by Evan C. Gutierrez\r Timbuktu has earned a reputation as Sweden's most influential political hip-hop and rap crossover artist, called by some "the rapper even your grandma knows." Born January 11, 1975, Jason Michael Robinson Diakite's African-American father and Swedish mother spent time living in both Sweden and Chile. His multi-ethnic and multinational upbringing exposed him to a wide variety of musical styles and influences. He began rapping in the early '90s, quickly becoming a fixture in the Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Malm live hip-hop scenes. Writing lyrics in Scanian and English, Timbuktu teamed up with a Danish rapper in the mid-'90s to form the multilingual duo Excel. The pair released one album, entitled Bright Lights Big City, before disbanding. Timbuktu's solo career was initiated by the release of T2: Kontrakultur in 2000. Refusing to water down his lyrics for commercial success like so many of his American counterparts, Timbuk...