Timbuktu Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 17th 2010 12:00PM by Matt Glazebrook
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Swedish hip-hopper Timbuktu hits SXSW with countryman and fellow rapper Chords. Expect infectious grooves, African and reggae influences, and the sort of jazzy beats, rhymes and life that moved the Native Tongues collective back in the late '80s -- albeit this time delivered in native Swedish. Spinner caught up with the MC -- known to his parents as Jason Michael Robinson Diakité -- and fired a few questions in his direction.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Energetic, broad, conscious and good vibes!

How did you get started?

After being introduced to the culture in the late 1980s, my friend persuaded me to start writing rhymes.

What are your musical influences?

All genres of music that make me feel something.

How did you come up with your name?

My ancestors came from Tombouctou, Mali. So I took the name from there.

What's your biggest vice?

That would be not finding the time to do everything I want or need to do.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Clean clothes and ginger.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

The song 'City of Crime' with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd rapping, from the movie 'Dragnet'.

Who is your celebrity crush?

Natalie Portman.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

When we were in St Petersburg for a show with [fellow Swedish hip-hop act] Looptroop, we had to be escorted by police to the show because of neo-Nazis showing up at our hotel. Or the time we rode Icelandic horses in Iceland.