The Polish hip hop scene was born in 1980's, when American rappers were very popular.

Summary

The first album by a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 performer was "East on the Mic" by PM Cool Lee

Liroy

Piotr Marzec , better known as Liroy , is a rapper living in Kielce.He is one of the pioneers of rap & hip-hop culture in Poland. His CDs include East On Da Mic ,Albóóm,...

, which featured two songs in Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

. Lee was from Kielce

Kielce

Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...

, but Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 soon emerged as a center for hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, after KOLOR, a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

, began broadcasting Kolor Shock, hosted by Bogna Świątkowska, Paul Jackson, an African American expatriate, Sylvia Opoku from London, and DJ Volt, whose crew, 1kHz, became performing stars in their own right in 1995. Volt also founded the first Polish independent hip hop label, Beat Records

Beat Records

Beat Records was an independent record label started by California night club promoter Stephen Zepeda . Beat Records had record releases by Gary Valentine Lachman , The Furys, and The Plimsouls . It spanned the 1978 to 1980 time period of Los Angeles rock...

. Though the label didn't last long, it did introduce groups like Trzyha and Molesta. In Poznań

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

, PH Kopalnia's Polski Rap - Zakazane Piosenki (Polish rap - Forbidden Songs).
Now known as Liroy, the former PM Cool Lee released Albóóm in 1995, which included the hit "Scyzoryk"(Penknife).

The most recognizable polish hip hop band abroad is probably WWO

WWO

WWO is a Polish hip hop group. The letters in the group's name originally stood for W Witrynach Odbicia.The two members of the group which originally started the underground project, which was WWO , were: Sokół and Jędker establishing themselves underground in 1996 releasing singles like...

, which is no more active since 2006. Sokół (who is also the owner of the Prosto Label and the Prosto Wear company) since than recorded 3 albums with Pono

Pono

Pono is a Hawaiian word commonly rendered as "righteousness". For instance, the Hawaii state motto: Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Āina i ka Pono or "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"....

 and 1 with Marysia Starosta. Jędker is making pop career and DJ Deszczu Strugi is an owner of Otra Barwa Studio.

In the last five years, the rivalry between West and East Polish rap artists has been growing, similar to East Coast - West Coast hip hop riva
lry in US. This was extremely visible in the year 2010, when there was a beef

Hip-hop feud

A hip hop feud, also known as a beef or a rivalry, is a controversy in which two or more rappers create a rivalry that is manifested by each slandering and confronting the other in a number of ways.- Background :...

 between Peja

Peja (musician)

Ryszard "Peja" Andrzejewski is a Polish rap musician, songwriter and producer. He is one of Poland's most popular rappers, best known as the frontman of the Polish rap group Slums Attack. Peja was the recipient of the Fryderyk prize in 2002. Also in 2001 he had a role in a movie "Blokersi"...

 with Gandi Ganda, Borixon, Liroy and some lesser known rappers from Poznan and Kielce (both in western Poland) and Tede

Tede

Jacek Graniecki , known professionally as Tede and DJ Buhh is a Polish rapper. Also known as Tas De Fleia, TDF, Tedeusz, Tedzik, Tedunio, Tedzio, Chory Pastor. He began his career in the band 1 kHz...

 with Eldo, Włodi and Pelson from Molesta and also some lesser known rappers which have chosen this side in the beef (all four major rappers on this side of the beef were from Warsaw, which is in eastern Poland).

Nowadays there are many subgenres of hip-hop present on the Polish scene, most notably horrorcore

Horrorcore

Horrorcore is a subgenre of hip hop music based in horror-themed lyrical content and imagery. While the style is rarely popular, some performers have sold well in the mainstream scene.-Origins:...

 (Słoń with Shellerini as Wyższa Szkoła Robienia Hałasu, Pih

PIH

PIH can refer to:*Partners In Health, the Harvard-affiliated international health and social justice organization*Permanent income hypothesis, an economic model*Plug-in hybrid, a class of electric hybrid vehicles*Pocatello Regional Airport...

, Miuosh), G-funk

G-funk

G-funk, or Gangsta-funk, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that emerged from Westcoast gangsta rap in the early 1990s. G-funk incorporates multi-layered and melodic synthesizers, slow hypnotic grooves, a deep bass, background female vocals, the extensive sampling of P-funk tunes, and a high-pitched...

