New Antwerp rapper Vinnie G, straight from the Paradijsstraat: “It helps me through a stranded time” (Antwerp)
A rapper who unpacks with a G in his stage name, you expect a gangster. One that, in its clips, boasts at the very least a shiny red pot, a barker with a mother-of-pearl handle and an army of nimble mikes with nipple brushes. Not at Vinnie G from Paradise Street. The Antwerp debutant cheerfully rides through the city on a Veloke, all the women are able to put on their blouses at his party and the only weapon he pulls out is his infectious mischievous charm.
The G simply stands for his family name. Vincent Greeve (31), a child of Sint-Andries, only started rapping two years ago. “I don’t have any background in music,” he confesses. “I don’t play an instrument, I can’t read a note. Better, I grew up with my father’s Di Straits records.” He smiles.
Mark Knopfler and Co quickly made way for 2Pac and Dr. Dre and later also for Dutch hoppers like The Opposites. And two years ago he bubbling up the muse himself. “I had a very hard time at the time,” says the Antwerp resident. “It broke up with my girlfriend after a relationship that had lasted seven years. And also on a professional level I did not find my way. I have an attention disorder and struggled from interim job to interim job. It was a whole beach with my friends. Until I wish I could rap about it. It was the ideal valve to deal with all that misery.”
In his debut capital letter G he does not even return to that turbulent period, but then the party can break loose. The fact that the song has become so infectiously danceable is due to a chance meeting at a family party. “William Clarx is my godfather’s in-laws,” he says. “In Brussels he is the frontman of the group The Kids of the Elephant. He made the beats and helped me with everything else. His buddy Pietje Zeverzak made the clip.”
He shot that clip in his flat in Paradijsstraat and in the courtyard of the Haringrokerij, the cohousing project in Kronenburgstraat where Vinnie G grew up.
Underpants brand
The inspiration continues to flow. Greeve, who works as a logistics operator at Eurochem, writes new texts. Not about major social issues. You don’t have to go to Vinnie G for views on the energy crisis.
“I draw from my own emotional life,” he says. “I think it’s been identified for a lot of people of my generation. We all struggle with our relationship from our job at times.” And he illustrates it seamlessly with one of his rhymes: “Hip-hop is in my blood and rap is my therapy. When I dig about my problems, I don’t feel them like that. That’s why I do it and how it works for Vinnie G.”
Soon he will start the night shift, deep in the harbour, but first the hip-hopper still poses in the tranquility of the Beguinage. On his head is a pet with his stage name. “When I googled ‘Vinnie G’ I saw that it is also an underpants brand.” He smiles. “Maybe I should ask those men if they want to sponsor me.”