Flóni, a.k.a. Friðrik Róbertsson, is a twenty-year-old rapper who released his first song, ‘Tala Saman,’ nine months ago. It garnered him infamy in the local hip-hop scene, and he quickly became an underground sensation. After dropping his first album in December, the singer/rapper officially arrived, playing a memorable set at Sónar and announcing bookings for every major festival this summer. I sat down with him at the 101derland studio, where he’s currently based, to talk about his hell of a year.
You kind of just burst up and took the hip hop scene here by storm this year. How’d you get into making music in the beginning?
Music has always been around me. When I was little, I was playing violin and piano and I just always had something in me for music. I started doing beats and producing like two years ago though. I was just at my computer making beats, singing along. I worked for maybe one and a half years trying to create my sound. I knew I wasn’t good and I wanted to be better so if I ever put out a mixtape or something it would be good. I put the time in.
Then you came out with ‘Tala Saman’, which put you on the map.
Yeah, “Tala Saman” was popular. But then I put out “Alltof hratt,” which became the most popular. Those two songs were like the perfect tease for the album ‘cause they give the whole picture of what type of artist I am. Even the video for “Alltof hratt” was like that. It was not a music video where I was trying to flash myself or anything, it was more just to show people what vibe I was on, so they could get what I was about. Those two songs give the vibe, the theme, the mood of it all. It all made sense.
And what vibe/theme/mood is that?
My music can be two ways. It can be emotional, dark, lonely, with drugs and stuff. You know, that Icelandic dark vibe. Then there’s the happy vibe, where you’re good, just partying with some girls. Those are the two vibes for me, but I really just want to be in the party vibe always. I want to have fun. I’m always trying to capture an emotion for people. With my album I tried that, so when people listen they get deep into the vibe.
What about the Icelandic hip-hop scene in general? Where do you see yourself there?
There’s a way younger scene coming up now in Iceland. One year ago it wasn’t like this. The hip hop scene has grown so much. I mean, you can now catalogue it, like this artist is doing this kind of thing, this artist is doing that kind of thing. But a year ago it wasn’t like this. For me, I love Birnir, Aron, Joey, just the guys. We’re always working together, you know, just chillin’ in the studio, making some music. We’re just having fun. It’s fun to be young and living like this. For my stuff, I thought it was something new for Icelandic rap. It’s a different style from other Icelandic artists.
What’s next?
I’m working on something new now. On my album, I tried to do every track with a different sound, but on my new project, I‘m holding them in the same party vibe. It’s gonna be happy sounds for the summer. We’re charging up for the summer and it’s gonna be mad.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
