Finnish Hip Hop

Finnish hip hop or rap (Finnish: suomiräp, räp) is a variant of hip hop music from Finland. The rapping (räppäys) is mainly done in Finnish. Many rappers use Helsinki slang words, general slang and Finnish dialects are used too by some artists. Many early rappers used English language. Some Finnish rap was already recorded in the early 1980s and some popular artists emerged in the early 1990s but it was not until the 2000s that it became finally a more lasting phenomenon in a form of wider scene and numerous popular performers.

The first recorded Finnish rap song was song "I'm Young, Beautiful and Natural" in English language which was made by artist called General Njassa in 1983. Rap music in Finnish language made its first breakthrough in 1990 when groups Raptori and Pääkköset and artist Nikke T got their records to Finnish charts. Especially Raptori created a nationwide phenomenon. These artists had a style greatly different when compared to American rap music. Their music was highly influenced by the dance pop of the 1980s and their approach to music was largely humouristic. Later Finnish rappers tend to despise this wave of early 1990s. Niko Toiskallio (Nikke T) himself has later stated that he regrets his humoristic dance-influenced rap recordings and he claims that so-called humour-rap deprived the credibility of Finnish rap scene which did not recover until many years later in the late 1990s.

Fintelligens started the new wave of Finnish rap in the late 1990s, and soon many other groups followed. Finnish rap was again seen on national record charts. This time Finnish rappers used a style which was much closer to American hip hop music. Popular artists and groups of this era included Asa (then known as Avain), Ezkimo, Flegmaatikot, Kapasiteettiyksikkö, Paleface, Seremoniamestari and Tulenkantajat. These got their albums published by large record companies.

These days many Finnish rappers release their music as self-published albums or through small indie labels such as Monsp, 3rd Rail Music, Rähinä Records or Numbers Entertainment. Also some of these artists have climbed to official music charts, for example Ruudolf, Kemmuru, DJPP, Notkea Rotta, Steen1, Reilukerho, Jontti & Shaka, Hannibal ja Soppa, Gee, Elastinen & Iso H, Trilogia, Cheek and Stigg Dogg.

Finnish rappers can be divided into underground and mainstream. Underground rappers rap about suburbs, drugs, dress shirts, politics, life, problems with authorities and so on. Mainstream rappers rap about partying, women and cars.