Hip hop
For those who missed out on this year’s Glastonbury, consider Roskilde, Scandinavia’s version of the mega-festival. Located in a city of around 52,000 people just near Copenhagen, – this year braved torrential rain, strong gusts of wind and ridiculous amounts of mud to see a very strong lineup of artists this year.
Roskilde’s programming is impressively diverse, ranging from experimental to indie rock to dance, but this year, CLASH consumed as much rap and R&B acts the festival had to offer. It was plenty of artists’ first time in the country, demonstrating the festival’s generosity in ushering in talent old and new.
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Landing in Roskilde on Wednesday, we managed to catch the one and only Doja Cat, who continues to dominate the festival circuit. Roskilde were good sports welcoming the American rapper, gamely chanting along to ‘Tia Tamera’ and its opening ‘whoas’ – and Doja drank in the attention like a cat lapping milk. Releasing a bansheeic shriek to ‘Ain’t Shit’ and closing with a boisterous performance of ‘Wet Vagina’, Doja remains one of rap’s most magnetic stars.
After the delirious high of watching Doja, we also briefly watched Yamê, a French-Cameroonian singer with some serious piano skills. Summoning the aura of an intimate jazz bar, Yamê provided the perfect post-Doja soundtrack with his soothing, soulful melodic rapping.
Nia Archives isn’t R&B or rap, but what the hell – how can you miss the person singlehandedly revitalising jungle for the mainstream? Her hard-hitting breakbeats were perfectly suited to the open-air concrete courtyard of the Apollo stage, where ravers were surrounded by huge metal containers. She straddles the space between pop and dance so effectively – there’s room to sway and get lost in the music, but also to be brought back to earth singing anthems like ‘Crowded Rooms’.
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Thursday well and truly started with a bang with Belfast’s Kneecap, one of the few acts rapping in the Irish language today. Festivals have consistently underestimated the hip-hop trio by putting them on at ungodly hours of the day (11.30am at Glastonbury?? I’m surprised people were even awake by then). But despite their 2pm start at Roskilde, the boys turned out a surprisingly high-energy crowd with their effortless crowd work in the cozy Gloria shed: “We’ve been told by security not to encourage mosh pits”, Mo Chara warns, “but if you encourage it…”.
In a complete 180, we caught Erika de Casier’s more tranquil R&B, who pulled out all the stops for her home country. De Casier’s Roskilde set was much more theatrical than her usual understated staging, with three viewing platforms, a number of props including a romantic dinner table and – gasp – an outfit change. Her setlist was also tailored for the crowds here, featuring songs from her earlier catalogue like 2019’s ‘Essentials’ and 2021’s ‘Sensational’. What better way to see the origins of one of today’s finest songwriters.
We also saw Ice Spice, who also turned out to be understated for all the wrong reasons. Granted, she has massively improved her breath control since she started out, and it’s still early days for the ‘Munch’ rapper, but her music is so lackluster that it all blended into one neverending Jersey club beat. Ice’s monotone delivery certainly did not help matters – but at least the crowd’s enthusiasm made up for it. If anything, it’s indicative that she has a lot of power to become a knockout performer; she just needs to take the reins and make some good fucking music.
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Luckily things picked back up with 21 Savage, who celebrated his first time in Denmark with a huge set at the festival’s biggest stage, Orange Scene. His cool, slick demeanour against the icy trap beats worked perfectly against the miserable rain, as he charged through a roster of his greatest guest verses and hits. Denmark’s bloodthirst for some good cold rap did not go unnoticed either, as the crowd chanted along with Savage. Fresh from being finally granted his green card, Savage’s debut performance in Denmark was a triumph.
It was also PinkPantheress’ first time in Denmark. She was her usual charming, warm self, trotting on stage with her trademark bag, and cycling through old hits like ‘Break it off’ to newer bangers like ‘Nice to meet you’. She also invited another fan on stage to rap Ice Spice’s verse in ‘Boy’s a liar pt. 2’ (probably the safer option, Pink). With a genuinely lovely embrace, Pink closed out the night on one of the sweetest moments at the festival.
