Popular Hungarian hip hop is popular among the inner city/urban population in Hungary. Performers include a gangsta rap

Gangsta rap

Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...

 pioneer, Ganxsta Zolee és a Kartel, his local fellow Dopeman, LL Junior and Sub Bass Monster.

These artists reveled in relative obscurity outside Hungary until Speak (artist)

Speak (artist)

Tamás Deák better known by his stage name Speak, is a rap artist, model and actor based in Hungary. He gained considerable fame after the music video for his 2003 anti-war song, "Stop the War", became popularized through video sharing websites...

 released a video which garnered worldwide attention as well as over 2 million views on Youtube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

.

The beginning and domination in mainstream

It began with a rapper named Ganxsta "Döglégy" Zolee (b. Zoltán Zana, January 7, 1966) and his clique The Kartel. He is the son of high-class actor family and is a professional ice-hockey player. In musical grounds he was originally the drummer for a hard rock band Sex Action before forming his then-underground gangsta rap collective in 1995. Their first album Egyenesen a gettóból (English: Straight out the ghetto) was not a commercial success and gained little radio airplay, though their first single "Boom a fejbe" (eng:Boom to the head") reached the top 20 on a major record megastore sales chart that was published weekly in Danubius Rádió (the only commercial radio station with full country coverage then). Their second LP Jégre teszlek (eng:Put you on ice) and Helldorado was a big success with the latter having a Latino rap style influence and being certified platinum (50,000).

The mainstream and the underground

The underground hip hop artist always attacked the mainstream hip hop artists because their music is too popular and they are "selling" their music for everybody. The underground hip hop musician's creations are most imaginative and have more message than the mainstream. The most well-known
Hungarian underground hip hop publishers are: Kriminal Beats, WacuumAirs, Gimmeshot, Bloose Broavaz.

Underground Artists:

Funktasztikus (aka. Interfunk aka. Funk'n'Stein)
Sub Bass Monster
Akkezdet Phiai
Trick P

Káva Krú
Majmok Bolygója
Lapzárta
Norba
Bankos
NKS (Nospa aka Nos'Chez, Zenk)
Háborgató Maszkura
Rebellió
Fürkésző elemek
Busa
Az Idő Urai
Páciens
Budacolor
Klikk
BobaKrome
Stinge'Rocketz
PortaVoz
AMPS
Bigmek
La Torre család
Hangos Zóna
Guerilla Deck
Káva Krú
BobaFett
Fülke 187
Hősök
Dózis - Trogaz
Kriminal Beats
Dsp (Dipa, Bom, Dj Gerysson)
Siskafinuccsi
Faktor Labor
Deego(aka. Diggieman)
Phoenix

Punnany Massif
Razzia

Gangsta Rap

Meanwhile one of the members of the Kartel, Lory B left the crew and converted a born again Christian and starting a solo effort in Christian rap. Another member O.G. Sámson release "Ganjaman" a single written in jungle rap genre that became also successful thanks to its weed-worshipper lyrics and nudist video. The group adopted a new member Dopeman who had street creditibility with his suburban-gipsy background. His trademark is a rapping technique similar to Master P

Master P

Percy Robert Miller , better known by his stage name Master P or his business name P. Miller, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, and producer. He is the founder of the popular label No Limit Records, which went bankrupt and was relaunched as New No Limit Records through Koch...

's "Uhh!" sound and the use of enjambements in his verses. Later he quit the band and started a solo career as well as producing new artists including acts such as Fekete Vonat (eng:Black Train) a trio who have used traditional roma techniques in their hip hop recordings and MC Ducky a female rapper and Majka Papa a former Való Világ

Való Világ

The ValóVilág is Hungary's most popular reality show aired by RTL Klub.- Casting and choice of the viewing public :The contestants who had been succeed in the casting could participate in a Beszavazóshow. During a beszavazóshow, the viewing public had to choose from the three wannabe housemates:...

 (Real World) runner-up. His own album Magyarország rémálma (eng:Nightmare of Hungary) became a gold album (15,000) in 2000 and Fekete Vonat's A város másik oldalán (eng:In the other side of the city) has reached platinum in 2001. It contained the title track with the same name, which gained major radio airplay as well as TV videoplay. Its tune was sampled from Bill Withers

Bill Withers

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...

' "Just the two of us". In 2003 Majka's Az ózdi hős (eng: The Hero of Ózd

Ózd

Ózd is a city in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, away from county seat Miskolc. Ózd is the second largest city of the county.-History:The area has been inhabited since ancient times. The village Ózd was mentioned first in 1272...

