William Wiik Larsen

William Wiik Larsen (born 15 September 1986), also known as Nasty Kutt & Will IDAP, is a Norwegian record producer and songwriter.

Early life

Larsen was born in Oslo, Norway. His father was a professional musician in the 80’s, and his mother a singer. Having an substantial musical influence as a child got him pursuing the same path, and at an early age he started experimenting with instruments, drum machines, keyboards and turntables.^[1] At the age of 6 he started playing the drums in the school band. He later moved on to study drums and percussion at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Norges Musikkhøyskole) at the early age of 10. At age 14, Larsen started to enter Scandinavian DJ competitions, among them was the prestiges DMC National DJ Championships which he won 2005 and 2006, to go on to represent Norway in the World finales (DMC World DJ Championships^[2]).

Musical career

2004

In 2004, Larsen joined the music-collective and record label Pass It Records, where he released the official mixtape Homework the same year. During his time at Pass It Records he was a tour DJ for several of the countries biggest hip hop acts. In 2005 he stopped DJ’ing and went on to solely focus on music production under the name Nasty Kutt.

2007-2008

In 2007, his longtime collaborator, manager and Pass It owner/founder/managing director, Julian Alexander Toth, decided to close down Pass It Records. The pair then decided to work together on launching their own production- and publishing company IDAP Music in 2008.

In the years to come, Larsen, made a name for himself in Norwegian music history, as being one of the most influential hip hop/pop producers with 21 IFPI^[3] (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) Certifications, 5 of them being multi-platinum.

2009-2012

In 2009, he had his first major U.S placement with the song City Lights featuring Bun B from Method Man and Redman's album Blackout 2. The Def Jam/Universal release debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart.^[4] The same year Larsen started his collaboration with Envy (now known as Nico & Vinz).

In 2010, IDAP Music released its first album as a label, Gatekunst. The annual project, in conjunction with Forente Minoriteter, was held specifically to help youth build their musical talent. The Norwegian government endorsed workshop project focused on young talent being mentored and given the chance to work with already established artists.

In 2011, IDAP Music in collaboration with Universal Music, launched the company’s second label project, the single Min Ting, at VG-lista Topp 20. A debut that was showcased on Northern Europes biggest televised live show in front of 90 000 people also televised nationally in primetime. For the single they gathered many all the biggest selling rappers like, Norwegian artists Vinni from Paperboys, Yosef from Madcon, Lars Vaular og OnklP, and Swedish rappers Timbuktu & Promoe.^[5]

In October 2012, IDAP Music established ifølge brønnøysundsregisteret. Co-founder of IDAP Music with his manager and executive producer, Julian Alexander Toth.

2013

He made the permanent move to the US November 2013. In April they also inked a worldwide Joint Venture deal with IDAP Music & BMG Chrysalis. Signing new songwriters, producers and developing artists. The same year he changed his moniker to Will IDAP.

Nico & Vinz

The collaboration between Larsen and Nico & Vinz started in 2009 and they became an instant match. Their first single One Song produced by Larsen became their breakthrough song in Norway,^[6] and charted at #19 on the Norwegian billboard and received massive airplay. The music video for the song also won a Norwegian Grammy for video of the year. While this was the only song he produced for their debut album he had a much bigger part in their follow up album which got a worldwide release through Warner Music. Larsen and Nico & Vinz reconnected in 2011, and together with Larsen they created the sound for the follow up album Black Star Elephant. The first song they recorded was Am I Wrong and became a global hit^[7] and topped the iTunes charts in over 40 countries. The album was recorded in Oslo, Botswana and Los Angeles. Larsen produced 10 songs on their international album Blackstar Elephant. The video for Am I Wrong was produced by and art directed by IDAP Music via Julian Alexander.

International discography and credits

Awards and nominations

References

• 730.no
• Vg.no
• Dagbladet.no