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GKR

Bónus, 2016

Little we knew about the local hip hop scene when we first came to Iceland. But once in Reykjavík, there was no way around. Not only had The Reykjavík Grapevine put the New Wave Of Icelandic Hip Hop on their end-of-the-year-cover and i-D listed seven Icelandic hip hop acts you should get to know, in fact everyone we talked to about the local music scene name-dropped one or another hip hop artist. And many of them rap in Icelandic! We were especially excited about one of these new voices and his track about breakfast. GKR has experienced a lot of internet buzz for “Morgunmatur” and although rapping about his daily life seems a fair enough thing to do, there’s – on a closer look – still more depth to it. It’s a coming-of-age song about figuring out what you really want to do in life, getting up for the right reasons and making the day your own. When we meet Gaukur in his studio at the docklands, we talk about winter time, darkness and depression, lacking ambitions in school and big ones in music, before visiting a rather unusual place for a live performance. But not so unusual, if you are thinking about your breakfast and doing your thing, yeah doing your thing.

Camera
Sarah Brugner
Michael Luger
GKR
Post production
Michael Luger
Artist
GKR

Bónus

You can’t miss the smiling pig (some people say it looks rather drunk) when travelling through Iceland. It’s the logo of Iceland’s biggest supermarket chain, Bónus. While other countries might be proud of their fancy megastores, people in Iceland seem content with their no-frills discounter. Bónus is not only popular with price-conscious locals, but also with tourists, for whom prices in Iceland feel high overall. They all come together at the highly-frequented Bónus on Laugavegur, Reykjavíks main shopping street, where we recorded a live performance with GKR after closing time.