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Dutch hip hop

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Dutch hip hop or Nederhop is hip hop music created by musicians in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Early days

In 1986, Dutch rap duo MC Miker G & DJ Sven (Lucien Witteveen and Sven van Veen) had a top 10 hit across Europe with "Holiday Rap", which sampled Madonna's "Holiday". Another 1980s group was the Osdorp Posse, who first started to record tracks in Dutch.

In 1992, Osdorp Posse released their debut album Osdorp Stijl, which was the first-ever Dutch hip hop .[citation needed] They started out translating N.W.A songs to Dutch, though later wrote their own rhymes in Dutch. Their beats, created by producer Seda, have a familiar heavy sound and are similar to U.S. old-school hip hop. Frontman Def-P describes it as hardcore rap. In the 17 years of de Osdorp Posse's existence, the crew hasn't changed their style and are still making hardcore hip hop.

Notable in the late 80s were All Star Fresh of King Bee topping charts with: "Back by dope demand" in early 1990 and Rudeboy of Urban Dance Squad who, at the time, were arguably more widely known in New York City than the Netherlands.

Later days

After the first Osdorp Posse demo cassette they toured around the Netherlands. In Deventer they found the first followers and the first Dutch language hip hop scene. The first hip hop groups after Osdorp Posse were Zuid-Oost Posse and Maasstraat Mannen. These groups did concerts all over the Netherlands. Maasstraat became famous as the first group combining reggae with Dutch lyrics, inspiring acts like Postmen, for example.

Another Dutch-language rapper is Extince, who in 1995 took Nederhop to a new commercial level. With two of his singles Spraakwater and Kaal of Kammen being major hits in the mid-1990s, Extince was the first Dutch rapper making the MegaCharts. Other notable acts include Ali B (who has been featured on other artists' tracks, most significantly with Marco Borsato on the song "Wat zou je doen?" for the charity War Child who achieved solo success with "Leipe mocro flavour". Together with his cousin Yes-R he made an international remix of "Ghetto" together with Akon.; the duo Lange Frans & Baas B with their patriotic but introspective "Het land van (song)|Het Land Van"; and Yes-R. Other notable groups are "Opgezwolle" (consisting of rapper Sticky Steez, rapper Phreaco Rico and DJ Delic) and Brainpower.

There were two styles dominating the Dutch hip hop landscape: Extince, known for his easy flows, catchy songs and funky tunes, while hardcore performers like Westklan and Osdorp Posse found their own niche group of fans.

In the mid 1990s The Postmen were topping the charts with their rap/reggae mix.

Recently

In the early 2000s the MC fronted band Relax got much airplay, as did de Spookrijders.

A combination of these two styles gave birth to de Spookrijders, a three man hip hop group founded in 1996. With MC's Stefan and Clyde rapping about their personal lives and life in Amsterdam as a black man, de Spookrijders even gained respect from non-hip hop musicians and fans. Most people admired the work of producer/DJ Cliff 'the Jazz' Nille after releasing Spookrijders debut album'De Echte Shit. In 1999 de Spookrijders hit the charts twice with the hits Klokkenluiders and Ik ben de man. Both these songs appeared on the second album, Klokkenluiders van Amsterdam. After some personal argues among the three crewmembers, de Spookrijders split up in 2003, after releasing their and final third album Hee... Spookies!!

Opgezwolle, a group from Zwolle latest album, "Eigen Wereld" (Own world) appeared in the 'Album Top 100' at number 4; the highest notation of a Dutch rap-album ever. Opgezwolle split up on November 30th 2007. Members Rico & Sticks formed a new group, Fakkelbrigade with MC Typhoon, MC James and beatmaker A.R.T.. In 2009, they released the album Colucci Era.

In the mid 2000s Cilvaringz, Ali B and Raymzter have commercially been successful and Lange Frans & Baas B have had multiple #1 hits. In 2005, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig ("The youth of today") were successful with Watskeburt?! ("Wuzhappenin?!").

Rapper Jawat won the "Grote prijs van Nederland" 2006.

Another Dutch hiphop Duo are Pete Philly and Perquisite who are already well known in the Netherlands, Germany, and even in Japan.

A famous Dutch rapper outside the Netherlands is Salah Edin. His album 'Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie' won Best Album Award in 2007 and was fully produced by Dr.Dre's right hand man Focus... He also shot three of the most expensive music videos ever in the history of Dutch Hip Hop and through a management deal with Cilvaringz, performed in 34 countries worldwide.

Genres in Dutch hip hop

Gangsta

Dutch gangsta hip hop is currently a small scene. Among the most notable groups are THC (Tuindorp Hustler Click), LSD (Lyricale Straat Dichters) Heinek'n, Kempi and Tuigcommissie. The rhythms are influenced by the American rap scene, and the lyrics are often about what they see and what happens to them in a world ruled by crime.

Commercial success

The commercial success of Dutch hip hop is largely made by Brainpower, Yes-R, Ali B, Lange Frans & Baas B and Extince. For a large part of the Dutch hip hop community Yes-R, Ali B and Lange Frans & Baas B are sometimes considered fake because they do a lot of work for children TV stations. Brainpower and Extince however both enjoy a great respect for bringing up hip hop in their native Dutch. Other commercial rappers are De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, and one of the more popular artists in the Netherlands, Partysquad or The Partysquad. They are a 2-man group, having had success with hits such as "Stuk" (Broken), and "Dat is Die Shit" (That's the shit), with other popular songs in the background such as "Non Stop" ft. Brainpower, "We Gaan Los" (we're going crazy {because of highness or drunkenness}) with Kempi, and "Wat Wil Je Doen" (Whut u gonna do?).

The Dutch hip hop scene is roughly divided by thirteen of the Netherlands' larger cities.

Dutch oldskool

The Dutch oldskool exists out of three primary artists, Osdorp Posse, Extince and Brainpower. Osdorp Posse make to what they themselves call hardcore rap and use beats that have much in common with N.W.A.. Their lyrics are about racism, prostitution (not always negatively), police and other social subjects. Extince uses very different, more funky kind of beats than Osdorp Posse and uses a completely different rapstyle. Brainpower's lyrics are most known to be party songs (his number 1 song "Dansplaat") and about love though he has a many lyrics that are more thought through, and quite cleverly put together.

See also

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