The debate about gangster rap is gaining momentum in Swedish media

In connection with this week's crime and the Cultural News review of the depictions of violence within the Swedish gangster scene, several questions have been on the agenda: Is gangsterrap a way into or out of crime? and does the music genre romanticize crime or is it just a depiction of a violent reality?

These are issues that were debated in this week's crime on Tuesday.

In the studio, among others, was Gustaf Lantz, Social Democratic MP, who wants recreational farms financed by tax money to stop playing gangster rap. During the debate he made a remarkable statement.

"I think there is a kind of self-harm behavior in our society: on the one hand we invest a lot of money in getting rid of the co-shootings and on the other we have leisure farms that support the message," said Gustaf Lantz, in Week's crime.

The MP has received a bribe, both from a political point of view and in several media.

In South Sweden, music critic Gabriel Zetterström compares the discussion about the possible influence of the gangster rap with a debate that in the 1980s was about how the hard rock could lead to those who listened to the genre become Satanists.

He also draws parallels to the poet Yahya Hassan, who debuted in 2013 with the poem collection Yahya Hassan - a violent upbringing that has been criticized for his portrayal of Islam. Zetterström thinks that Hassan, just like the gangster rappers, says something about our time, just that the poet has a "completely different fine cultural platform to stand on".

"One need not sympathize with Yahya Hassan's vulgar portrayal of Islam; one may think that the frequent use of the word" glock "by the Swedish gangsters is almost parodic, but in any case their texts are testimonies and stories of society."

In a chronicle in the Gothenburg Post, Jonan Lindqvist strongly criticizes Gustaf Lantz's statement. "It is /.../ extremely tiring that people with power /.../ increasingly think that artists should be nice and entertaining.". According to Lindqvist, it is a "dangerous attitude".

On Aftonbladet's leadership page, Lotta Ilona Häyrynen describes the whole conversation as a pesudo debate. “Of course, culture and music should be about reality. /.../ Because music for many becomes a breathing hole in a risky everyday life. And it does not get any better when politicians like Gustaf Lantz would rather correct how everyday life is portrayed than do anything about the real problems. ", She writes, and thinks that" the debate about the harmful youth culture is starting to become both predictable and tiring. "