Kimmo Ilpo Juhani Laiho (born 1981), better known by his stage name Elastinen (''elastic'' in Finnish), is a Finnish rapper and also one of the founders and CEO of independent Finnish rap label

Rähinä Records Rähinä Records is the biggest independent Rap music, rap label in Finland. It was founded 1998 by Elastinen, Iso H, Andu, Tasis (rapper), Tasis, and Uniikki, and started actual business in 2003. The name Rähinä Records is a brand name. The comp ...

. Together with his colleague Iso H (Big H), he founded the Finnish rap duo

Fintelligens Fintelligens is a hip hop group from Helsinki, Finland. The band is formed of two MCs: Elastinen and Iso H. The band has released three albums and one compilation, all selling more than 150,000 copies. Career In the early 1990s the Finnish hi ...

. He has released five solo albums.

Biography

Beginnings

Born and raised in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, 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 years old, after being inspired by a hip hop cassette given to him by his older brother. He joined an anti-racist musical "Colorblind" and met

Iso H Iso H (real name: Carl Henrik Rosenberg), born 11 January 1979 in Helsinki, is a Finnish rapper. Together with his colleague Elastinen, he formed the Finnish rap band Fintelligens. On 30 June 2005, Iso H was sentenced to six and a half months ...

In Fintelligens

In summer 1997, Elastinen and

founded

. Elastinen was only 18 when they received their first record-deal. Ela graduated from

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

, a music school in 2000.

released their debut album " Renesanssi" in the same year, with one-third of it being produced by Elastinen. Renesanssi certified gold. In autumn 2001, Elastinen and

released their second album, ''Tän Tahtiin''. Also partly produced by him, it was in its turned certified gold. In 2002, Elastinen was called for military service at

Santahamina Santahamina () is an island and neighbourhood of Eastern Helsinki, Finland. At present it is a military base housing the Guard Jaeger Regiment, making access restricted. The Finnish National Defence University (NDU) is also located on the islan ...

. During his free time he performed shows with

. Fintelligens released their 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 Nouvelle Radio Jeune, (Acronym: NRJ, , ) is a private France, French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981 in France, 1981. Widely popularized by its "godmother", singer Dalida, who prevented it from closi ...

-Finland and had heavy rotation also on Finnish

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and The Voice. 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

)

Albums

Singles

Other songs Featured in

References

External links

*
MySpace site

Record Label Rähinä Records
* [ All music">Rähinä Records">Record Label Rähinä Records
* [ All musicshort biography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elastinen 1981 births Living people Finnish male rappers Musicians from Helsinki Finnish hip-hop record producers