Rex-n-Undercover
‘We’re more interested in making timeless classics’
Photography: Bas Uterwijk
Text: Daniël Bertina
The heart of the Dutch hip hop scene beats fastest in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Two young mc’s, Rex -N- Undercover, of Ghanese descent born in Germany and raised in Amsterdam perfected their style in this super competitive scene. Soon, their long-awaited debut album will be released: Zoek Dekking (Find Cover). ‘We don’t care about hypes. We want to make classics.’
On the couch they sit, brotherly. Rexford Bonsu (Hamburg, 1982) and Uwe Sarfo (Stuttgart, 1980), aka Rex -N- Undercover. ‘Last weekend, I was at the Amsterdam Hiphop Festival on NDSM,’ Undercover says, placing Rex’s son on his lap. ‘A bunch of hiphop icons like EPMD, Redman and Tha Alkaholiks were playing there. Huge names. Some of those guys are far over forty now: you can’t expect them to jump around as fiercely as they used to but the passion was exploding off the stage. That was so extremely inspiring. And that’s what it’s all about: passion for music. Most contemporary musicians quit, as soon as their success is fading. Also in the hip hop scene.’
Rex -N- Undercover recently released their new summer single and video Gewoon Chill (Just Chilled). In September, their highly anticipated debute Zoek Dekking will see the day of light at DeF3 Entertainment, accompanied by a series of performances.
Ghana, Germany, Zuidoost
Rex -N- Undercover were both born in Germany and brought up by Ghanese parents. After some detours, both families ended up in Amsterdam Zuidoost. ‘Undercover was one of the first people I met here,’ Rex elaborates. ‘We went to the same school and immediately became friends.’ Undercover: ‘In 1996, my dad got offered a job in Heerenveen, so we had to move to Drachten, the middle of fucking nowhere. For three years, I was stuck in this shithole. Out of total boredom, I started rapping. Rex brought over the Zuidoost hip hop to Friesland in the summer of ’97, he stayed over, and brought a demo he had put together back home in the neighbourhood centre. It sounded amazing. We had grown up like brothers together and knew each other through and through, but I had never heard him rap before. It was so special to discover this entire new side of him. He sounded spot on. I wanted that for myself.’
No easily digestible music
In 1999, Undercover moved to Almere, closer to the flashpoint of Zuidoost, where numerous talented youngsters had already sprung upon hip hop. For a while, they had their own crews: Rex was part of the English-speaking formation Amon, Undercover was in State of Mind. For a long time, American hip hop was the most important example. ‘This was right after the East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry,’ Rex says. ‘Heroes 2Pac and Biggie had already been shot. In those days a couple of genius records came out in both scenes. Like the ones from Alkaholiks and Mobb Deep.’ He raps the chorus from Mobb Deep’s anthem Animal Instinct: ‘I’m tired of living life this way, crime pays but for how long? Till you reach a downfall.’
‘Those Mobb Deep guys came from the streets,’ Undercover says. ‘But they had a very intellectual approach to hip hop. They weren’t making music that was easily digestible. In stead, they were writing layered lyrics, allowing new discoveries each time you listened. The raw side of life was poetically expressed. That’s what we try to do now. But we don’t have just one message we want to convey. That’s too suffocating for us – life is too versatile for that.’ Rex adds: ‘We try to express the complexity of life.’
Fake style
When they started, Dutch hip hop was still in its infancy, but the two of them listened carefully to originators Osdorp Posse and Extince. ‘Especially Extince was fantastic,’ says Rex. ‘He had a very original flow.’ Gradually, more Dutch crept into their own raps. ‘The boys from Opgezwolle were real eye-openers for me,’ Undercover states. ‘I would have never guessed–with all due respect–that such great hip hop could come from Zwolle. Then Rex and me were like: see! It’s possible: rapping at the highest level, in Dutch. And why can’t it be done in Zuidoost? Why should we be acting like Americans?’