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Friday’s lineup brought a swathe of diverse rap styles, beginning with Kari Faux, who hails from Little Rock, Arkansas. Having initially gotten into her through her intergalactic-stripper song ‘ME FIRST’, Faux delivered a series of fun, catchy tunes with a fun dress sense and some cute dance moves to boot. Not only that, but Faux knows how to deadpan a good bar: we audibly gasped when she rapped: “You used to blow my back out, I heard you doing crack now!”.
Tinashe also made a special appearance off the back of her viral hit ‘Nasty’. She’s been grinding in the industry for decades, and it was a treat to watch the veteran perform in one of her few European appearances. She’s got the moves, she’s got the looks, she can sing really well – what more do you need from an R&B superstar? The surprise belter of the night, however, was Snakehips collaboration ‘All My Friends’, which absolutely blew the roof off the tent.
We also caught Sexyy Red, who has stirred considerable debate over her hardcore ratchet aesthetic. On the one hand, Red does frequently play into harmful stereotypes of black women as overly hypersexual (rather than sexually empowered) that non-black communities will happily buy into without second thought. On the other hand, I’m willing to give Red the benefit of the doubt that she’s playing into a persona for her music – at the very least, her set at Orange Scene was memorable and energetic compared to other performers who graced the stage.
Technically, Foo Fighters were billed as the main act for today – sorry Dave, but last-minute replacement Charli XCX was my true headliner. I’ve been salivating over the thought of experiencing her phenomenal new album ‘Brat’ live, given that it’s totally engineered to sweat and rave to. To hear the album contextualised in a crammed tent with the collective body heat drying any droplets of rain was an unforgettable experience.
She hit the audience with banger after banger, from staples like ‘I Love It’ to personal favourite ‘Sympathy is a knife’ – no sappy, senimental songs were jammed into the setlist. In a wonderful twist, she also brought out Caroline Polachek to perform the ‘Welcome To My Island’ remix. I deeply wish they put Charli on the main stage instead of Sexyy Red as the tent was incredibly overcrowded, but what better way to cement Charli’s undeniable headliner status than an overfilled stage?
The real surprise of tonight, however, was Scarlxrd, who my friend Darrius introduced me to. When someone enters the stage drenched in siren-red lights with a metal scream scraped from the ravaged depths of their lungs, you get the sneaking suspicion this won’t be a delicate performance. I didn’t think it could get any more intense after Charli, but Scarlxrd proved us wrong with his blend of nu-metal, trap, and EDM. He commandeered the swirling mosh pits with assured confidence, and kept the dynamic energy at an impressively high level throughout the entire night.
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For all the weary festival-goers whose legs were no doubt aching from all the walking and mud, Roskilde’s final day kicked off with Afrobeats Tems to soothe them. She brought a much-needed breezy charm to the festival, swaying and dancing to cheeky tunes like ‘Mr Rebel’ and ‘Not An Angel’ amongst the stage filled with grass and sunset backdrops. But it was her Brent Faiyaz collaboration ‘Essence’ that provided the standstill moment of the set, with the entire crowd singing it back to her, and Tems looking visibly emotional.
Meanwhile, Headie One was brought on as another act to replace J Hus in the nick of time; he had the difficult challenge of performing his brand new album ‘The Last One’ to the crowd. Luckily for Headie, Denmark seemed to be pretty down to jump and vibe to his tracks even if they didn’t know the words yet, and they were more than happy to scream the words to more familiar tracks like ‘Ain’t It Different’.
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We waited with bated breath for SZA, who was fresh off a rather rocky Glastonbury headline performance. The stakes were even higher for me personally, as ‘Ctrl’ is an album I hold quite near and dear to my heart – and I’ve waited seven long years to finally see SZA in person.
Luckily, Roskilde’s audio did not disappoint; the New Jersey songstress and absolutely smashed it. Her whimsical idyllic stage design blew everyone away, and her voice sounded as powerful yet vulnerable as ever. It’s really hard to pull of singing sincerely about questioning your worth in a relationship whilst sitting atop a comically giant ant, but SZA proved that she is maybe the one artist who could do it (besides Björk, because duh). Transitioning from older songs like ‘Love Galore’ and ‘Drew Barrymore’ into more recent hits such as ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Shirt’, SZA was open and generous with the crowd. By the time she finished with her intimate rendition of ‘20 Somethings’, it was a resounding reminder of why she has become one of the most innovative and enduring representatives of modern R&B and indie today.
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Words: Alex Rigotti
Photography: Christian Hedel
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