Babs Schutte approaches with her helmet under her arm. She came to the interview location on her motorcycle through the rain. Tough – just as we know the rapper, producer and songwriter. But, she will say not much later in the conversation, she is actually ‘a soft-boiled egg’. That’s partly what her new EP is about. “I’m an emotional person and I want people to know that. That they don’t think that I’m just that tough chick, because I often hear that.”
Those two character traits can coexist, she wants to say. That partly explains the title of her album, which will be released on Friday: Half. This also refers to her half-Surinamese, half-Dutch roots. Until now, Schutte has mainly rapped about socially relevant topics such as sexuality and gender, which revealed itself in song titles such as Little Bi and That/Them. On Half the focus is more on her own identity. This makes her new music a lot more personal, with influences from black music culture that were not previously present in her work.
Also a new side of her
Schutte grew up in Leiden, studied at the ArtEZ Conservatory in Enschede at the age of eighteen and has lived in Amsterdam since 2021. That same year she released her debut single That/Them out. We are now ready for her fifth EP. Some issues have already been published; Turn off the light is the most streamed of these to date. A funky, danceable song. The theme may be a bit more vulnerable, but Schutte’s songs remain as cheerful as before. “That happens automatically. I am a cheerful, energetic person. You can hear that in my songs.”
But we also hear a new side of her, says Schutte, after she has taken off her rain pants and ordered a cappuccino with oat milk. “Especially on the song Ice it comes to the fore. A quieter R&B song where I sing instead of rap. Very exciting: I’m not very good at singing. I’m a rapper, not a singer. If you as an artist can’t sing great, you are often judged for it. So yes – that feels vulnerable. But that does fit the song. I show an honest, softer side of myself.”
Who is the mole?
Also exciting: this will be her first EP release after appearing in Who is the mole?. She made it to the seventh episode last season. As a result, she expects to reach a larger audience. When asked whether she notices a big difference compared to before her participation, she answers with a resounding ‘yes’. “Before this, I was mainly known in the queer scene. But WIDM is viewed by millions of people. Now I’m recognized every time I walk out the door.”
Is that a negative or positive development? “It is mainly a hard switch,” she answers. “I really like it, because people are very sweet and positive. At the same time, it is intense that my anonymity is gone. I feel watched. I’m not used to that yet. I think that’s mainly it: a matter of getting used to it.”
Maybe even more so for her friends. “To be honest: they find it quite annoying sometimes. They have known me for so long and now notice that people suddenly react to me in a certain way. When we are having a conversation and are interrupted because someone wants something from me, I sometimes almost feel ashamed.” But meeting at home is not an option. “I’m the opposite of a homebody. I really need to get out.”
Fortunately, there are also positive sides. “The other day a woman came up to me in a bar. She said: ‘My daughter is a super fan of yours and I want to thank you because you show her that as a woman you don’t necessarily have to wear a dress.’ I think that is an even better compliment than when someone says: you have made a nice song. That girl was only 10. Many fans are very young. Sometimes they ask what the minimum age is for a show. I don’t actually know the answer. I usually tell parents that it is best for them to listen to my music and then make their own assessment. Because I don’t make a children’s show. My song No yes in my no is, for example, about sexual abuse.”
Jealous of fellow rapper Elmer
On Perfect picture, the final piece of the EP, Schutte raps about comparing yourself to others on social media – and as a result thinking that you have things less in order. Is it tempting for her to look at how well other emerging artists are doing? “Not until a year ago. I hadn’t been at it that long: the momentum was up, I was just doing my own thing. Suddenly there were artists who were going faster than me, even though they started after me. So I thought, hey, am I doing something wrong? I also sensed jealousy in myself. Then I very consciously decided: I don’t want to be like that. I just want there to be mutual support.”
She talked about this with fellow artist Elmer (rapper Merel Pauw), she says. “We have expressed to each other that we are both jealous of each other. Once that was said out loud, it didn’t matter anymore. I realized: the grass is always greener on the other side. I want to play shows that Elmer plays, Elmer wants to play shows that I play. But actually we both get to perform in really cool places. Moreover, we both think we should help each other up. As queer women, we are 1-0 in the hip-hop world.”
She points out that several studies show that only two percent of music producers are female or non-binary. Schutte herself trained as a producer at the conservatory and produces her own songs. “At school I was the only woman in my year. That was demotivating, but I thought: fuck youI’m going to show that I can do this. Whether you are a good producer has nothing to do with your gender.”
On She blows away Schutte talks most emphatically about who she is on the EP. “No white skin, but I grew up in a rich white house,” she raps there. “I was raised in a good neighborhood with nice homes, and I come from a family where we didn’t have to worry about money. But when people came to visit us, they were sometimes surprised. I often encountered those kinds of prejudices. I was raised very Dutch, but people didn’t see me that way. For example, they would say that I looked ‘exotic’ or ‘Moroccan’. That’s why I thought for a long time: where do I belong?”
In recent years, Schutte has been looking for the answer. “I have been to Suriname a few times now. I feel very much at home there. Especially because the people are very warm and laugh a lot. My mother and I have that too. But in Suriname people see me as white again. Now I finally understand: I am not either Dutch or Surinamese, I am both.” Half, but ultimately whole.
Babs’ EP Half will be released on Friday, May 3. From May 10 she will go on a club tour through the Netherlands.
