Gticy
a.k.a.

Glaciuz the icy

When most of the other Swedish hiphop artists are moving toward electronica, Gticy remains true to the genre. After contemplating quitting, he recently decided to keep on grinding to preserve the
Swedish hiphop tradition as he knows best – slow and dirty – with a heavy baseline and distinct drums, gritty with lyrics that are as raw as reality. Gticy has long been known as one of the best MCs in Sweden and was one of the pioneers in rapping in English. He reaped great success with his collective BLAO in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Gticy didn’t just celebrate his own musical success, but reached out to younger artists to share his experiences and knowledge. He soon discovered the
talent in a young rapper at the community club (J-Son) and took the eager teen under his wing. Since that day, Gticy has been J-Son’s mentor and role model during his career, both inside and outside the
studio.

 
Background

Sipho Maseco came to Sweden from Tanzania with his mother and siblings as political refugees as a three-year-old. Life in Sweden was great at first, but Gticy’s mother went through some hard times and pains from the past in a violent and war-ridden country caught up with her and she got sick. Barely a teenager, Gticy struggled with his mother’s manic depressive disorder and keeping up with school. The fact that Gticy had a hard time expressing himself and his feelings (still does), didn’t make things easier. People just didn’t understand him. But as a 12-year-old a teacher paid attention to his difficulties and told him to write down his thoughts in poetry form when his essays didn’t turn out. The trick worked and Gticy’s thoughts began pouring down on paper. Injustice. Worries. Disappointment. Anger. Rage. He kept his writing on the sly, as he didn’t want people to mistake him for a poetry-geek. But at 13 everything changed. Gticy and his friends had an altercation with another guy they thought was a racist. Some days later the guy, who went by the name “Obnoxious,” looked up Gticy and explained that he wasn't a racist, he was actually a rapper. Would Gticy wanna see him perform at the youth club? He did and Obnoxious showed an impressed Gticy how to get it down. A whole new world
opened. It was easy for young Gticy to transform his many poems into rap, and at 14 he started writing in English. During battle after battle, Gticy became a warrior on the rap scene, leaving other MC’s in
his wake. His style and flow, fast, furious and without mercy, sent chills down the spines of his opponents whose efforts froze and paledin comparison and left him with the nickname “Glaciuz”. By discovering the power of the mic, Gticy had found his weapon of choice – it gave
him the voice he’d been missing. It also gave him a much needed outlet and peace, all of which was much more important than any spotlight on a stage.

In 2001, Gticy, then still going by the name Glaciuz, was mentioned in the award winning novel ”Mikrofonkåt” about Swedish hiphop.

After holding his own on the Swedish hiphop scene for 10 years, Gticy took a creative break to search for inspiration and direction. This, however, did not stop him from working with other artists, helping them to learn the ropes and acting as a mentor, just like he has with J-Son.

“For a while I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue”, he says. “But then I realised that everything is changing, the Swedish hiphop is changing and I feel a responsibility to not let it die.”

 
Discography

1995 - Fabulous Youth - Past, Present, Future

1998/1999 - Blao Compilation

2001 – Ordkrig [Word War]

2002 - Blao - The Album

2002 - Loose Cannons - Gimme The Mic

2004 - Astma Presents [Asthma Presents]

2004 - The Wake Up Call

2009 - Same Blood Compilation Vol 1

2009 - J-Son - Never Half Stepping