 (Ten Typ Mes with 2cztery7, Beat Squad, Pelson of Molesta on his solo albums), grime

Grime (music)

Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...

 (Bosski Roman of Firma), jazz rap

Jazz rap

Jazz rap is a sub-genre of hip hop which incorporates jazz influences, developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The lyrics are often based on political consciousness, Afrocentricity, and general positivism...

 (some of O.S.T.R.

O.S.T.R.

Adam Ostrowski , better known as O.S.T.R., is one of the most renowned rappers in Poland. Famous for his freestyle rap skills, O.S.T.R. in his works touches on various topics, from joint smoking to current social and political matters. He has been working for the MTV channel. Having graduated music...

's albums), new trueschool (Paluch, Aifam), rapcore

Rapcore

Rapcore is a subgenre of rap rock fusing vocal and sometimes instrumental elements of hip hop with punk rock .-History:...

 (Kazik), ragga

Ragga

-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...

 (AbraDab), crunk

Crunk

Crunk is a music style that originated in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-to-late 1990s and gained mainstream success around 2003–2004. Performers of crunk music are sometimes referred to as crunksters. An archetypal crunk track most frequently uses a drum machine rhythm, heavy bassline, and...

 (Połnocny Toruń Projekt), bounce (Tede

Tede

Jacek Graniecki , known professionally as Tede and DJ Buhh is a Polish rapper. Also known as Tas De Fleia, TDF, Tedeusz, Tedzik, Tedunio, Tedzio, Chory Pastor. He began his career in the band 1 kHz...

) or gangsta/"street" rap (Firma, Razem Ponad Kilo, Fabuła, Dixon 37, Hemp Gru, Chada

Chada

Chada may refer to:*Chada, Nalgonda, a village in Andhra Pradesh, India*a character in the anime series NieA 7...

, Sobota

Sobota

Sobota is the Polish word for Saturday. It appears to be the names of Polish towns holding Saturday weekly fairs.Sobota may refer to the following places in Poland:*Sobota, Lower Silesian Voivodeship...

, Peja

Peja (musician)

Ryszard "Peja" Andrzejewski is a Polish rap musician, songwriter and producer. He is one of Poland's most popular rappers, best known as the frontman of the Polish rap group Slums Attack. Peja was the recipient of the Fryderyk prize in 2002. Also in 2001 he had a role in a movie "Blokersi"...

 - especially his earliest recordings), some of the artists also mix the genres (Słoń had hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 and metal vocalists as guests on his solo albums and mixtapes with Shellerini, NON Koneksja mixes reggaeton

Reggaeton

Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...

 with gangsta rap

Gangsta rap

Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...

, Firma has reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and grime influences but is mostly a gangsta/street rap group), but the majority of Polish rappers, both on the mainstream and underground scenes, is the Trueschool rap, which resembles the East Coast sound with reflective lyrics about life and other important personal subjects. Representants of Trueschool rap are Sokół, Juras, Koras

Köräs

Köräş, also Tatarça köräş - Tatar wrestling, is the Tatar style of wrestling, related to some Central Asian styles of wrestlings, such as kurash and Turkey's yağlı güreş....

, Mor W.A., Pono

Pono

Pono is a Hawaiian word commonly rendered as "righteousness". For instance, the Hawaii state motto: Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Āina i ka Pono or "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"....

, HiFi Banda, Waldemar Kasta, Eldo, Pezet

Pezet

Paweł Kapliński , better known by his stage name Pezet , is a Polish rapper. In 1998 he debuted with Onar in Płomień 81 and they published 3 albums. He started working with Noon in 2002, publishing 2 albums. 5 years later in 2007 his first solo album hit stores.Pezet hosted the program "Rap Fura"...

, Grammatik

Grammatik

Grammatik was the first grammar checking program developed for home computer systems. The first version was released in 1980 for the TRS-80 with subsequent versions being released for the DOS, Windows, Macintosh and Unix platforms. Grammatik was ultimately acquired by Corel and is integrated in the...

.

