A cultural guest, rapper Yungmiqun’s life in one pub in Utsjoki is good, but the pull of the south is strong.
– Let’s get on with it!
Laiti has performed a rap song she has written called *Smoke*. In Finnish it means home.
For the rapper from Northern Lapland, home is a much bigger place than the family house in Utsjoki, where he was born.
– My home is Sami. The Sámi language is so important to me that it can also be called home, he says now.
“There is no Hese or Mäkkäri”
It’s a long way from the limelight of the talent competition to Finland’s northernmost municipality.
It is more than 1200 kilometers from Helsinki to Utsjoki by car. In Lait’s words, it is \”the distance of a bridge\” to the Norwegian border. You can drive there in a few minutes.
The blackout that started in November will not end until next week.
In the center of the village there are a couple of gas stations, a pub, a grill, a grocery store and a hotel.
There is one bus a day to Rovaniemi. If it’s late, you have to wait for the ride until the next day.
– There is no Hese or Mäkkäri, but there is nature, clean air, silence and fish rising from the river, 20-year-old Mihkku Laiti enumerates.
There are only a few thousand inhabitants and they are far from each other. Still, everyone knows each other’s stuff.
When Laiti had appeared on the television program Talent, which is looking for Finland’s brightest talent, the rest of the villagers also recognized him as a rapper.
Once he drove his car out of the yard of a local pub. The police followed and stopped.
– You obviously wanted to check if I had been enjoying myself. When he noticed me, he said, \”yeah, what’s up with our talent here?\”
In the footsteps of Ailu Vale and Amoc
He also wanted to perform in his own mother tongue, Northern Sami. Of the three Sámi languages \u200b\u200bspoken in Finland, it is the most spoken.
Northern Sami has always been the Lait family’s home language as well.
– I thought that there hasn’t been very much music like this made for Sami, or at least there isn’t too much of it.
Later, the lyrics were also written in Finnish, because he wanted them to be understood by people other than those who know Sami. At the same time, the audience expanded.
Mihkku raps deep, but also about the Moon Shoes
He wants to make music that makes people think.
– You don’t always have to have a message though, you can just rap because it’s fun.
Rhymes are also related to the northern way of life, familiar and important things.
– My songs tell about what I’m thinking at that moment – why am I?
Topics familiar from rap music such as fancy cars, partying and expensive designer clothes are not of interest to Yungmi.
– I have never wanted to blend in with the crowd. I’ve said from the beginning that I don’t want to make mainstream mainstream music.
Suddenly he remembers and laughs that there is an exception in his own production.
– I also have one song where I say that you are wearing *Guccis* and I am wearing *Kuomats*.
I would like to clarify that in fact the Finnish *Kuoma* winter boots are not very suitable for reindeer work.
The swamp bunker is tightening
The Talent Suomi competition has progressed to the semi-finals.
Mihkku Laiti has changed into a Lapland suit, a gákti. She carefully arranges the scarf, silver jewelry and belt, and ties the reindeer skin shoes at the ankles with a colorful decorative ribbon.
He performs his rap *Suohpa*, or *Suopunki* in Finnish.
This time, the majority of the judges no longer vote for the rapper, and the place in the finals is missed.
Laiti says afterwards that it was a small disappointment and soon quite frankly that it \”fucked up\”.
Mihkku Laiti participated in the talent contest in March 2021. Although he did not win, the contest brought a lot of positive publicity and social media attention.
– If people have had something negative in mind, they haven’t told me, he says now.
A young man rapping in a Lapin suit on a television program was something unprecedented for many.
– I hope I encouraged them to be proud of their culture as well.
Soon Lait can also be seen on the big screen.
The main star of the film is a bit amused by the name Rapper of the Aurora Borealis.
– Although the name of the documentary makes it very clear what it is about.
The film describes the stages of the talent competition and Mihkku Lait’s life in Utsjoki.
He can be seen in the nature of Lapland driving a reindeer to the enclosure, feeding reindeer in the fell, fishing and making music on his computer and rapping.
Not all Sámi drink and other misconceptions
Laiti performed for the public for the first time when she was 3 years old and yes, she has also danced.
– It is always automatically thought that a Sámi artist can also sing. I’ve done it when I was younger too, but I don’t even remember the last time.
The Sámi way of singing is just one of the tenacious images associated with those living in the north.
Lait had a friend in the village and he showed her his Lapland clothes. It came as a surprise to the guest that the suit is not the everyday everyday wear of the Sámi, but is only worn on special occasions such as parties.
Laiti is also used to stories about indigenous people riding reindeer.
Sometimes he takes part in the joke himself, but at the end he always corrects that the stories are not true in any way.
Reindeer herder’s decision
After primary school, Mihkku Laiti studied at the Sámi Music Academy. He graduated from high school last year and then completed his military service in Sodankylä.
The profession of reindeer herding has been passed down in the family from fathers to sons.
– Father has hoped that I would continue, but he has never pressured me or my brothers.
– It’s a physically demanding job, and not just anyone can do it. That’s what fascinates me.
The boy tells his father that he is going to study in the south. Father that studying is a good thing.
“For the little man from Utsjoki, Oulu is a big place”
Mihkku Laiti has just moved from Utsjoki to Oulu. Trade economics studies will start next autumn.
We are also working on an album of our own rap music.
He says that he wants to see the world and what it has to offer other than reindeer husbandry and: \”life is for living, you have to make the most of it\”.
The change has not been easy, anything but.
– In Oulu, I have already experienced many anxiety-stresses. When you have to go to Prisma, it’s also stressful.
He calculates that Nelostieä can drive 10 kilometers on Utsjoki in the same time as a kilometer in Oulu traffic jam to the nearest grocery store.
– For the little guy from Utsjoki, Oulu is also a big place. People are tightly packed together. I’m used to the fact that wherever you drive, all you see is dark and gloomy.
Then he says what has already been coming:
– I’m still not really sure if I want to be here or if I should go back. It could be that I will become a reindeer herder, the future is not set in stone.
– Yes, my home is in the north.
Father Niila says that you can always go back to the reindeer.
*The premiere of the Rapper of the Aurora Borealis is at the DocPoint Documentary Film Festival in Helsinki on January 31, 2023.*