me to listen to, coming from a gospel background. It was just something about Hip-Hop that was cool. It was something about Hip-Hop that had that attitude and that extra vibe to it. I don’t know, it’s coincidences, I could have been anywhere, but this is what happened.

Planet Ill: How much of Norway actually shows up in your music?

[pro-player width=’425′ height=’344′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2YAnDqKUIo&feature=player_embedded[/pro-player]

LidoLido: Being from there, it’s my reality, so I talk about different stuff; stuff that is Norwegian, I guess. So just being from there of course it effects it, but the music itself is probably more American than Norwegian.

Planet Ill: How was your first experience performing in front of a New York crowd?

LidoLido: It was very good! I was surprised that the people was [sic] really vibing with it. People were moving around and dancing and it looked like people were really having a good time. It’s a cool platform to be on because you get really underestimated, being from Europe and trying to do Hip-Hop…IN NEW YORK! So it’s fun to impress people here; it’s fun to be able to have that platform and be able to surprise them. It was good, it was a lot of fun.

Planet Ill: What do you think your strengths are as an artist?

LidoLido: I’m a musician, so I guess the biggest strength that I have. I play the piano really well, I play the drums really well and I’m really just about the music; I’m not a RAPPER, rapper. I’m a perfectionist and everything I do, I put a lot of time into it, a lot of energy; everything has to be perfect. I guess that melodic, musical feeling to what I’m doing is my strength.

Planet Ill: What are your weaknesses as an artist?

LidoLido: I’m from Norway…I’m white…

Planet Ill: That’s stylistic stuff. I mean as far as your art goes, as far as being a musician or a rapper.

LidoLido: I guess the same; being a perfectionist, things take time. So I put very much [sic.] tie into what I do and a lot of effort into it. So I don’t put out too much different stuff like all the time. When I do something  I really do it. I guess that focus can put you back a little bit from putting out stuff all the time and remaining relevant.

Planet Ill: If not music, then what?

LidoLido: I don’t know. I think nothing. Music is the only thing I think that I could do. Since I was born, I’ve never had a plan B. I’ve never had any options, I’ve never had something else that I wanted to do as well. So music is really all that I’ve ever wanted to do. If I couldn’t do it, I don’ t know what I could do.

Planet Ill: What makes you compelling as an artist?

LidoLido: I guess people can relate to me because I talk about things that are not necessarily “Hip-Hop.” I talk about stuff that young kids can relate to, not the whole gangsta thing. I talk about school, because I’m still in school. I talk about girls because I’m into girls. I guess being that ordinary young white dude. People can relate to that, at least kids my age and younger I guess.

Planet Ill: Is there a song in your arsenal that convinced you that you can do this for real?

LidoLido: I think I’ve always had that feeling, ever since I started. I wrote my first song when I was ten and it was about food. It was after my little sister’s birthday party and I was so full and I wrote a song about food. And I was like, “Yeah, this is pretty catchy.”  But ever since ten, I guess you can say I’ve been feeling myself, and I’ve just had that feeling that yes, I can do this. And there’s like some of the latest stuff I’ve done, up till now, I’ve been feeling like, “Okay, as a musician, I can do this.” But some of the latest stuff I’ve done, I’ve been feeling like lyrically, I can do this as well. I wrote a song just a couple months ago called “Hold My Hand” which I felt I could be a poet as well as a musician so yeah.

Planet Ill: What part of the music don’t you like?

LidoLido: The industry part of it. All the business around it. Practice. Practice is the worst part. I’ve never practiced in my whole life; I’ve just played for fun always. I’ve always made music, I’ve never rehearsed chords, I’ve never rehearsed technique or anything, I’ve just had fun with it always. I think that’s the secret to getting that passion for it. Just don’t practice. Don’t play music [with the thought in mind] that it’s supposed to be boring; that it’s just charging up skills. Always play like you’re playing music for the music and always have fun with it. Yeah. The practice part is just pointless.

Planet Ill: If you could describe your sound and your mission in music in words, rather than beats, what would it be?

LidoLido: It would be melodic, good vibe, good guy rap

Planet Ill: Any last words for the fans?

Lido Lido: Watch out. You’ll hear about me again soon. Check me out on Twitter.com/Lidolido. Good guys for life.

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