Slovenian hip hop
Encyclopedia
History
According to some accounts, the roots of Slovenian hip hop can be traced back to 1978, but all rappers from that time were forgotten or disappeared. What remains of this early history is preserved in little-circulated album releases. The mid 80s were marked as the break-through of rap music in Slovenia. Hip hop dancing in Slovenia is sometimes called "Čefur" dance (derogatory term for southerner Slavic people; see kafirKafir
Kafir is an Arabic term used in a Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as "unbeliever" or "disbeliever"...
). Ali-En released the first rap album, that immediately became a classic, in 1994.
In 1997, rap duo Dandrough released Ko pride Bog ('when God comes'). The next few years there was a small hole in the hip hop scene, with only a couple of albums released up until 2000. Hip hop culture was heavily popularized by Slovenian Olympic champion skier Jure Košir
Jure Košir
Jure Košir is a Slovenian former alpine skier.-Career:Košir's first international success was the title of the world junior champion in super G, won in Hemsedal in 1991. Later he focused in technical disciplines, esp. slalom and made quick progress, noticed also by his good friend, Italian...
, who also released an album Kartelova teorija (eng: Cartel Theory) with his crew Pasji Kartel (eng: Dog Cartel) in 1998. Klemen Klemen released one of the most influential mainstream Slovenian hip hop albumsTrnow Stajl (eng: Trnovo
Trnovo
Trnovo may refer to:*In Bosnia and Herzegovina:**Trnovo, Republika Srpska, a town and municipality**Trnovo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rural part of the same pre-war municipality, presently in the Sarajevo Canton*In Bulgaria:...
Style) on Menart Records. At about the same time, Radyoyo: Za narodov Blagor - 5'00" of fame, the first compilation of Slovenian hip hop music was released, including various new and unknown rappers on the scene.
In 2001, the first Slovenian freestyle rap championship was organized, launching rapper 6pack Čakur, who placed 2nd, into the mainstream. The competition became a tradition and has been held every second year since then. The next year rap duo Murat & Jose
Murat & Jose
Murat&Jose are a Slovene hip hop duo of writers, producers and MC. They guys were both born in 1978 in Ljubljana, Slovenia where they still live. Together with Nikolovski they were performing some time under the name Nedotakljivi...
released V besedi je moč, which became one of the most successful rap albums in Slovenia and Southern Europe. The following year's freestyle championship spawned 2 champions -- Trkaj
Trkaj
Trkaj is a rapper from Slovenia. He is a student of Theology. He won the Slovenian Freestyle Championship back in 2003 alongside with fellow rapper N'toko....
, an alternative rapper and N'toko
N'toko
Miha Blažič, better known by his stage name N'toko, is a Slovenian rapper and lead vocalist of Moveknowledgement.He is well known for his socially critical lyrics, which gave him acclaim in the underground Slovenian hip-hop scene...
-- who both went on to release albums through Nika Records.
2004 - 2006 were the most productive years for Slovenian hip hop, spawning more albums then all years before that together. Though the quality oscillated from album to album, mostly because of the unofficial releases—noting that the demo scene produced better tracks. New names included Eyeceeou and Mrigo (who released via their newly founded indie labels); gangsta rapper mc_DM from Maribor, one of the founders of Slovenian gangsta rap; Ali En;Ezy-G;Tekochee kru;Dandrough. There are also many rap/street crews in Slovenia with many followers and street credibility like Badale...
As of 2009, popular Slovenian rappers include Doša,Ballau,Bmd,Bobo,Radič,Zlatan Čordič,Kosta,Kranjski mixtape, Govno Smradić.
Rhyme G released a classic in 2007 titled "Rhymes and Bosnians" (title represents his life and street attitude in slums of Celje). Denile became a big hit with his street mixtapes and his song Sam za pikico was one of the first Slovene hip hop tracks adopting the Dirty South style of popular rappers from the American South. In 2009, a rapper named Šunka (eng: Ham) released "Hip hop Kugla" (eng: Hip Hop Ball). Hip hop culture has been further popularized by artists like Samo Boris, Valterap, N'toko
N'toko
Miha Blažič, better known by his stage name N'toko, is a Slovenian rapper and lead vocalist of Moveknowledgement.He is well known for his socially critical lyrics, which gave him acclaim in the underground Slovenian hip-hop scene...
.