A
rap-"sensation" from
Finland.
Petri Nygård got hugely
popular this
summer due to his officially distributed
mp3-
demo and two singles. So popular, he was both the first
and second
simultaneously in the
Finnish single chart.
Petri's music is
characterized by
hillbilly lyrics about
boozing,
getting laid and making fun of Finnish
rock artists, combined with
inept backgrounds and a total
unprofessional feeling. He naturally raps using the
Finnish language, so everybody can
understand his "
message".
Nygård's
image is also carefully
constructed, convincing the
masses that he actually does nothing but
parties, drinks
hard liquor, smokes tons of
weed and gets
pussy all the time.
The man is also very
mysterious. He never shows his
face, gives
TV interviews nor performs
live.
Why?
Because
Petri Nygård doesn't exist.
He is actually a project by a group of
serious Finnish rappers,
nuERA, who normally rhyme in
english. Petri's voice is done by
Petri Laurila alias
Dream, the founding member of the act. Apparently nuERA got
pissed off at the bad sales of their recent album, and decided to create an
artist who would top the
charts just by being a
stupid disgusting redneck, and at the same time a
spoof most people couldn't understand.
And they
succeeded.
The first full P.N.
album was released today. It
will be no.1 next week. Go Finland.
But I must admit that while Petri Nygård was just created to
fuck with the entire
country (
pardon my french), his lyrics are still quite
funny. He has often been described as the
"Eminem of Finland", and that is actually very
fitting. Both say
crazy stuff they don't really believe in just to make people buy their record and make others
mad. Petri just adds the basic-Finn-
yokel-image to the mix.
Update - February 21, 2000
In a recent interview Sport, who is one of the guys running Petri's label and has also appeared on his mp3-EP as Obelix Häkkinen, told that the first Petri Nygård tracks were made around 1998. They were initially just created as a joke (duh), but after "waiting for the right moment" the Liepo posse decided to see if they could actually sell it to the public by first creating a hype on the internet. I would say this "experiment" was quite successful. :)
After I created this node, Petri actually has performed a few live gigs around Finland. His wardrobe naturally consisted of a thick jacket, a scarf around his face and sunglasses, so nobody could recognize Dream and the Petri myth wasn't broken.
No, I didn't witness the performance myself. But I've seen photographic evidence.
Update - May 13, 2001
Petri's second official album was released last friday. I wasn't expecting it to be good, but I must say it was surprisingly bland and boring. The funny lyrics were the only redeeming feature of this joke product, but for the most part they just seem tired and repetitive.
The last track of the album is the only one I found funny and listeneable, probably because it is a direct continuation to the Pillumagneetti EP.
I love the message "Vitun MP3Äpärät" ("fucking MP3-bastards") behind the back cover's copyright notices. :)
Discography:
Pillumagneetti
mp3-demo
2000
Vitun Suomirokki
single
May 29, 2000
Kanava Nolla (Antakaa Mun Olla)
single
July 3, 2000
Mun Levy!
album
August 11, 2000
Rääväsuu (featuring
EM:EL)
single
autumn 2000
Petri Hallitsee Liigaa
single
April 12, 2001
Petri Presidentixi
album
May 11, 2001
Petri's official page:
http://www.biitti.com/petrinygard/
nuERA's site:
http://biitti.com/nuera/
This writeup was NOT stolen. Everything is written in my own words. So don't bother with the copyright-whining and/or offensive soft links. Thank you.