Template:Turkishmusic
Turkish Hip Hop started in Australia in the early 1980's by a few young Turks from the western Suburbs of Sydney. I should be frank and inform you I, the editor am one of these Turks. As a member of a 4 man Break Dancing Crew called EBT or Emergency Break Team we were amongst the Top Breaking crews in Australia, arguably the best in Australia. I say this because when it came to Breaking Battles/Competitions we were almost always the winners of any battle or competition we undertook. The first Major Breaking Battle/Competion was held incunjunction with a top Sydney Radio station 2SM in 1985, and the first Place winners was EBT, us the First Turkish Hip Hopers. Hip Hop is a Culture that has different aspects or elements. These Elements now, can and are being called Traditions. These Traditions are DJing, Break Dancing (including Poping), Rapping and Graffiti Painting. We as EBT the Breaking Crew would at times mix Turksh traditional dancing with Modern Breaking and Poping Moves also when ever possible and appropriate we would Mix Turkish Music with Hip Hop Music and dance to it. As the breaking popularity faded, I should say, as Breaking went Underground the Elements/Traditions of Hip Hop namely, DJing and Rapping grew larger. I initialy as a breaker started Rapping and writing lyrics wich I performed were ever I could and were ever Hip Hop was accepted in the late 1980's. Hip Hop traditions were rarley adopted by the Majority only the Minorities like ethnics and Indeginous Aboriginals had accepted and supported Hip Hop. But that is another issue alltogether. I assumed The Rapping Name ILLMAN because it sounded like my real name Ilhan and would at times be called, in Turkish, "HastaAdam". I wrote Rap Rhymes in Engish and in Turkish. I was never signed by a major Record Label, I believe due to Political, Racial and Religious backgrounds, but as I just stated "thats another issue". I produced and recorded many songs that got air play by some radio stations including "Triple J" wich was the Leading Hip Hop Music airing Station in Australia in the 1980's and 1990's. I was a solo Rapper/Artist at first but then formed a Rapping crew called COD with a Lebanese Raper "PeaceFender" in 1991. Later another Turkish Rapper Mezzy(Metin) and His Lebanese Rapping Partner "Ali" joined "COD". The Abbreviation COD had many meanings, for instance "Count On Damage", "Convert Or Die", "Cash on Delivery", "Cuma Olsun Dunya(May the world congregate)" and many more. We "COD" needed a break and it almost came when we were the support Act for the world Famous Rapping Band called "The Beastie Boys" whom had numerous number 1 Hits around the world. Turkish Hip Hop in Australia is still happening and growing, more and more Turks in Australia are Rapping and trying to Break into the Market here and in Turkey. So There you have a very brief History of the First Turkish Hip Hopers. I will not delete the former article on Turkish Hip Hop because, How were the editors to know about Turkish Hip Hop in such a land so far away and so long ago in Australia, but its true. Here Check This Out http://peacefender.com/films/COD1992.WMV
In Germany with the success and popularity of the Turkish rap group Cartel in the mid 1990s throughout Turkey. Unfortunately, after the success of their first album, the members of Cartel had a fight almost killing some of their members. The group was forbidden to perform together again and the members of Cartel were jailed. Cartel's album was banned from the music market. It was later re-released in 2004. This caused a decrease into interest in Hip Hop music. In 2001, Hip Hop music started to regain attention with the group Nefret, founded by Turkish rappers Ceza and Dr. Fuchs and they started the next generation of Turkish rap. Today, Ceza is arguably the most successful and popular Turkish rapper. Ceza lead the way for many Turkish rappers such as Sirhot, Sagopa Kajmer, and his sister Ayben who were all previously underground and are now signed into the German Hammer Muzik. Ceza's 2004 Rapstar album was a huge success in Turkey. In 2005, underground Turkish DJ Ege Çubukçu released his first album titled 1 Gün ("One day") which contained the 2005 hit "Yaz Geldi" ("Summer has come"). In 2006, Turkish pop singer Tarkan explained that hip hop had made a great impact on him and that his next albums would be slowly moving to Hip Hop. He featured Wyclef Jean in his 2006 album Come Closer.
Turkish Hip Hop Controversies
In 2006, the members of Nefret broke up and Dr. Fuchs released the song "Hani Biz Kardeştik (Ceza Diss)" ("I thought we were like brothers") on his official website. The song claimed that Turkish rapper Ceza had abandoned his team for money and more fame. At the time, Ceza was one of the few rappers played on popular Turkish television stations such as Kral TV. In August, Turkish Rock singer Kıraç explained in an interview that he believed Hip Hop should stay out of Turkish music. He believed that Hip Hop was only brainwashing music and that it took nothing to make a song. He criticized Turkish singers Tarkan and members of the former Nefret group during his interview and he believed that they should stop trying to make rap music. Ceza responded to this by performing a song about Kıraç which used a lot of explicit content. Kıraç later announced that he planned to sue Ceza in court. Afterwards, Ceza instantly apologized to Kıraç and he said that he will think twice in the future before doing something like this. The debate can be viewed here.
In 2007, Turkish rapper Ege Çubukçu released an underground diss single against Ceza titled "Cennet Bekliyebilir" ("Heaven Can Wait"). He accused Ceza of stealing beats from American rapper Eminem's music. He claimed that Ceza's hit song Sitem had the exact same beat as The Way I Am by Eminem. Unfortunately, the single had little support and airplay.
Turkish Hip Hop in Europe
Turkish hip hop continues to influence the hip hop scenes in Western Europe, especially in Germany where many top chart rappers such as Kool Savaş (who has collaborated with 50 Cent, RZA, Jadakiss, & Juelz Santana) and Eko Fresh are of Turkish descent. While Nefret was holding Turkish rap in Turkey and Germany during the 99-2002, another Turkish rap network emerged, however this time from the UK, known as UKTHM (united Kingdom Turkish hiphop Movement) a group of individuals who introduced Turkish rap into the UK Turkish market.
References
Notes
