Yunus Özyavuz better known by his stage name Sagopa Kajmer (a.k.a. DJ Mic Check and Silahsız Kuvvet), is a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 rap artist, producer and DJ. He is also the pioneer of the Pessimist Rap subgenre of Turkish Hip Hop.

Musical Background

Sagopa Kajmer (Yunus Özyavuz), began his music career in Samsun

Samsun

Samsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...

, as a local radio DJ. At the time he was known by various stage names such as Rapper M.C. (Rapper Mic Check and DJ Mic Check). In 1998, he started an underground rap foundation named Kuvvetmira, which remains active today with members such as Kolera, Abluka Alarm and himself. In 1999, he contributed to a compilation album, Yeralti operasyonu under one of his pseudonyms, Silahsiz Kuvvet. In 2001 and 2002, he released two albums, Sozlerim Silahim and Ihtiyar Heyeti respectively. That was the last time he released an album under the name Silahsiz Kuvvet; In November 2004, Sagopa released his commercial single, Al Bir De Burdan Yak, which was also the soundtrack of a Turkish feature film called G.O.R.A.

G.O.R.A.

G.O.R.A. is a 2004 Turkish science-fiction comedy film, directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, which stars Cem Yılmaz as a used carpet salesman who is abducted by aliens from the planet G.O.R.A...

.

In 2006, Sagopa and his wife Kolera started a record company named Melankolia Records. He later revealed the reason behind this idea with a metaphor on an interview ; "if we were gonna drown anyway, we'd like to drown in our own pool, we thought...". Sagopa produced Kuvvetmira's album, Kafile, in 2006. Sagopa Kajmer was no.

Name

The name he uses in his musical life, Sagopa, is the name of a pyramid in Egypt, which is rumored to have trapped many archaeologists have fallen into a trap while excavating it. Most recently, an archaeologist with the surname Kajmer reached the last room of the pyramid and inscribed the words Sagopa Kajmer on the wall to indicate who solved the mystery. He died inside the pyramid and scientists examining the pyramid with modern devices found Gerhard Kajmer's corpse.

Albums

• Yeraltı Operasyonu (1999) Silahsız Kuvvet
• Toplama Kampı (2000) Silahsız Kuvvet, Ceza (Asya Sentez)
• Sözlerim Silahım (2001) Silahsız Kuvvet
• İhtiyar Heyeti (2002) Silahsız Kuvvet
• On Kurşun (2002) Sagopa Kajmer
• Sagopa Kajmer (2002) Sagopa Kajmer
• Bir Pesimistin Gözyaşları (2003) Sagopa Kajmer
• Romantizma (2005) Sagopa Kajmer
• Kafile (2006) Kuvvetmira
• İkimizi Anlatan Birşey (2007) Sagopa Kajmer, Kolera
• Kötü İnsanları Tanıma Senesi (2008) Sagopa Kajmer
• Şarkı Koleksiyoncusu (2009) Sagopa Kajmer
• Bendeki Sen (2010) Sagopa Kajmer, Kolera
• Saydam Odalar (2011) Sagopa Kajmer

Compilation albums

• Melankolia Compilation Vol.1
• Melankolia Compilation Vol.2
• Melankolia Compilation Vol.3

EP's

• Pessimist E.P. 1 (2001)
• Pessimist E.P. 2 (2002)
• Pessimist E.P. 3 (2005)
• Disstortion E.P. (2005)
• Pessimist E.P. 4 - Lead Soldier (2006)
• Pessimist E.P. 5 - Blind Surgeon (2008)
• Saykodelik E.P. - Pessimist Orchestra (2009)