Hubert Lagin Quiros was born in Caribbean and grew up in France but for the last ten years he has been living in Vilnius. ‘I didn’t choose Lithuania. Lithuania chose me’ he says when we meet after an urban dance class that he teaches.
Hubert is also producing electronic and hiphop music under the name of Highleef. He’s one of the only black people in Lithuanian hip hop community. We talked why the question of race is important in understanding hip hop culture and what is the difference between appropriating the culture and passing it to the others.
‘The responsibility I have is to keep the culture as authentic as it should be. Everyone is like ‘I’m hiphop, I’m wearing a cap.’ No. bro. It’s like me saying ‘I’m Lithuanian, I’m eating cepelinai.’

A moment of rest. We met Hubert after he finished his final dance class of the day. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Soundcheck before the interview: Karolis and Kata. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

