Cartel (rap Group)

Cartel (rap Group)

Cartel is a 1995 Turkish hip hop group that received attention and popularity in both Turkey and Germany. They were famous for pioneering the use of traditional Turkish music instruments in Hip Hop music. Cartel was the first Turkish-language project to get off the ground and often credited as the group that ignited "Oriental hip hop." When the group exploded on the Berlin hip hop scene in 1995 it was 8 young men of mostly Turkish descent. According to Diessel, "Cartel was a capitalist venture, a media creation, and a catalyst for dialogue about nationalism in Germany and Turkey. Oznan Sinan along with two other Turkish partners opened a music studio in 1994 and organized the "Oriental hip hop project" after declaring the music in Germany was too 'white.'