Ansis (Ansis Kolmanis) and the concert in Mežapark are to blame for everything
Gustavo’s importance on the Latvian music map is hard to overestimate. In the second half of the 90s, he created the first hip-hop group “Fact” in Latvia together with Ozola (Ęirts Rozentāls), Čižika (Aivars Čivželis) and Gonza (Jānis Kalniņš), but later he was the uncrowned king of domestic rap as a solo artist. Until now, Gustavo’s discography included the studio albums “Beidzot!” (2004), “A couple of verses / Party at the hotel” (2006), “3. elpa” (2010) and “City Portal” (2011), of which at least the first two were literally “eaten up” by the audience. His concerts were well-attended, and Gustavo was also very popular as a producer (“Prāta vētras” album “There must be something” is his work), but then the period of Arstarulsmirus began… Let’s keep quiet about it, but fans all these years did not give up hope that Gustavo would return. And he came back, moreover, in his big concert “Arena Riga” at the end of November last year, he proved that the powder of the old master of Latvian rap is still dry (and suitable for detonation).
“A couple of years ago, in the summer of 2021, I had no idea that something like this could happen,” admits Gustavo. “And then, little by little, I began to think that I could make a unique composition with Gustavo’s participation – such as Arstarulsmirus feat. Gustavo. About six months passed, and it was really created (we are talking about the song “I like” released in December 2021 – author). However, one of the biggest pushes, when I specifically felt that I was going to tackle this project, happened after visiting ans’s concert in Mežapark. It was an inspiring concert, and I went home after it and “stuck” – look, hmm, yes, I could… The next weekend was quite crazy: my friend Maira and I went to the seaside, and I think we talked about it all day I was just telling. We walked and I just talked and talked and talked and talked about what the plan for the next years might be. And that’s how it gradually came true.”
Worked until the nervous system capitulated
The album was recorded between June 2022 and February 2023 and contains 13 tracks. The author of the music, arrangements and lyrics of all the songs is Gustavs himself, except for the compositions in which Ozols, Čižiks and Ansis (Ansis Kolmanis) can be heard as guest soloists – in them, as is customary in rap records, the performers are the authors of the words of their vocal parts.
The first real tangible (that is, listenable) cover of the new album was the single “Mums vajag tsipus Gustavo” released last July with the participation of a whole bunch of stars – ansis, Ozols, Jānis Krīvēns, roland če, Sanda Dejus, xantikvariāts, Prusax, Steps, Šya, even Kaspars Gorkšs, Kristīne Garklāva and Jānis Skutelis. “It must be said that of all the albums Gustavo has released so far, this one was made in the most concentrated, compressed and densest period of time. Never before has there been so much investment in such a short time to get to an album!” says the musician. “The degree of concentration was already so high that I was walking around the house practically all the time, humming something to myself, looking for words and rhymes, and it didn’t end even when I went to bed – everything continued at night, in my sleep. If I shut down for a while, then I woke up from the fact that something continued to scheme in me, and I had to get up to write this something down. This process was like that for seven months with a small break, when my nervous system couldn’t take it anymore, and I had to take a bit of a forced break,” Gustavo is not shy to admit.
In the lyrics, he spared no one, not even himself
The result is highly commendable, because Gustavo has quality in everything, from the exquisitely ironic and thought-provoking texts to the tangible format of the scroll and its polygraphic execution. It seems that he has not forgotten anyone – not even his second “I”, that is, Arstarulsmirus (“Writing lines that warm Riga again / It’s natural, no, but – two natures / But there was a time when I felt like I was half dead / Because I was kicked out by my own punch – Arstarulsmirus”), nor other rappers (“That ode to cheburek – so fine, delicious / I was already eating it in my mind, while the words were eating my imagination / There was a juice that behaved loudly like thunder / She tried to tap dance in a satin skirt / As a dot on the “i” a whirlwind began that mosquitoes and cockroaches / Blown away, the fact, I wanted to be somewhere quieter”), not everyone else. Listen and read the lyrics – you won’t regret it!
The two smash hits “It’s Only Begun” (with Ozola and Chizhik) and “We Need Gustavo Back” – no comments, five out of five stars. If a “Grand Prix” is awarded to these pieces, then the reviewer would put the stylish song “Serviss” in the first place after them, where the grand master of scratch Dj Monsta (Uldis Cīrulis) played, the second – a collaboration with ansi “Efekts”, and the third step of the podium would be “Between” lines” that best recall “that time” Gustavo. Letter of appreciation for the song “Skip”, which Arnis Rachinskis also participated in singing.
As for the minuses, at times Gustavo contradicts himself – he declared that “I decided to make the new record as if this were my debut”, but in almost every song he explains the motives of his return, as if he wanted to convince himself (and those around him ), that this reincarnation is still expected and needed in hip-hop circles. But – did anyone have any doubts about that?! “In terms of content, I included personal, self-ironic stories in the album, which are interwoven with reflections on creative self-expression as the cornerstone of my life. Judging by the reviews of the colleagues involved in the album, Gustavo’s most witty, direct and wordplay densest album has come together. Musically, I tried to make sure that the songs sound diverse, but at the same time that they form a single whole with a readable dramatic development,” explains the musician.
The hatchet with Oak buried forever
There is a separate story about the title song of the album “Tagad tikki sakda”, which was premiered at the aforementioned Gustavo concert: standing in the hall in the audience, it seemed that when Gustav’s former colleagues from the group “Fact” Ozolam and Chizhik appeared on the stage, the roof of the arena would be torn off. , because everyone remembers the disagreement between the two rap flagships, Gustavo and Ozola, at the turn of the century. By the way, it is recommended to watch the video of the song, in the final scenes of which Gustavo’s father, glass artist Agris Butelis, has played the role of master and savior of the situation.
“I remember how, at the beginning of the creative process, we decided with Ozola and Čižika, if we have already come together once in 20 years in the former “Fact” composition, to create something new, it must be something explosive. That’s how we ended up with this song, which is a story about the challenges and benefits of that time period. And by “this period” I mean this period of our lives, when we have reached the pre-retirement age and we want to comfort ourselves with the phrase that it has only just begun, but everything until then has been just “fufel”,” Gustavo ironizes. However, the feeling remains that, at least musically, it really “just started” from his side (not “starting” – the rapper himself emphasized that). I’m glad for that, only further, please, without Arstarulsmirus – let this guy do something else for a few years…
