Azerbaijani hip hop or Azeri rap music (Azerbaijani: Azəri rep musiqisi) is the musical genre which became popular in Azerbaijan in mid 1990s. It's a mix of native meykhana Azerbaijani music genre with Western hip hop. Similar to meykhana, it's performed by one or several people improvising on a particular subject, though accompanied by Western instead of national musical tones. According to Vahid Mustafayev, president of the Azerbaijan News Service, "Yesterday is Past" was the first Azeri rap song, created in 1983 by Chingiz Mustafayev, who would later become Azerbaijan's national hero for unrelated reasons.
The pioneer of Azerbaijani rap was Anar Nagilbaz in 1992, which also included elements of Disco music but the recognition of the rap genre came with the rise of Dayirman (Dəyirman, Azerbaijani for "windmill") and their album Qurd released in 2001.
Despite mass emergence of independent rappers, only a few Azerbaijani rap artists have achieved commercial success: Dayirman, Elşad Xose and Uran. During late 2000's, rap group H.O.S.T. became primarily popular among hip hop fans.
On December 2011, the very first Azerbaijani national musical, a hip-hop version of the classic love story Leyli and Majnun, has been performed in Baku.
Read more about Azerbaijani Hip Hop: Notable Artists
Famous quotes containing the words hip and/or hop:
“Rituals are important. Nowadays it’s hip not to be married. I’m not interested in being hip.”
—John Lennon (1940–1980)
“I have tried being surreal, but my frogs hop right back into their realistic ponds.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)