Skrajny, or rather Karol Wilk from Trzebień, a graduate of the Janusz Korczak II General Secondary School in Bolesławiec, has been writing lyrics and rapping for 10 years, since he was 15.
When he was in lower secondary school, he became interested in poetry, and later encountered an alternative trend in rap focused on conveying emotions. – Previously, I associated hip-hop only with the street scene, which always put me off – he admits. But when asked about his favourite poet, he answers immediately: Jarosław Januszewski, or... Bisz, one of Poland’s best-known rappers. One thing does not exclude the other.
Where did the pseudonym come from? – I swing from one extreme to another. Sometimes one ideology absorbs me, and a moment later I am occupied with something completely different – the rapper explains. He adds: – I also did not want to take the easy route and create a pseudonym from my first and last name or from my initials.
A breakthrough
While spending time in the rap-related scene, Skrajny met, among others, a well-known and respected underground rapper from Szczecin – YwiSa. – Knowing him enriched me musically; YwiS is a great inspiration for me. He is a wonderful person and one of the best underground artists – our fellow local resident says.
And it was YwiS who persuaded Karol to try his hand at hip-hop. – He heard me rapping to the wall and kept urging me to do something with it: go to a studio, record it and release it – our rapper recalls.
How is the music made?
Karol is currently working on an album with Marcel Jański, a producer known as Early, who was also formerly a resident of Trzebień. (Early now lives in Głogów).
The rapper stresses that this is a genuine collaboration, even a symbiosis. Early creates the backing tracks, but both of them work on the arrangements. And vice versa – the producer helps Karol with his lyrics, suggesting where something could be changed, for example technically.
The mixing and mastering of Skrajny and Early’s recordings is handled by Mac Kay, that is, Marek Kozłowski from Bolesławiec, a friend of Karol’s from secondary school. Mac Kay is currently a sought-after sound engineer; among other things, he worked on processing one of the albums by DJ Decks, Peja’s longtime collaborator. – Mac Kay taught me a great deal about recording vocals and vocal delivery – Skrajny stresses.
How are the lyrics written?
Karol Wilk admits that the “self-therapeutic factor” is very important in his verses. – People create not to bury what they make in a drawer later. It is good to share this self-therapy with others, so that they can identify with the lyrics and feel that they are not alone with their problems – he explains.
That is why the album, whose title Karol does not want to reveal yet, will be real talk, speaking straight from the heart. Though not only that. – Emotional ramblings will alternate with philosophical subjects, such as Jordan Peterson’s concept – the rapper announces.
He emphasises that the lyrics are very important to him. – In mainstream hip-hop, the main value now is how something sounds, not whether it is about something – the rapper says. He adds that in the lyrics of popular artists such as Rusina, Vkie, and White Widow, he misses, among other things, interesting rhymes and wordplay. – They are simple and banal – he stresses. – I draw a thick line between myself and these mainstream players.
In our conversation, Karol also mentioned perhaps the most popular female hip-hop artist in Poland – Young Leosi, who, after leaving her original label, began releasing her own music. Soon afterwards, she released… another trivial, playful track that was not particularly well received by listeners. – I hope listeners will start choosing more ambitious content – Skrajny comments. – The world is changing for the worse, so we cannot allow artistic, emotional and aesthetic sensitivity to die within us. We cannot lose ourselves in the rush for entertainment and forget about values.
What about the album?
Two singles are already ready. On 7 December, a music video for the first of them is due to appear online. The video is being edited by another of Karol’s school friends – Marcin Wakuła from Foto-Rekord in Bolesławiec.
It is not yet known whether the album will be released on a physical medium or only online. Much depends on how the album is received.
Plans
What plans does Skrajny have? Above all, he wants to become an even better vocalist technically. In the future, he also intends to take up music production. Because, as he says: – Music is the highest form of art.
What do you think? How do you like Skrajny’s tracks? We invite you to join the discussion.