) was also awarded gold and had a duo single with his producer sampling the Dr. Dre beat Nuthin' But a "G" Thang. The street-macho image has been strengthened by a TV boxing ceremony entitled Starbox, an attempt to get rival celebrities into a fistfight. All Majka, Zolee and Dopeman participated and fought well.

Comedy Rap

Simultaneously a new genre of rap was about to emerge, which was much more built upon the unique features of Hungarian language in rhyming, word-plays, jokes and ambiguities. First it was developed by the RAPülők (1992-1994) and then by the hip hop duo Animal Cannibals beginning from 1995. In the same year their first single "Takarítónő" (eng:Cleaning Lady) was a hit with radio and TV airplay. They were the first Hungarian group ever to get played in MCM

MCM

-Science and technology:* Thousand circular mils or kcmil, the wire gauge is equivalent cross sectional area * Million cubic metre, the unit of volume...

 a French music TV station (single "Kérek egy puszikát!"). Their success inspired many upcoming groups and by utilizing their fame Animal Cannibals launched a new series of MC battles nationwide in local clubs called the Fila

Fila

Fila or FILA may refer to:*Fila , a South Korean sportswear manufacturer* Fila , an island of Vanuatu*Fila, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province...

 Rap Jam in 1996. Its goal is to invite the winners to Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 into a final contest in which the champion selected by the audience is given a record deal. One of their first newfound talents was Sub Bass Monster, whose first album Félre az útból (eng:Get out of the way) went platinum in 2000 and the second one gold in 2001. An example of his funny metaphors is the title of his third single "Négy Ütem" (eng:Four Strokes

Four-stroke cycle

A four-stroke engine, also known as four-cycle, is an internal combustion engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes—intake, compression, power, and exhaust—during two separate revolutions of the engine's crankshaft, and one single thermodynamic cycle.There are two...

) that was a reference to the four steps of breathing in marihuana. In some characteristics the style as a whole can be compared to those from Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

's first solo material as well as to D-12's.

R&B

Rhythm and Blues is still in its infancy in Hungary. Few blue-eyed soul musicians are trying to phase the genre in to the Hungarian market. One of them is LL Junior who has taken his name from LL Cool J

LL Cool J

James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...

 one of his childhood idols. He is an ex-member of the Fekete Vonat. He has been moderately successful making four albums but only managed to sell ten thousand of his third album that was his highest selling achievement.

The aftermath

Until 2006 Gangsta Zolee and The Kartel's first disc also received platinum status and due to Hungarian sales awards changes during the years it has become the only recording to reach the 120,000 copies platinum limit in the post-communist music history of Hungary and still remains the highest selling rap and pop CD ever (although bootlegging and high taxes on data medium have a very big and growing effect on the low sales indexes). The limit has been gradually lowered right after and was set to 20,000. Ten albums and one greatest hits were recorded by the Kartel from which five are gold and two are platinas. They also composed the main theme for the 2001 Division I Ice hockey championship in Hungary

Ice Hockey Division I World Championships

The IIHF World Championship Division I is an annual sports event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The divisional championship is played in two groups....

 as well as for boxer Janos "Bonebreaker" Nagy a former IBO

International Boxing Organization

The International Boxing Organization is a for-profit organization that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.- Origins :...

 world junior-lightweight champion and WBO world junior-lightweight champion title challenger against Jorge Rodrigo Barrios

Jorge Rodrigo Barrios

Jorge Rodrigo "La Hiena " Barrios is a professional boxer in the junior lightweight division. His record is 47-3-1 . He is a former WBO world junior-lightweight champion....

. They also remade American songs for example Revolving Door

The Gift of Game

-Certifications:-Singles:-Personnel:*Bret Mazur – vocals, keyboard*Shifty Shellshock – vocals*DJ AM – turntables*James Bradley Jr. – drums*Rust Epique – guitar*Anthony Valli – guitar*Doug Miller – bass*Troy Van Leeuwen - Guitar on "Darkside"...

 and Check Yo Self

Check Yo Self

"Check Yo Self" is the second hit single from Ice Cube's third solo album The Predator. It was released in July 1993 and features New York rappers Das EFX. It topped both the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap charts while also reaching number 20 on the Hot 100 chart...

. Recently one of Zolee's former protégés Ogli G got paroled and formed a new label and released Egyenesen a férfiházból (eng:Straight outta the brothel) that is - in its title - a homage to the Kartel's first record. He's the first gangsta rapper whose reputation is backed up with a prison sentence. Ganxsta Zolee nowadays gets into acting and participating in political late night shows. Dopeman has recently played in his own reality show. Ogli is looking for an American record deal.