Looptroop Rockers

The Swedish hip-hop outfit Looptroop Rockers merges vintage, sample-driven beats with rhymes delivered in English. High-school classmates Promoe, real name rapper Martin Edh, and Embee, the DJ and producer Magnus Bergkvist, launched the project in 1991. They added CosM.I.C., whose given name is rapper Tommy Isacsson, two years later to issue their opening EP, Superstars. Three Sicksteez appeared in 1995, the year Supreme, rapper Mathias Lundh-Isén, became the fourth member. Still operating under the Looptroop name, the foursome put out From the Waxcabinet in 1996 and Punx Not Dead in 1998, after which they founded their own imprint, David Vs. Goliath (DVSG).

Modern Day City Symphony, their first full-length album, reached stores in 2000. Entering the Top 50 of the Swedish charts, the record contained the enduring single “Long Arm of the Law,” an early example of the group’s politically pointed lyricism. The Struggle Continues arrived in 2002 and climbed into the Top 20. Around the same period Promoe and Embee each issued solo projects. Government Music marked the first of six Promoe releases that decade. Embee’s 2004 album Tellings from Solitaria earned the producer a Swedish Grammy.

Looptroop reassembled in 2005 for the third LP, Fort Europa. Reaching number five on the Swedish charts, the title track extended the collective’s critique of official policy, this time targeting Sweden’s immigration rules. Once promotion ended, CosM.I.C. left on friendly terms. The remaining trio adopted the name Looptroop Rockers and delivered Good Things, another Top Five album that included guest spots from Mapei, Timbuktu, Alibi, and CosM.I.C. on “Al Mazika.” CosM.I.C. returned to the fold in 2010 ahead of the fifth album, Professional Dreamers, which appeared in 2011.

Looptroop Rockers shifted course in 2013 with Mitt Hjärta är En Bomb, their first effort in Swedish. Guests Cleo, Kapten Rod, Seinabo Sey, and José González appeared on the set, which added electronic textures and entered the Top Ten. The Naked Swedes followed a year later, featuring Sabina Ddumba, Deacon and Natti of CunninLynguists, and another appearance by Seinabo Sey. “City Camo,” the lead single from their eighth project, surfaced in 2017.