You can read the Norwegian translation of this post here.

The other day I came across a music video shared on Facebook. After watching the video, I realised my Facebook friend Kenneth had made the video. Kenneth and I got to know each other through our common friend, the author Nils Amund Raknerud. During a poetry evening in one of Oslo’s cafes, I heard them reading their poems. It turned out that Kenneth had, in addition to the written words, other creative strings as well. He makes rap and is an illustrator. His recently published music video formed the basis for my desire to present him and his work in this blog post.

Kenneth; recently you released a music video. What was the inspiration behind this video?

– It has been a while since I had filmed, so I thought it was about time. It was important for me to create something melancholic, dark and gloomy. My art style is a bit bipolar. It’s melancholic and sad or crazy and absurd. I think the inspiration behind this music video was melancholy itself, and the urge to create something sad. I have my kids every second week, and I wanted to involve them in this video project. The music video is about the struggle between paranormal and science. “Shining” the movie represents the paranormal, and the books of Richards Wiseman represents science. It’s also the struggle between the darkness and the light. It is about the contrast between them. Norwegian rap is very restrictive it does not even work in our neighbour country Sweden. Since there is no language in my new music video, I hope it can spread outside Norway.

Why this change from rap to electronica? In rap, you have the words as your musical weapon, but in your new video, there are no words. Tell me why this change and what’s the last video about in words?

– I have produced and made rap music for almost 20 years. Maybe it was about time to move to a new direction. I have always liked Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis. December 2017, I had a stroke and after that I could not speak. Aphasia is when you get an injury to the speech center in your brain. Art is a language, and after the stroke, I was glad being able to draw. Nowadays I’m working on a project with one of my rap groups called Evneverk. Still, it’s hard for me to rap, so I record inch by inch and build verse for verse. Meanwhile working on the next rap-project, I created this new song “Precognition” with the music video.

Tell us a little about yourself. Who are you? What do you do?  What is the motivation behind your creativity?

– I’m a restless person who likes to be productive. Being creative gives me meaning and acts as an antidepressant. To worry is like an illusion about the future, that is why I find the creative processes like distraction techniques put me much more in the present moment. Then the cognitive energy is concentrated around the creation process and that leaves no room for concerns. I like that. I appreciate the excitement I experience when I create and see the result. I can impress myself, but I can also be disappointed. I like to see my own development. For my part, everything goes on periods. They can include producing music, rap, filming, drawing, painting, writing poems and stories. I skip between these periods randomly. It’s important for me to take breaks, so then I play Playstation, watch movies or read books, but it does not take a long time before I have to be creative again. It’s as though ideas fall into my mind and I have to choose between them.

What does music mean to you?

– Often I find comfort in music. Music becomes like a kind of state of emergency, where you fly to another dimension. There you enjoy the music and feelings it creates.

You can read this blog post in Norwegian here.