Dutch was a relief for Undercover. ‘My vocabulary was suddenly endlessly increased.’ Rex had more trouble. ‘I was deep into this specific US hip hop slang. It took a while, before I had enough confidence to switch entirely to Dutch, and before I had found my own style. Because the scene in Zuidoost was extremely critical–originality was a must. It was simply not done to copy someone else.’ Undercover nods. ‘If you had a fake style, you were bluntly booed off the stage. You see more and more ‘borrowing’ from American acts in Dutch hip hop. Just to score, a lot of hits are copied step by step: from the beats, flow, and autotune, right down to the female chorus.’
Hotbed Zuidoost
It took until 2008 for them to form a duo. As Rex -N- Undercover, the two youth friends polished their styles. Rex had already evolved into a beatmaker–after the demise of his rap formation Amon four years earlier. He started simple: with software cracks and lots of experimenting. ‘I took my beats to the neighbourhood centre and gathered a group of critical listeners. Undercover was amongst them. At some point, everyone was enjoying my beats with big grins on their faces. Then I knew I was on the right track.’
In a few years time, Zuidoost had developed into the single most important hotbed for versatile, rough and young hip hop talent, where tons of musical influences came together – from Jamaican dance hall and British grime to American hip hop. For a long time, the neighbourhood had been neglected by the rest of Amsterdam, but the isolation had led to creativity and self-sufficiency. ‘There’s lots of competition on all fronts,’ Rex explains about the high level of hip hop in Zuidoost. ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s about football, martial arts or music – there’s competition everywhere. Everybody wants to prove their skills. So to be heard, you have to be exceptional.’
New Skool
The versatile Zuidoost-style was brought under national attention, when artists like M.O. & Brakko (2008), Dret & Krulle (2009) and Kalibwoy (2010) won the Grote Prijs Van Nederland (Grand Prize of Holland) in the last three years. Rex -N- Undercover were signed to Samen Sterk (Strong Together): a record label where a great deal of their friends and fellow-thinkers had found a home. Last year, they travelled the country together with Dret & Krulle, Tastic, M.O. & Brakko and D. Lipps: the New Skool MC’s Tour. But after this promising start, the cooperation was mutually ended in June.
‘You know, I’m fed up,’ Rex says. ‘Samen Sterk started from a great idea: a group of friends with all these talented guys and a tight cooperation. But everything started to pale at some point. The cause of this is still unclear.’ Undercover: ‘As a label you should try to bring your artists further. And if that doesn’t happen, your motivation starts to fade. We were totally consumed with our debute album Zoek Dekking and had put our hearts en souls into those tracks–as mc’s, writers, beat makers and producers. But we didn’t get the idea that the end mix got the attention it deserved. It could have been so much better. Our current label DeF3 Entertainment was able to give us the right support.’
Unbridled hobby
Zoek Dekkng was globally finished last year, and was recently mastered by producer Guttermouff. Undercover is shining with pride: ‘We’ve got everything exactly the way we want it now, down to the tiniest detail.’ A collection of best tracks. Purely selected intuitively. Rex: ‘We took about a year and a half to make this record. We were forced to take our time, since we have a full-time job, a family and responsibilities.’ And it’s got to stay fun, Undercover nods.
Rex -N- Undercover don’t feel a connection with the grim gangster rap of many of their fellow Amsterdammers. ‘I know lots of those guys and grew up with them,’ says Rex. ‘But I quickly found their lifestyle not to be mine. Perhaps we could get more media attention with extreme behaviour and extreme lyrics, but you don’t live just for yourself. You’ve got to look your kids straight in the eyes. I don’t want to act tougher than I am, because that can only lead to bad things in a neighbourhood like this.’
‘It’s got to stay the way it has started with us,’ Undercover grins. ‘Purely as an unbridled hobby of two friends, born out of a passion for music. It’s really tough to be earning a living with music in Holland, unless you’re, say, Marco Borsato or André Rieu. That’s why we don’t want to compromise. It’s not about the hype. The hype is only for a short while. We’re more interested in making timeless classics.’
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