James Nikander is one of the first black rappers to rap in Finnish about stereotypes. Under his artist name, Musta Barbaari, his first and only song Salil eka, salil vika (‘First in the gym, last in the gym’) came out at the end of August 2013. The lyrics caused much controversy in Finland, with memorable lines such as: ‘I go to the job centre, but I don’t work my butt off looking for work ‘cos I already have the toughest job in Finland. I’m a black man.’ His song has received almost 800, 000 hits in three weeks which, with a population of 5.4 million in Finland, is more than 15%.
James Nikander will express his support to the ENAR Foundation and address the Awardees of the ENAR Foundation Awards 2013.