Turkish Hip Hop

Before Turkish hip hop took hold in Turkey, specifically Istanbul and Ankara, it originally grew out of Turkish ethnic enclaves in Germany. Owing its large population to the Turkish migrants that came to Germany in the 1960s as Gastarbeiter (guest-workers), 2/3 of all Turks in Germany are under the age of 35 and half are under 25. Exclusionary practices on behalf of the government, particularly in terms of citizenship status, create systematic discrimination of Turks in Germany that fuels racism against migrant workers. Although born in Germany, the children of these Gastarbeiters are not recognized as citizens by Germany or their parents' country of origin. Often living in dilapidated neighborhoods and marked as outsiders by their "eastern" traditions and poor command of the German language, Turkish urban youth gravitate towards hip hop as means of expressive identity construction. From the first rap vinyl recorded in the Turkish language—‘Bir Yabancının Hayatı’ (The Life of the Stranger) by King Size Terror—to the creation of an entire subgenre—Oriental hip hop—Turkish youth in Germany have embraced and moved beyond pure imitation of African American hip-hop culture. Localizing hip hop, Turks in Germany have reworked it to “act as a mode of expression for a range of local issues” particularly those related racism and the problem of national identity experienced by younger members of ethnic minority groups.

Turkish hip-hop had risen to prominence 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 nefret, who now is one of the most famous Turkish rapper with the name ""ceza"" He started the next generation of Turkish rap. Today, Sagopa Kajmer is a prominent Turkish rapper.

Canada's first Turkish hip hop artist, "E"mre came onto the scene in Spring of 2010. Working with Canadian rapper Belly, "E"mre created a number of hit singles, culminating in the release of his debut mixtape, "Moon & Star." Hoping to translate his North American success into success back in Turkey, resulted in the hit single, "Turkish Girls." "E"mre launched his website: www.emrelive.com in May 2010.

Sagopa Kajmer is one of the most popular Turkish rappers. His style is "pessimistic rap". (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 2006, Sagopa and his wife Kolera started a record company named Melankolia Records. Sagopa Kajmer was nominated for best Turkish hip-hop artist of 2008 in MTV EMA.