Beekkant Square

The position and architecture of the two residential towers causes reverberation and amplification of sounds in the empty space above the square. This can be thought of as a complex dynamic unity marked by continuous movement with the bouncing back and forth as multiplier of the sound’s movement without chopping it. The temporary presence of soldiers triggered verbal reactions among young people. When interacting with the soldiers from within the arena space of Beekkant Square, verbal sounds are being amplified when interacting with the architecture of the square and buildings.

Recording (2016): not here

Video: Wz, S. (2019). Ils est balaise. Wz, S. & Mr Choco. (n.d.). West-Zone.

Together with the emergence of internet and hip-hop at the turn of the century, local young performers started to explore Beekkant Square both as virtual, augmented and distributed urban sound space. In 2016, local youth together with the prevention service organized a rap competition called 'Beekkant rap'. This project was such a success that the staff and youth then built a recording studio close to Beekkant Square. Today, Beekkant Square is still a popular location for online distributed music video clips. In the period between two periods of assembly bans, WZ and rapper Souli distributed a new music video (Wz -Souli, 2019).

WZ (Souli) is a freestyle rapper who has been active since 2016. Vice magazine (2020) considers him as one of Brussels best rappers to depict raw and precise the real life of the Brussels neighborhoods. The video clip of Il est balaise was filmed at night at Beekkant Square and in between the garages of the housing complex. In recent decades, Beekkant Square became a popular performance space for young musicians both as social cultural project (Bknt Rap Project, 2015) and as independent initiative (Des Claques, 2011), (Wz -Souli, 2019). The soundtrack produced by 300 Momo contributes to affective capacity of Il est balaise. It combines drums with bass reminding of the automatic gun sound, samples of real gun sound, and some drill synth bell sounds mixed with bass creating a dark and aggressive sound sphere. In the video, young men and little boys gather in a circle around the rapper. They are masked and some wear war clothes such as bulletproof vests. Some carry a flag, others hold a pit bull on a leash. Occasionally a weapon pops up. They also show off large motor vehicles. During the performance, the young people appropriate the space of the square and parts of the building. They stand on the roof of an outbuilding that used to house a social service.