With a flashing gold Rolex on his arm and a cat tattooed on his hand, he swings the car with enormous horsepower through the center of Bergen. – Cameleeeeeeen! Take a picture of him! A group of students in the middle of godfather week shout when they see the Bergen rapper driving through the city centre. During the road trip, several passing fans ask if they can take a picture with him. He willingly sticks his head out of the car window and poses for selfies with fans, while smiling and laughing. Suddenly we get media headlines about him driving around without a valid driver’s license. – Erm, do you actually have the note now? – Yes, I have never lost it. I just didn’t get it until I was an adult. I thought I was never going to get my life in order, so I drove a lot without it. But now I have it. – Is it difficult to drive legally now then? – No, it’s not difficult. I use turn signals and everything, he says, laughing. Say Nothing Marcus Kabelo Møll Mosele (29), known as Kamelen, is among Norway’s biggest rappers. In the course of seven years, he has managed to release three albums and win a fiddler’s prize. But he is also associated with conflicts with the police. His lyrics are often about being in prison, the police, interrogations and, not least, getting out of prison. He became famous overnight, when in 2015 he released the song “Si Ingenting” while he was on the run from the police. Now he is current with the documentary about his life with the same name. The documentary recently premiered in cinemas. Reviewers have given fours and fives, and cinemas have had to set up extra screenings. Kamelen when he broke through with his first song “Say Nothing”. He is known for his crowd-pleasing during concerts. On the red carpet before the premiere of the documentary about his life. With a Rolex on your arm and fans everywhere, it seems pretty nice to be a camel during the day. He parks the car in the middle of a park in Laksevåg, right next to his childhood home. Since day 1 From here he has lots of good memories, and some bad ones. – I have always had a mother who cared a lot about me and tried to look after me. I am the one who has chosen to do things without telling her about it. The father moved out when Mosele was two years old, and since then they have had little contact. Sitting still has never been easy for the rap artist. – I couldn’t sit still in the classroom. Until they started medicating me. Then I became a zombie. His energy level is still high. Even with pre-premieres during the day and concerts in the evening, he chatters in and out with everyone he meets. As a 7-year-old he was diagnosed with ADHD, and he was put on medication until he was 15. He shows where he hung out at the convenience store and dodged smoke and snuff from passers-by as a 13-year-old, where he hid in the woods to throw snowballs on people and which buildings he climbed. But over the next few years, life would go from being about innocent children’s pranks to more serious matters. Thug When he was 13 years old he ended up at an alternative school, what he himself calls a school for problem children. – The teachers understood us and we got to go fishing a lot and things like that. But it was perhaps not so wise to put children with different problems in one place. He says that many of those he went to school with are dead, or drug addicts today. From the age of 16 he sold hashish, and his life was to continue for several years in a criminal racetrack. He eventually dropped out of high school and lived as a hustler, according to himself. In his late teens and early 20s, he was caught by the police for stealing a car and several people met his fist in the city. Two people were hit with a cobblestone and one of them had to get 17 stitches. Kamelen often uses experiences from his own life in his songs and music videos. Here from “Back to the City”. Photo: Screen dump/Back to the City A sort of revolver interview He has been convicted of, among other things, several cases of violence, threats and drug possession. He served a year and a half in prison. It is time to ask the questions he is most tired of answering. – Do you have an explanation as to why this happened? – You go around trying to find your identity in society and you have issues you haven’t dealt with, so you tend to have a slightly shorter fuse than others. – Is there anything you regret? – Of course, I’ve done a lot of stupid things. – Violence, for example? – Yes, among other things, things you have done that have affected others. Introduced something to someone who has gone to hell, so there are more things that one regrets, or that I regret. – What do you think about the verdicts today? – It is not good. I’m trying to work on myself so that I don’t end up in situations like this again. After the violent episodes that happened between seven and ten years ago, he has been in therapy and anger management. He was later convicted of threats to a doorman, driving without a license plate and possession of drugs. For the last two years, he has had no cases. Disclaimer The judgments have hung over his music career like a clammy hand. For a long time he felt that everyone wanted to put a lid on Kamelen and that he only met resistance in the music industry. Among other things, it took a long time before his songs were played on the radio, and many were skeptical about letting him hold concerts. But then he was suddenly taken into the heat. He was featured in several TV and radio programs. Now people got to see more sides of him and not just newspaper headlines about a rapper convicted of violence. He got closer to the fans than before and realized that for many he was a role model. He has a fondness for young people who have not had it so easy in life. Among other things, he has been to a summer camp for children at an alternative school. The aim is to get them to make different choices in life than he himself. – I realized that there are people who look up to me and that I had to be a little more careful with what I say. – Someone might say that you are not a good role model? – I can do nothing but be the best version of myself. I try to be bold with youth. If someone says they smoke weed, I say don’t. He realized it was time to throw in the towel on what he describes as “bullshit”. Family first An additional motivation to stay out of prison is that his mother received a serious cancer diagnosis a year and a half ago. – I would never have been able to forgive myself if I had been in prison and then my mother had passed away without me being there for her. She has been there for me all my life, so then I wouldn’t have felt so good about myself. Therefore, it is important for him to drive his mother to the hospital for treatment. – I can do nothing but spend time with her and help her with what she needs. Then we get to take everything as it comes after that. This spring, he finally got the long-awaited acceptance from the music industry, when he won the Spellman prize in the hip-hop category. – It was a confirmation that things are now happening. Now we are seen and heard and get recognition that we have worked damn hard for too long. The mother was there when Kamelen won the spelling bee award. Photo: Goodtime productions In the autumn there will be a new collaboration with the Bergen rapper Lars Vaular. In addition, a song about his mother will be released soon. Mosele has decided to stay away from prison. For him, it was music that saved him from a criminal career path. – The best thing that has happened in my life is that I started making legal money from music and got an artist career. He will soon go on to another pre-premiere for his own film. He is extra excited as it is the first time his mother will see the film. He starts the world’s least discreet car with a drone and turns out of park. There are many indications that the rebel from Laksevåg, who will soon turn 30, is starting to grow up. And that he has started using turn signals.
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Soon adult camel – Culture
