On Wednesday evening, C.Gambino can win the award “Artist of the Year” posthumously at the P3 Gold Gala. Prosecutor Lisa dos Santos rages against Sveriges Radio’s nomination of the shot dead rapper and believes that it should never have happened.
– Maybe he wasn’t part of any main core, I don’t know. But he is murdered in a parking garage, he is shot in such a way that is a given modus operandi in gang criminal environments, she says.
After that statement comes strong criticism against Lisa dos Santos from the music journalist Fredrik Strage. When TV4 Nyheterna meets him, he says, in a highly ironic way, that the jury for the P3 Gold Gala should call the Public Prosecutor’s Office beforehand to confirm all the nominations.
– It is important that everyone is as nice as Benjamin Ingrosso or Molly Sandén. Or it is completely absurd that a prosecutor has views on which artists P3 chooses to highlight. I get scared of the dark from the debate, he says.
Strage’s anger: “Of course P3 will highlight him”
Strage believes that one can have opinions on C.Gambino’s music but is adamant that it is absurd to criticize which artists Sveriges Radio nominates.
– If people have listened to him and people appreciate the music, P3 should of course highlight him, he says.
He emphasizes, however, that Sveriges Radio was clearer in the past in its justifications for the nominations.
– I can imagine that after recent years of serious crime and horrible acts of violence, it’s not quite as fun to listen to artists who rap about shooting each other. It’s not as attractive anymore. What was at first a tickling darkness now comes too close. But that doesn’t mean you should boycott the music, he says.
“C.Gambino’s actions are not his art”
Lisa dos Santos does not believe that any gangster rapper, regardless of whether the lyrics are about violence or not, should be played in public service. But Fredrik Strage believes that it is important to distinguish between work and person.
– C.Gambino’s actions are not his art. I know it’s hard to tell the difference, but I think you should try. At least P3 has done that in the past. Now they back off a bit and say that he tried to improve and that is why he is nominated for “Artist of the Year”, he says.