Kimmo Ilpo Juhani Laiho (born 1981), better known by his stage name Elastinen (meaning ''elastic'' in Finnish), is a Finnish
rap musician and also known as one of the founders and is the CEO of the Finnish independent rap label
Rähinä Records Rähinä Records is the biggest independent rap label in Finland. It was founded 1998 by Elastinen, Iso H, Andu, Tasis, and Uniikki, and started actual business in 2003. The name Rähinä Records is a brand name. The company also has a sublabel A ...
. Together with his colleague
Iso H (Big H), he founded the Finnish rap duo
Fintelligens.
He has also released five solo albums.
Biography
Beginnings
Born and raised in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, Elastinen began taking guitar lessons when he was seven years old.
At the age of 11 he started dancing and has been a member of famous break-dance groups as
IMC and
Savage Feet. Inspired by a hiphop-cassette, given by his elder-brother, "Ela" wrote his first rap-lyrics when he was 15.
He joined an anti-racist musical "Colorblind" and met
Iso H.
In Fintelligens
In summer 1997, Elastinen and
Iso H founded
Fintelligens. Elastinen was only 18 when they got their first record-deal.
Ela graduated from
Sibelius Academy, a music school in 2000.
Same year
Fintelligens released debut album "
Renesanssi" with one-third produced by Elastinen. Renesanssi certified gold.
In autumn 2001, Elastinen and
Iso H released their second album, ''Tän Tahtiin''. Also partly produced by him, it was in its turned certified gold.
Elastinen was then called in 2002 to do his military service at
Santahamina. But he used his freetime performing shows with
Iso H. Fintelligens released third studio album in November. ''Kokemusten Summa'' went gold.
The album was entirely produced by Elastinen.
Solo career
In 2004 Elastinen released his solo debut "Elaksis Kivi".
In 2006 he finished his second album ''Anna Soida''.
The first single, the album's title track, was a hit. "Anna a" was released in 2006. His third album, ''
E.L.A.'', was released in November 2007.
First single from the album, "Ovet Paukkuu", was No. 1 on
NRJ-Finland and had heavy rotation also on Finnish
MTV and
The Voice
The Voice may refer to:
Fictional entities
* The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics
* The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe
* The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...
. He followed this with ''Joka päivä koko päivä'' in 2013, which peaked at number 4, and ''
Elastinen feat.'' in 2016, which debuted at number 1. ''Elastinen feat.'' was preceded by a TV series featuring Elastinen collaborating with a different musician each episode.
Discography
(For Elastinen discography with his band / duo Fintelligens, see Fintelligens)
Albums
Singles
Other songs
Featured in
References
External links
Royal Artist Club – Official Mobile BlogMySpace siteRecord_Label_Rähinä_Records
*_[_All_music.html" ;"title="Rähinä Records">Record Label Rähinä Records
* [ All music">Rähinä Records">Record Label Rähinä Records
* [ All musicshort biography.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elastinen
1981 births
Living people
Finnish rappers
Musicians from Helsinki
Finnish hip hop record producers