Born in Nairobi, Kenya, to an American-Swedish father and Indonesian mother, Daniel Adams-Ray came to Sweden for the first time in 1996, at the age of 14. His family lived in Kenya during the 1980s, where his father was a surgeon and his mother worked within the school system. At one point Daniel played in the same football team as Arjen Robben, during the family’s brief stay in the Netherlands in the early ´90s.
When the family eventually settled in Sweden, they did so in Lidingö outside of Stockholm. Adams-Ray became enrolled at Victor Rydbergs Gymnasium, where he met his future bandmate Oskar Linnros. Together they started rapping, and thanks to the moderately new phenomenon Myspace, the name Snook would soon be on everyone’s lips.
Diving into the hip hop scene with the privileged background that Adams-Ray and Linnros had, it proved somewhat difficult to earn credibility as rappers in hip hop has always been affiliated with a troubled background concerning poverty, alienation and struggle. This did not affect the ambitious young rappers, and in 2004, they’re album Vi vet inte vart vi ska men vi ska komma dit was released to critical acclaim, much thanks to the song ”Mister Cool”. Snook came to be pioneers on the Swedish hip hop scene, proving that hip hop could just as well come from a three-story house on Lidingö as a run down apartment in northern Botkyrka.
After the unofficial break-up of Snook in 2007, Adams-Ray enrolled at Berghs School of Communication where he switched tracks and got into the fashion industry. His own brand Lagom has since 2007 been a successful venture and is still producing high-fashion attire.
After the success of Oskar Linnros solo debut Vilja bli in 2010, many wondered if Adams-Ray would ever return to making music. And just a couple of months after Linnros album, Adams-Ray’s debut album Svart, vitt och allt däremellan was released. Since then, Adams-Ray has returned to the music scene just as Linnros, but this time both conquering the pop scene. Their success has been just as surprising as Snook’s.
Words by David Johansson
Daniel Adams-Ray performs live at Klub Molto in Södertälje on 21 December.
Check out our recent album review of INNAN VI SUDDAS UT here.
