After GNUČČI’s single “A.Rab” was celebrated as a feminist anthem back in 2014 and she herself described her music as “Feminist’s Best Friend” not long after there’s little to no doubt that the Yugoslavia born and Sweden raised rapper is at the forefront of celebrating female artistry and equality in music. More than once dubbed the “new M.I.A.” and a tour alumni of Princess Nokia who she accompanied on several gigs in late 2016, GNUČČI now is set to drop the big name comparisons and make an even bigger name for herself. With her debut album “You Good I’m Good Let’s Be Great” out today, we asked her all about her independently made first full-length.
Describing the sound of “You Good I’m Good Let’s Be Great” as a musical moodboard, it’s no surprise GNUČČI’s favored topics are equally as associative: “Independence. Oralsex. Desire. Dancehall queens. Free, freaky, feminine. Good Girl Syndrome. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t. Collective self-made. Worldwide vibes. Contradictions. Booty rollin & crying at the club. A sinners needs.” Missed the word “feminism” as part of that enumeration? Well, that’s because for GNUČČI feminism is something much bigger than just another topic squeezed in between “Independence” and “Desire”. “I am a feminist so I work, act, sing, have sex, sleep, eat, breathe, and make mistakes as a feminist. I am an artist. I am a record label. I am a production company. All this I run myself, and I, myself am a feminist.”
Since releasing her first tracks in 2011, GNUČČI has always been especially careful about creating her visual and acustic aesthetics entirely herself, releasing most of her tracks on her own label Famalam Records – particularly because she puts herself and her believes into them one hundred percent. “I am a rare cliche, I genuinely ‘wanna be the change I wanna see’. I wanna feel and be special, like everybody else, and the only way that works for me is to have my hands free. To be the finger that points, to be the middle finger, the hand that waves in the air cause it just does not care and the hand that holds yours. I wanna be the whole hand that feeds.”
In recent years, women in music went from mostly being admired by fans because of their appearance to increasingly also being valued for their views, claiming respect for themselves as independent artists. A change also GNUČČI wants to embody with her music and her persona, to empower other women to follow her lead. “You are so needed and wanted. And by you, I mean you, your experience, thoughts and perspective,” she explains, “If you don’t see or hear anyone you can relate or identify with that means we need you. Focus on your strengths and goals and know when to care and when to be carefree.”
The singer’s strengths and goals, for sure, are supporting other women with her voice, against prejudices and cliché heavy opinions women often have to face within modern day media. And she’s definitely nowhere near stopping with that quest: “I appreciate them and think they deserve entertainment that empowers and celebrates them. You are not crazy, it’s just that being a misogynist is very profitable. It’s also very profitable for you to hate yourself, girl. There’s a lot of money to be made of and on your flaws. I don’t wanna be another useless cellulite cream that doesn’t work you know. I don’t wanna be out there like another capitalist cookie cutter cunt waving a girl power flag but only sharing my power with an army of receding hairlines in suits. I wanna be rubbing wrinkles into disapproving faces while having fun forever.”
Listen to GNUČČI’s debut album “You Good I’m Good Let’s Be Great” below:
