Nova scena / new scene
I f you still haven’t been to a trap rap party, be honest with yourself and admit that time has passed you by. And rappers passed folk musicians, because as soon as they release something it immediately reaches the number one spot with millions of views, so all that’s left is for the folk showbiz folks to beg for cooperation, so they can also get a taste of that magical new vibe. Thus, they succeeded in something that many influential and learned people in this country didn’t manage to do for decades: to explain that some- thing else also exists in Serbia that can be popular and isn’t polyrhythmic. The song Ja sam u gasu (I’m at high speed) appeared in March this year and amassed a million views on YouTube in just a few days. It first started to speed up Belgrade, then the rest of Serbia. Now Montenegro and Bosnia are already at high speed, and as things stand it looks like the other former Yugoslav republics won’t resist this trend either. And that’s why we’re talking to Filip Arsenijevic, the rapper from Belgrade who’s responsible for all this rushing. He is Surreal, a musician who doesn’t like to give interviews, a man who was once as steeped in mystery as Banksy. And he also happens to be the son of a well- known writer Vladimir Arsenijević and a “descendant” of Mihajlo Pupin. He recorded some of his own songs in 2016, released them to the aether via You-
Početkom 2018. nije bilo ničega, a sada svi čekaju šta ćemo novo da izbacimo. Dr- žimo prvih pet mesta na Deezeru . Eto šta se desi kada se spoje pravi ljudi i prava energija – priča Surreal. I tako, nekoliko meseci kasnije, ova ekipa nastupila je na svakom značajni- jem festivalu u zemlji, klubovi su prepu- ni kada oni gostuju, a estrada želi da sa- rađuje sa njima. – Počeo sam i ja da flertujem sa estra- dom. Nisam otišao u folk, oni su došli u moj žanr. Mislim da je konačno došlo vreme da umetnici kao što sam ja zara- de mnogo više para. Svi klinci imaju in- ternet i mogu sami da filtriraju informa- cije koje žele. TV više nema uticaj kao što je imao nekada. A i trep rep
Tube, then moved to Barcelona. The songs began circulating around clubs, increasing in popularity, without him even knowing. He didn’t have social networks and planned to stay in Spain forever. “The owners of label Bassivity Music, Relja and Cobi, chased me until I finally answered the phone and started coming to the studio. We did an entire album, then my colleague Fox and I re- corded that video on Kopaonik and Bassivity, which hadn’t existed four years prior, became first in trending, says Filip, beginning his story. And then Serbia saw who Surreal is for the first time. People had previously listened to him and recounted urban legends about him around Belgrade. His songs were known, but everyone was wondering who the man was. And then, finally, they discovered. He was actually the start of the whole trap rap hysteria in Serbia. “At the beginning of 2018 there was noth- ing, and now everyone is waiting for whatev- er new we’ll release. We hold the top five spots on Deezer.
je trenutno svetska fo- ra. Koncerti su nam ra- sprodati, a i nastupi vi- še ne liče na one stare. Ranije je dolazilo ma- lo ljudi koji nisu ima- li pare. Sada je sve pu- no klinaca, svi su lepo obučeni, lože se na pa- tike, na dobru gardero- bu. Neki ljudi su mi re- kli da su osećali vajb kao da su u Americi. Držimo tu drugu scenu, to nešto zdravo iz naše zemlje. Mi smo svetla strana koja pe- va o tamnoj strani, za ra- zliku od onoga što je do sada postojalo, a to je ta- mna strana koja peva o sve-
Mihajlo Pupin je bio teča njegove babe Mihajlo Pupin was the uncle of his grandma
That’s what happens when you fuse real people and real energy,” says Surreal. And so it was that, a few months later, this team performed at every significant fes- tival in the country, the clubs became packed whenever they visited, and the folk music showbiz scene wants to cooperate with them. “I also started flirting with folk showbiz. I didn’t convert to folk, rather they came over to my genre. I think the time’s finally come for artists like me to earn much more money. All kids have internet and can personal filter the information they want. TV no longer has the influence it once had. And trap rap is currently a worldwide trend. Our concerts sell out, and performances don’t look like those old ones. Previously, only a few people came, and people who didn’t have money. Now there are lots of kids, everyone is well dressed and into good trainers, good clothing. Some people told me they had a vibe like they’re in America. We hold that other scene, something healthy from our country. We are the light side that sings about the dark side, unlike that which has existed to date, which is the dark side that sings about the light side. We’re open to talk about what we’ve endured, and the audience always recognises that,” says Filip candidly. And while we’re discussing lyrics, in his song he says of himself: “Pupin’s descendant writes in the vine”, so we ask him whether that’s just artistic license or … “Mihajlo Pupin was the uncle of my grandma, the mother of my dad, Vladimir Arseni- jević. I found out about that story late on – my grandma told me when I was 19. I was very happy. He was an amazing man who should be the subject of a film. He wasn’t only a sci- entist, but also honorary consul in America, who secured such borders for us; he helped the Serbian people, hung out with the American president and presented Serbia in the best light. At that time, when I found out, I constantly bugged people with the fact that Pupin was my great-uncle by marriage, and they thought I was talking rubbish,”says Filip. And so, we are witnessing a new era on the music scene. An era that brings with it new rhymes, new slang, a different fashion, artistic expression, a whole new cultural scene and an army of millions of faithful fans. And everyone at high speed.
tloj strani. Otvoreni smo da pričamo ono što smo preživeli, a to publika uvek pre- pozna – iskren je Filip. Kada smo već kod tekstova, u svojoj pesmi za sebe kaže: „Pupinov potomak piše u lozi“, pa ga pitamo da li je to samo umetnička fikcija, ili... – Mihajlo Pupin je bio teča moje ba- be, mame mog tate Vladimira Arsenije- vića. Ja sam tu priču kasno saznao, ispri- čala mi je baba kada sam imao 19 godina. Bio sam mnogo srećan. On je bio neviđen čovek, o kome treba da se snimi film. Ni- je bio samo naučnik, bio je počasni kon- zul u Americi koji nam je obezbedio ova- kve granice, pomagao je srpskom narodu, družio se s američkim predsednikom i predstavljao Srbiju u najboljem svetlu. U vreme kada sam za to saznao, stalno sam davio ljude da mi je Pupin prateča, a oni su mislili da lupam – kaže Filip. Dakle, svedoci smo nove ere na muzič- koj sceni. Ere koja donosi nove rime, novi sleng, drugačiju modu, likovni izraz, kom- pletno novu kulturnu scenu i milionsku armiju vernih fanova. A svi su u gasu.
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