Spot Festival

Noah Kin from Finnish-Nigerian Rapper is supposed to be the “Next big thing in HipHop”. His performance at SPOT is one of the festival’s highlights.

By Killian Gallagher-Mundy, Jutland Station

By the time the nineteen-year-old Noah Kin graced the Godsbanen stage on SPOT’s Friday night, the Danish audience could be forgiven for a little lethargy in their reaction to the young Finish rapper. Finishing his set with a pulsating trap number, he had made the audience throw up their hands in the air. Swaying from one side to the other wanting more of Kin’s incredulous, skilled, inter-rhymed lyrics, it was confirmed that Kim lived up to his MTV billing as the ‘next big thing in hip-hop’.

Opening his set with the thumping electronic beat, RBLS, from his 2014 self-produced album ‘Now You See’, the young Kin (complete with ear piercing, baggy trousers and a somewhat un- hip hop type looking vest) evidently doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Hands hand behind his back, rooted to the centre of the stage he enquired: “Are you ready SPOT festival” – he had complete control.

Kin’s ability for flow never faulted during the concert as he launched of lyrics about his faith, “fitting in” and questions about his generation- “Have you seen what kids my age are doing now?” His on-stage quartet of guitarist and percussionist were with him all the way. Continuously shouting his lines and throwing themselves around the stage throughout the raw, gritty set.

“It’s my way of venting what I’m feeling, my emotions basically” Kin said, questioned why he raps. One could feel it as he was equal to every beat throwing his arms down in force with the audience to the trap festered beats which clearly garnered inspiration from a certain A$ap Ferg.

Kin though is cut from his own cloth: Born to a Nigerian father and Finnish mother, he raps in English (with an American sounding accent) at a lightening pace with clever intra rhymed lyrics.

The boy has been rapping since he was twelve. Impressively, he has produced his three albums on his own. “The Kanye’s and Kendrick’s are my mentor’s, so I just want to do it like them”, he says. Doing it like them? – He does but in his own way.

The Godsbanen stage ambiance of angelic blue lights personified the pedestal Noah currently finds himself on. He did not stray far from the centre of the stage, rooted to his small circumference of movement but never lost control of the audience. Two songs in he needed them for chorus work and a quick “fuck you” to the world as he raised his middle finger and everyone followed suit.

“I say get out of her, you say get out of her” the Danish crowd gladly repeated. He closed his set with “822”, arguably his biggest track to date. As he demonstrated a Mac Miller type flow and thumped a bouncy beat, he was moshing with the audience. This is what typifies Kin: He is not afraid to get personal.

In Hip hop’s supposed ‘golden’ age’ (albeit the second wave- the 90’s were the first for those wondering), a lot of rappers walked around the stage feeling untouchable (Kanye and his rants, Wiz and his golden teeth, Wayne and his “purple drank”). From Kin you can tell that he will be moshing out it with you through all his career: “I love touring, performing for the fans, seeing their reaction”.

There’s a line in 822 that rings long after- “Underline the fact that this track is a dispatch from the usual”- Kin is aware of the progress he has made from 2011’s “No Matter The season”. It crafted clever beats but did not instil his skills of rhyme he now holds.

Every syllable with Kin punctuates and four songs in we got a taste of a new track- which only increased expectation for a future album- “I’ve started working on material, but well… can’t tell you what it’s about”.

April release ‘Do that’ also got a play. A dark glitchy sounding beat that menaced with crash drums and laid down the gauntlet for any haters he may have. Kin evidently becomes more confident during the set, his beanie hat came off and you could tell he meant business.

“Thank you’s” were given out after every track, Kin is a rising name but has kept his head- “Naah, I haven’t been tempted by drugs, I’ve stayed away from that, not for me”. Modest during the chat we had after the show, posing for photos with fans, he was happy to talk despite presumably a gruelling touring schedule the past couple of weeks.

He has a future ahead of him in the rap game but doesn’t know if this is what he wants to do all his life. “But I love this stage of my life right now”. He is also open for some pretty big name acts Wiz, Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt just too name a few- “Yeah Earl was cool, he’s my age so we just spoke about life and rap backstage for hours.”

822 ends with the line “This aint a safari though”. If this actually was a “safari though”, Kin would easily be top of his animal kingdom. The only disappointing thing about his set, is that it wasn’t longer.

– – – – – – –

Killian is a contributor for Jutland Station from England. He is currently enrolled in the “Europe in the World” Journalism program at the Danish School of Media and Journalism.