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Gers Pardoel

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gers Pardoel · Gerwin Pardoel, Gers for short, is a Dutch rapper from Nijmegen, born on 12 May 1981. He grew up in a family where his mother died when he was seventeen, and he then sought support above all in inline skating. Later in Rotterdam he became friends with the rapper Postman, who introduced him to hip hop and helped with his stage name: in Rotterdam dialect gers means something like cool. Postman had a great influence on his way of performing.

Music and breakthrough

In 2009 he broke through with Broodje Bakpao, a collaboration with The Opposites that became the title song of the film New Kids Turbo and reached number one on the Mega Single Top 100. His debut album Deze wereld is van jou appeared in 2011 and went platinum in the Netherlands. From it Ik neem je mee became an enormous hit: the song topped the Top 40 and, on the basis of the points system, became the biggest Dutch-language hit ever in that chart. Bagagedrager, with Sef, was also a great success in the Netherlands and Belgium. De toekomst is van ons, Voor m'n kids and Juli followed later.

Influence

Pardoel raps in Dutch, with melodic choruses and light-hearted lyrics about everyday life. In doing so he belonged to Nederhop, which in the years after 2000 grew from the underground into the charts. His success in Flanders also brought him onto television, including as a coach on The Voice Kids.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Ik neem je mee and notice how the chorus is singable, while the verse is rapped. Hear how that mix makes a rap song accessible to a wide audience.

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: Artists