Slovenian hip hop refers to
hip hop within
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
.
History
According to some accounts, the roots of Slovenian hip hop can be traced back to 1978, but all rappers from that time were forgotten or disappeared. What remains of this early history is preserved in little-circulated album releases. The mid-1980s were marked as the breakthrough of rap music in Slovenia. Hip hop dancing in Slovenia is sometimes called "Čefur" dance (derogatory term for non-Slovenian South Slavic people). Ali-En released the first rap album, that immediately became a classic, in 1994.
In 1997, rap duo Dandrough released ''Ko pride Bog'' ('when God comes'). The next few years there was a small hole in the hip hop scene, with only a couple of albums released up until 2000. Hip hop culture was heavily popularized by Slovenian Olympic champion skier
Jure Košir, who also released an album ''Kartelova teorija'' (eng:
cartel theory Cartel theory is usually understood as the doctrine of economic cartels. However, since the concept of 'cartel' does not have to be limited to the field of the economy, doctrines on non-economic cartels are conceivable in principle. Such exist alrea ...
) with his crew Pasji Kartel (eng: Dog Cartel) in 1998. Klemen Klemen released one of the most influential mainstream Slovenian hip hop albums''Trnow Stajl'' (eng:
Trnovo Style) on
Menart Records
Menart Records is a Slovenian full-service record label with partner companies also in Croatia and Serbia.
History
Menart Records started in 1996 in Slovenia only, founded by Boštjan Menart.
Activities
Menart Records is the exclusive Sony Music ...
. At about the same time, ''Radyoyo: Za narodov Blagor - 5'00" of fame'', the first compilation of Slovenian hip hop music was released, including various new and unknown rappers on the scene.
In 2001, the first
Slovenian freestyle rap championship was organized, launching rapper 6pack Čukur, who placed 2nd, into the mainstream. The competition became a tradition and has been held every second year since then. The next year rap duo
Murat & Jose released ''V besedi je moč'', which became one of the most successful rap albums in Slovenia and Southern Europe. The following year's freestyle championship spawned 2 champions -
Trkaj
Trkaj (born Rok Terkaj, March 1, 1983) is a rapper from Slovenia and a student of theology. He won the Slovenian Freestyle Championship back in 2003 along with fellow rapper N'toko.
His prize was a record deal with RapNika, and he released hi ...
, an alternative rapper and
N'toko - who both went on to release albums through Nika Records.
The most productive years for Slovenian hip hop were 2004–2006, spawning more albums than all years before that together. Though the quality oscillated from album to album, mostly because of the unofficial releases - noting that the demo scene produced better tracks.
External links
RWC Forum - The Slovenian Battle Rap ForumSlovenski Hip Hop ForumAli En official siteSLO Hip Hop artists
{{hiphop
Slovenian hip hop,