New Swedish Govt Wants to Investigate Links Between Gangs and Rap Music

Chris TomlinsonDecember 4, 2021

Sweden’s new Minister of Culture, Jeanette Gustafsdotter, says she wants to investigate the links between gangster rap music and gang crime, to see if the music leads to gang activity.

Minister Gustafsdotter stated that she was open to the idea of investigating links between gangster rap music and crime, saying: “It’s very important to look at it and see: What does it lead to?”

“Hopefully I can be of influence, take the debate, and talk about the seriousness of this situation. To get young people to interact culture and music in a different way so that it does not lead to violence,” Gustafsdotter told broadcaster SVT.

She added that it was too early to determine how to carry out such a task, but noted that her experience working at the youth-focused non-profit Fryshuset showed her how music and culture can positively impact young people.

Swedish Broadcaster Names Arrested Migration-Background Rapper ‘Artist of the Year’ https://t.co/8O4C2exfwi

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Following the killing of popular Swedish rapper Nils ‘Einár’ Grönberg, who was shot dead by suspected gang members in southern Stockholm in October of this year, a debate has emerged in Sweden about the links between gangster rappers and criminal gangs.

The populist Sweden Democrats (SD) have called for gangster rap to be banned from publicly-funded broadcasters following the murder of Einár, with Tobias Andersson, the party’s legal policy spokesman, saying “It is clear that limiting the influence of this type of music is a type of crime prevention measure, and I see it as vital.”

“The government should call on the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention to develop a knowledge base on gangster rap and its influences in a gangster environment, just as it did with white supremacist music in the 1990s,” he added.

Einár is not the only gangster rapper to have had connections to gang criminals. Migration-background rapper Yasin is also thought to have links to the notorious Vårby Network criminal gang and was arrested along with 20 others on New Year’s Eve last year.

Yasin, whose full name is Yasin Mahamoud, was awarded ‘Artist of the Year’ by public broadcaster Sveriges Radio this year, despite these alleged gang links.