IVOxAK

Swedish rap duo IVOxAK consists of wunderkind Adam Kanyama and trap master Ivory. Their new single “Panasonic” comes with a visually striking video made by director/co-producer B.A.R.T. Read the full story behind the video along with an exclusive interview with Adam, Ivory and B.A.R.T.

 

 

After trying hard to find the right address in a freezing cold December Stockholm, B.A.R.T and I meet up with Adam Kanyama and Ivory in a home studio just outside of the central city. In the other room from where we sit, Adam’s colleagues from rap collective OIAM (One In A Million) are testing new beats and Adam is eager to get in there with them. Since his rise to fame as a 15 year old in Sweden’s version of X Factor, he has proven himself to be a hard working new comer with several successful projects such as OIAM and solo work. In 2014 he met Ivory, a renowned rapper with numerous releases already behind him, at a party where he arrived with OIAM band mate Samboii. Ivory remembers that Adam at that time had grown a lot taller than when he first saw him on TV and that the free style rap that he performed at the party was truly impressive.

 

 

Ivory and Adam agrees that there are differences between them, other than the 7 year age gap (Adam is 20 years old and Ivory 27), for example the artistic focus in their respective solo projects. “Ivory is very clear on which genre he does, Trap and Cloud,” Adam says, “where as I do some Boom Bap. Trap had just started coming in when we met so I thought, if I’m going to do it, why not do it with the one who does it best? It is actually from Ivory and Tony From Sweden [Ivory’s manager] that I even know about Trap, without them I would have thought it was just 2 Chainz” he says, lastly referring to the Georgia rapper known from Playaz Circle.

When speaking of the video, both parts of the duo are very pleased with the end result, although Adam compares the shooting, which took place in the middle of the woods late night in November, to The Blair Witch Project. The rap pair met B.A.R.T on the set of their first video, a hilarious depiction of the song “Baba”, where he helped out his director friend Natan Gullström. When B.A.R.T later pitched some beats to Tony From Sweden, the idea for the “Panasonic” video was sparked. “One of the first things they said,” B.A.R.T remembers”, was that they wanted a spooky, eerie vibe to the video”, and obviously they succeeded since Adam thought even shooting it was frightening.

 

 

 

“I asked Adam for the lyrics” B.A.R.T continues (originally from L.A/San Diego, having only been in Sweden for a year, he did not understand the Swedish rap). “But I never received them, so I decided on writing and directing the video without knowing what they were saying, except for the hook ‘Ingen Panasonic’ (No Panasonic)”.

Working with production company Lillasyster (with Måns Lorentzen as his producer), B.A.R.T claims that “Panasonic” has been one of the best executed productions he has ever done. Apart from directing and co-producing the video, he also styled it, a line of work he does along with other projects, such as a music career. B.A.R.T describes himself as the key, with a liking for a mono-chromatic look, often used in the IVOxAK video. “Panasonic” is B.A.R.T’s first collaboration with Lillasyster and his second with Ivory and Adam Kanyama, but hopefully time will give us more from this exciting mash-up.

Credits:

Words by Filip Lindström