For the Eindhoven hip-hop artist Fresku (37), performing never becomes routine. “You’re standing on a platform and thousands of people expect something from you, that’s not normal.” On Saturday he will perform during the jazz festival ‘So What’s Next’ in the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven. And he finds that exciting. Just like the launch of his EP two weeks ago. He sent eight songs into the world, as a precursor to his album ‘Leren Leven’. Indeed, something he still works on every day. He talks about it on Wednesday in the TV program ‘KRAAK asks through’ at Omroep Brabant.
With his 15 years of experience as a rapper, he now thinks that it is just part of it for him: excitement before a performance. He also has a method for dealing with it: “I just tell the audience: I’m very nervous, but if you keep looking at me so sweetly, everything will be fine.” Isn’t he a bit of a ‘softie’ lost in that somewhat tough hip-hop world? “That’s right,” he says, “but I’ve noticed that if I toughen up my nerves, it only gets worse.”
To cry
His gentle character also emerges on his new album ‘Learning to Live’. But sometimes he also paints a gloomy and even apocalyptic picture of our world. Like in the clip for the song ‘Spaceship’ in which he flees from a burning city with his son. “I can do what I do because I’m so sensitive, but that also has a downside.” News, like now from Gaza, is coming in hard. “That really made me cry.”
He now notices in conversations that the conclusion is often: man is bad. He would resent it if that belief were to dominate. “Hate and anger, they are powerful forces. Love is less noticeable but also very strong.” And he thinks we better believe in that.
Lifebuoy
He has now released eight new songs into the world. One fan commented: “It’s a record to cling to.” As if it were a lifebuoy. Fresku thinks it’s a nice compliment. “Actually,” he says, “I do the same thing. I also cling to my own lyrics.”
Because all the advice contained therein is also for him. “Sometimes I feel like a fraud because I don’t stick to my own advice. But inside me is the man I can become and who writes those texts, but I am far from that man.”
‘KRAAK asks for more’ is broadcast every Wednesday at 5.15 pm and then repeated. The program can also be viewed online and via Brabant+.
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