He is currently promoting his new book "Adaam – the poet in the headphones" – a collection of lyrics and reflections aimed at young readers. At the Book Fair, which this year has an extra focus on music, he is also participating in some conversations about hip-hop and lyrics.
The environment at the fair is a bit different from what he is used to otherwise.
Last time I felt this way about an environment was like in school. But not in a bad way, but in a fun way. Like when you're on a field trip, he says.
On the exhibition floor, there are hardly anyone who recognizes him or asks for a photo, at least not since the long queue of young visitors who came to the fair just for his sake has gone home. Being here is part of the plan to reach a wider audience, explains Adaam.
It's to get a broader audience and become more popular. So that not only young people know who I am. Their parents too, and maybe even their grandmother.
"Without killing"
At the same time, he is proud to publish a book and see his words printed on paper. Through the book, he believes that more people can get the chance to listen to what he says instead of just nodding to the music.
A line that needed to be in the book was "You can be a hundred here without killing anyone", that is, without killing anyone. It sounds totally crazy when I say it, but it's actually something that some young people need to hear. Get it?
He has been rapping constantly since he was eleven years old, and since his breakthrough in 2021, he has released three albums and gained a million-strong audience. With his success, he experiences a new feeling of having to take responsibility for his words, he explains.
So, I didn't start rapping to be a role model, actually I don't want to take that responsibility. But, if it's something that they probably listen to day in and day out and that goes into their heads, then it's a responsibility I have to take, he says.
I'm the best myself
But it's not like he's talking down gangsta rappers, he emphasizes.
I'm not talking down on any rapper or how people live. I know there's a struggle, get it? What I'm talking down on is the trend. That's what I don't back.
So, who writes the best lyrics in Sweden?
I have to say I do. That's what a rapper has to say.
But besides myself, Aki has the best lyrics and stories. The best person at doing sick things with rhymes and flow, I would say is Stor.
His real name is Adam Jakobsson. Born in 2002 and has parents from Chile and the USA.
Lives in Valsta in Märsta, north of Stockholm.
Started rapping as a child and broke through in hip-hop Sweden already in his early teens via YouTube and when producer brothers Salazar and rapper Aki discovered him. Started the Valsta collective Grind Gang Music and has collaborated with, among others, VC Barre, Einár, Loam, Dani M, and Veronica Maggio.
Has released the albums "Topboy", "Myror i brallan", and "Trapen till radion" since 2021.
Currently promoting the book "Adaam – the poet in the headphones" and as one of the guests at the Book Fair in Gothenburg.
