By Austin Zeglis
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/i><\/p>\n
RIGA, Latvia \u2014 Decades ago, Helmuts Steins discovered his love for American rap music by connecting with the beats he heard on the radio despite not being able to understand the English lyrics. When the young Latvian boy decided to pursue music production, he made his first songs by renting his neighbor\u2019s computer for 50 cents an hour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, Steins goes by the name Katapullt, and he has produced records for American hip-hop artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne and The Diplomats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Katapullt is a part of the hip-hop scene in Latvia, where hip-hop music exists as both a tribute to the genre\u2019s American origins and an unusual example of the myriad connections artists have with their inspirations. Many of the country\u2019s popular rappers, producers and artists are influenced by their American counterparts and frequently collaborate with artists from the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These collaborations, both between Latvian and American artists and inside Latvia itself, are helping the country develop a flourishing hip-hop culture halfway across the world from where the genre started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to make hip-hop music without American influence or Afro-American influence,\u201d said Eliots, a Latvian artist who helped pioneer the country\u2019s modern era of hip-hop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He was inspired by American artists like Kevin Gates, Black Milk and Sean Price, the latter two being known for their contributions to the underground indie rap scene of the early 2000s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s music without boundaries,\u201d Eliots said. \u201cIn Latvia, nobody was doing what I saw in the indie scene from the USA. Latvians were still rhyming like the 1990s, and the most popular (artists) were quite simple. There was no one here that was doing what I liked, which was complex rhyme schemes and clever wordplay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Inspired by those American artists, Eliots started making the music he wanted his country to hear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy not try to build some new legacy?\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Eliots describes his artistic tone as silly, balancing his desire to have fun while making music with wordplay and rhyming. That balance, paired with his ability to occasionally speak on serious issues through music, is reminiscent of Detroit artists he\u2019s inspired by.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRoyce (da 5\u20199\u201d) and Eminem\u2019s \u2018Scary Movies\u2019, that\u2019s a good example of stuff I like to do on the daily. But I also have some storytelling songs,\u201d Eliots said. \u201cLike Eminem in his prime.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Latvia\u2019s hip-hop community is constantly overlapping and working with one another. Edavardi, a rapper who followed in Eliots\u2019 footsteps, mimics American indie rap from the 2000s. He and Eliots are frequent collaborators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Skutelis, another multi-time collaborator of Eliots\u2019, reached out to the latter when he started rapping because of their common influences and styles. Eliots\u2019 22-track album \u201cVecais Stafs,\u201d released in 2016, includes nine collaborative songs with Skutelis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Extensive partnerships like Eliots\u2019 and Skutelis\u2019 are emblematic of a quality of hip-hop music that extends from the genre\u2019s birthplace in the U.S. to its presence in Latvia \u2014 collaboration. Pioneering figures of modern American hip-hop like Dr. Dre and Kanye West spent periods of their careers as part of \u201csupergroups,\u201d and Eliots is currently seeing success as a part of the Latvian group Singapuras Satins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt could be called a hip-hop project, but it\u2019s everything,\u201d Eliots said about the group. \u201cIt\u2019s not only rap. We have Afrobeat songs and dance songs and pop songs and whatnot. Even some stuff that sounds like country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The group, which includes Eliots, Edavardi and five other rotating collaborators, currently has seven songs ranking in the top 200 songs on Spotify\u2019s Latvia charts. \u201cDEGVIELA,\u201d a song off the group\u2019s 2023 album \u201cSUPER,\u201d sits the highest of the four at 56.<\/span><\/p>\n These days, the American artists who influence Eliots belong to a newer generation. Inspiration from artists like Young Thug and Lil Uzi Vert has helped Eliots to parlay his reputation into modern-day success while still entertaining the fan base that has supported him since the beginning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe is arguably the most talented with the pen,\u201d producer Katapullt said of Eliots\u2019 writing ability in comparison with the rest of the Latvian rap scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Katapullt is currently based in Amsterdam but remains a central part of Latvia\u2019s hip-hop scene. His connection to the U.S. is also strong, having collaborated with many notable American artists and finding inspiration ranging from Chief Keef to Curtis Mayfield, and from MIKE to Miles Davis.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy initial goal was to work with artists that were established,\u201d Katapullt said about how he started his career. \u201cIt was very unorthodox, because usually people like to approach (music) like a ladder \u2014 you start on the first step, and then you slowly climb up. I wanted to go for the top.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Aside from the big-name American artists, Katapullt used to lease his beats to artists around the world, most of whom were also English speakers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I reached new people. Not the major labels, but the entry-level artists who couldn\u2019t afford an exclusive rights license. They can spend 20 bucks on a beat from me, but it\u2019s a lease license, so Johnny, Kenny and Armando can buy the same beat for 20 bucks, and it remains in my catalog,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Katapullt was enthusiastic about these kinds of international partnerships, but in terms of artists from Latvia, he thinks those who rap in English take too much from the birthplace of the genre instead of forming a distinctly Latvian path.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs a human, do your thing. Whatever makes you happy. But from a fan perspective, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary,\u201d Katapullt said. \u201cThat\u2019s not your mother tongue, and you\u2018ll never be as good as the people that speak English as their first language.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Katapullt started making beats in 2006, and by 2008, he had already collaborated with respected American artists like Lil Wayne and Nipsey Hustle. One of his most prominent crossovers into American culture was a beat for <\/span>the 2012 XXL Freshman Cypher<\/span><\/a>, a yearly event hosted by hip-hop magazine XXL featuring now-well-known artists like Future and Machine Gun Kelly.<\/span><\/p>\n