Some Polish Hip-Hop Songs (With You Tube Link)

• WWO - Każdy Ponad Każdym http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_if7AU9bxOY
• WWO - Damy Rade (Censored Version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6VKNC8jgDY
• O.S.T.R. - Komix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUyDib3aB6Y
• O.S.T.R. - Odzykamy Hip-Hop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN6JaYk443M&feature=relmfu
• O.S.T.R. - Kochana Polsko (Censored Version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpRlEFZ85fY
• Kaliber 44 - Film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK_DFvCaLKc
• Kaliber 44 - Normalnie o tej porze http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nJt9TlYVUY
• TPWC (Sokół feat. Pono) - Poczekalania dusz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyC7-vTO0mk
• Pezet / Noon - Refleksje http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8jnaZ940d8
• Pezet / Małolat feat. Małpa - Nagapiłem się http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do5lT-wH2V4
• Pezet - Noc i Dzień (Censored Versiom) (Feat. Małolat, Fame District) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrZm1Cou59k&feature=related
• Pezet - Spadam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9AKgvEWqd4
• VNM - Widze ich http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKh-8so7RXQ
• Prosto Mixtape 600V - I zeby było normalnie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzX6_wiXkI&feature=relmfu

Collaborate with foreign artists:

• Joe Kickass ft. O.S.T.R. - Copycats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUYK7CNZgo4
• Slums Attack feat. O.S.T.R. & Jeru the Damaja - Oddałbym http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTZiORJ1ST0&feature=related
• Beat Brothers (O.S.T.R. & The Returners) Feat. Royse Da 5'9" - Eyes Wide Open http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9upWrg1pQ4
• Liroy & Ice T - The world iz a ghetto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V61vfIjnDbc
• O.S.T.R. - Real Game Feat. Evidence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj03v5qqiK0

Notable artists

• Liroy
• Wzgórze Ya-Pa 3 (Wojtas, Borixon, Zajka [Former Members: Radoskór, DJ Feel-X, DJ Hans]
• Nagły Atak Spawacza (Kaczmi, Zocha, DJ Jaxon, Małpa)
• Slums Attack (Peja, DJ Decks) [Former Members: Iceman]
• Kaliber 44 (Joka, AbraDab, DJ Feel-X) [Former Members: Magik]
• Paktofonika (Rahim, Fokus) [Former Members: Magik]
• Pokahontaz (Rahim, Fokus, DJ Bambus)
• 3xKlan (Rahim, Matheo RaDamez, B.U.C., DJ Bambus)
• Peja
• Abradab
• DJ Feel-X
• Rahim
• Fokus
• Borixon
• Warszafski Deszcz (Tede, Numer.Raz) [Former Members: DJ 600V, JanMarian, Ceube]
• Tede
• Numer.Raz
• DJ 600V
• Grammatik (Eldo, Daniel Drumz, Jotuze,) [Former Members: Noon, Ash, Szycha]
• Eldo
• Płomień 81 (Pezet, Onar)
• Pezet/Noon
• Małoat & Ajron
• Pezet
• Onar
• Małoat
• Pezet/Małoat
• Molesta Ewenement (Włodi, Pelson, Vienio) [Former Members: Wilku]
• Hemp Gru (Wilku, Bilon)
• Vienio & Pele
• Włodi
• Pelson
• Vienio
• Parias (Eldo, Włodi, Pelson)
• Hi-Fi Banda (Diox, Hades, Czarny, DJ Kebs)
• RH- (Rak, Hades)
• Hades
• Diox
• K.A.S.T.A. Skład (DJ Kut-O, DonGURALesko, Waldemar Kasta)
• Waldemar Kasta
• Trzeci Wymiar (Nullo, Szad, Pork, DJ SPH)
• Szad
• O.S.T.R.
• Fisz
• Emade
• P.O.E. (Projekt Ostry Emade) (O.S.T.R., Emade)
• TPWC (Sokół, Pono)
• Fundacja nr 1 (Felipe, Mieron, Jaźwa, Ward) [Former Members: Skuter, Jędker, Rozal]
• Ko1Fu (Koras, Fu)
• ZIP Skład (TPWC, Fundacja nr 1, Ko1fu)
• Zipera (Koras, Fu, Pono)
• WWO (Sokół, Jędker, DJ Deszcu Strugi)
• Pono
• Sokół
• Fu
• GrubSon
• Bas Tajpan
• Bob One
• Miuosh
• Słoń
• Ras Luta
• Pyskaty
• Koras
• Juras
• Magik (1971-2000)
• Killaz Group (DonGURALesko, Kuk, Orzech, Kaczor)