Miscellaneous Rapper KT Gorique has found the secret ingredient for her music
Rapper KT Gorique from Valais is releasing her EP "Radio Pirate", with which she will be touring Switzerland. Her lyrics are essential to her - but with her flow, she also reaches those on the other side of the Röstigraben who don't understand her words.
14.03.2025, 06:30
14.03.2025, 06:31
SDA
She is feeling really good at the moment, KT Gorique told the Keystone-SDA news agency a week before the release of her upcoming EP "Radio Pirate". You could say that about any project, but this time it really is the case: "This EP means a lot to me." Because the realization was more special than its predecessors.
KT Gorique worked on "Radio Pirate" together with Gary "Riga" Burke, who also produced the beats. Apart from the intro and an intermediate piece - the interlude - the tracks on the EP follow an artistic line that combines drill beats with African music.
One style, different flows
Although she maintains this style throughout almost the entire record, KT Gorique creates a different mood with each track. The track "Qui m'appelle?", for example, conveys an aggressive energy, while "I Love You" with its reduced instrumentation could almost be described as a rap ballad.
One style, different flows - the artist has found a secret ingredient: "It's as if I've been cooking for a long time and something good has always come out of it," says KT Gorique. "But now, with this EP, I've found the perfect recipe."
KT Gorique was born in 1991 to an Ivorian mother and an Italian father in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. She moved to Switzerland at the age of eleven. KT Gorique incorporates these different influences into her music.
Criticism meets ego punchlines
The content of "Radio Pirate" revolves around dreams. "I use the lyrics to explore the phenomenon of still not being satisfied when you achieve something you've always dreamed of." She doesn't do this in a sad way, her lyrics are rather matter-of-fact - and express resilience, as she describes it. The Valais native also interweaves social criticism with ego punchlines.
She often expresses how she feels as an "African woman living in a Western country". Although it is about the disillusionment of dreams, KT Gorique also describes her own dream in her lyrics: "I hope to one day see African countries as independent, sovereign states where people are free."
KT Gorique has long since established herself in the French-speaking world. She became famous in her early twenties in 2014 with her leading role in the feature film "Brooklyn" by French director Pascal Tessaud, which was shown in Cannes. Two years earlier, she had become freestyle rap world champion in New York, not only as the youngest person ever, but also as the first woman and first candidate from Switzerland.
"I don't say anything that isn't important to me"
But KT Gorique is no stranger to German-speaking Switzerland either. Even though many people don't understand her lyrics. The lyrics are essential for her, after all KT Gorique sees herself as a rapper and songwriter: "I don't say anything in my tracks that isn't important to me." Of course, it would be desirable if those who listen to her music from German-speaking Switzerland would also engage with her lyrics. "But it's also completely okay if you just want to go with the flow."
The concerts in German-speaking Switzerland are "crazy", she said. "I'm on stage and I know that the audience barely understands what I'm rapping. But the concert-goers don't care, the atmosphere is crazy every time," says the rapper. "I think that hip-hop in other languages is more appreciated in German-speaking Switzerland than in French-speaking Switzerland." This could be due to the fact that Francophone rap has a huge presence on the hip-hop market worldwide.
Her greatest strength is to radiate her emotions and the raw energy of the music. "Then the audience doesn't need to understand what I'm saying in order to understand what I'm saying." It's like Bob Marley, who she listened to up and down as a child: "I didn't understand a word of it either, but it still made me cry because it touched me so much."
KT Gorique is also touring Switzerland with her new EP. She calls it the "Radio Pirate Sound System Tour". It takes her back to the roots of hip-hop: simply with a DJ, hype man and speakers - without drums or other instruments. "It will be raw and unadulterated," explains KT Gorique. She will then perform with her live band in the summer.
