Tataee
Encyclopedia
Vlad Irimia primarily known by his stage name Tataee, is a Romania
n record producer
, rapper, record executive, and music manager. He is one of the founders and the main producer of the well-known Romanian hip hop
trio B.U.G. Mafia
, also having produced albums and overseeing the careers of many acclaimed Romanian rappers, such as La Familia, XXL & 10 Grei, Mahsat and JerryCo
. As a music producer he is frequently credited as one of the pioneers and key figures in the architecture of the Romanian version of gangsta rap
, a style of music that closely resembles its American counterpart but also includes various progressions
derived from funk
, jazz
or, more recently, electronic music
.
Tataee began his career in music as a solo artist and he later found fame with the influential gangsta rap
group B.U.G. Mafia
with Alin "Uzzi" Demeter and Dragos "Caddilac" Vlad-Neagu, who popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. Their 1998 album, "De Cartier
", released under Cat Music in Romania led them to become one of the country's best-selling performing artists, as well as one of the most respected Romanian hip hop
groups. Later in his career, he worked with Romanian artists such as Akcent
, Bitză
, Andreea Antonescu, Cristina Spătar or Adriana Rusu, receiving credit for changing and improving their sound.
Following the success of B.U.G. Mafia's Băieţii Buni
in 2003, Tataee focused on producing music for various other artists. He started his own record label
, Legend Audio, in 2004, as he assumed his role as a record producer and music executive. In 2005, he signed Romanian hip hop
artist JerryCo
who released his debut single in late 2009 following a four year work period with Tataee on his first album, "Orice E Posibil
" (Everything Is Possible), released in 2010 by Legend Audio in Romania.
, a city in Alba County
, central Romania
, southern Transylvania
. He has a younger brother and a younger sister, also living in Bucharest. He began attending school in 1983 and graduated from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza highschool in Bucharest
in 1995, just before B.U.G. Mafia's first release in Romania
. He played basketball for over ten years and quit circa 1998 so he could focus on his work.
had been a communist
country until late 1989, western music was banned by Nicolae Ceauşescu
's regime and official releases of hip hop
albums were virtually impossible to find on the Romanian music market. Tataee himself stated in an interview for CNN
that he got acquainted with rap music after the political regime switch that occurred in Romania
in 1989. As a more liberal political system replaced the totalitarian
rule of communism, heavy bootlegging of American music occurred on the Eastern European market. Inspired by Public Enemy and N.W.A, Tataee tried steering his professional options towards becoming a rapper and started working on his own music. By 1993, when he met his first collaborator, Daddy Caddy, he had only recorded one song and had little professional perspective. The official press release for B.U.G. Mafia states that they first met in late 1993
and recorded their first track together in 1994
.
B.U.G. recorded more tracks in English, producing their own beats with help from Romeo Vănică, a well known producer, who had a professional keyboard. In 1994 they had their first live appearance in one of the first Romanian hip hop
shows, made possible by Bogdan "DJ Sleek" Untea, a famous Romanian hip-hop DJ and one of the first Romanians
to pursue this career. Still looking for new rappers they met with Demonii ("The Demons"), one of the few Romanian hip-hop crews to rap in Romanian at the time. One of the members was Alin Demeter, also known as drama Drama then, later as Uzzi, who joined the group in 1995 and at the same time they changed their name adding Mafia so the Romanian public would get better acquainted with their style. They also stopped writing lyrics in English and switched to Romanian for the same reason. In the summer of 1995 they signed their first professional music contract to record an album on now-defunct Amma Sound.
and remaining a frequent collaborator until the feud that occurred between them in 2003. Later, in 1998, he produced XXL&10 Grei's whole debut album, Personajul Negativ (The Bad Guy) and although the album sold poorly, it was met with unanimous positive reviews by music critics and fans as well, establishing Grasu XXL and his collaborator, Paco "10 Grei" as two of the most proeminent figures in Romanian hip hop
. The B.U.G. Mafia Prezintă Casa (B.U.G. Mafia Presents Casa) album, released February 20, 2002, featured songs by his group, B.U.G. Mafia, as well as by newly signed Casa artists and the single Cine E Cu Noi (Who's With Us), intended as a new milestone in Romanian hip hop
. Tataee mentioned the project in various interviews before 2002, the year the label was officially established, describing it initially as a record distribution company that later tunred into a record label, so the group could independently produce their own albums and sign new artists. Also in 2002, he remixed Paraziţii
's hit single "În Focuri" and the resulting track was included on the single's commercial release.
The turning point for Casa Productions occurred in 2006 when Grasu XXL, formerly of XXL & 10 Grei, released his debut solo album, Curaj (Courage) that spawned hit singles such as "Fără Filtru" (Without Filtre) or "Curaj" (Courage) and helped establish Casa Productions as one of Romania
's high profile music labels. During this time, Tataee also started his own record label, separate from Casa Productions which was a group effort from B.U.G. Mafia, Legend Audio and signed the first artist he was going to work with and develop separatly from B.U.G. Mafia, JerryCo.
JerryCo, a Romanian rapper had released two independent albums while still part of Agresiv, the well-known Romanian producing duo. JerryCo met Tataee in 2004, as the latter heard a demo containing some songs and called him to discuss a record contract. It was only a year after this meeting occurred that JerryCo actually signed with the label, after making significant progress on his own, enough to impress Tataee and determin him to finally start the Legend Audio project. The debut album, "Totul E Posibil" (Everything Is Possible) was released after a five year work period and Tataee produced every track and provided vocals for the lead single "Stai! (Eşti În Pericol)" (Wait! You're In Danger). This also marked the beginning of Tataee's career as a music manager as he also signed on to oversee JerryCo's whole musical career and not only work on music, as he previously did.
, Tataee focused on producing songs and albums for other artists. In 2004, he produced the third album for raggamuffin Bucharest
-based group M&G, also providing vocals for the album's lead single, "Asalt Raggafonic" (Raggaphonic Assault). Tataee's work on the album earned them an MTV Romanian Music Awards nomination in 2005, in the "Best New Act" category. He produced Bitză
's "Urmatorul Pas" (The Next Step), the first single from his debut album, "Sevraj" (Withdrawal). The track proved to be a great success, launching Bitză
's career while providing significant record sales. He also worked with Romanian pop group Akcent
, producing and writing their 2004 single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story).
He produced and provided vocals for the single "Fără Egal" (Like No One Else) by R&B singer Cristina Spătar. In 2007, he produced the lead single of pop singer Adriana Rusu's debut album, "Sentimente" (Feelings), a track called "Noi Doi" (Us Two) on which he also performed two of the song's verses. He worked with Andreea Antonescu, formerly of the pop group Andre
to produce her 2008 single "Ridica Mâinile" (Raise Your Hands).
In 2006, together with bandmate Daddy Caddy, Tataee served as the executive producer
of Grasu XXL's debut solo album, "Curaj" (Courage) and while he had virtually no contribution to the musical production, he helped create an album that would spawn one of the most successful singles in the Romanian hip hop
industry, "Fără Filtru" (Without Filtre), also appearing in the song's music video
.
Although in 2009 he produced and released the second volume of B.U.G. Mafia's anniversary album, he has been generally hard to spot in the Romanian media outside a handful of interviews promoting the album's release and his Twitter
page where he constantly interacts with his fans. In 2009 he also worked with Romanian hip hop
artist Marijuana to produce a track on her untitled 2010 second album. Tataee is also good friends with Marcel Sârbu, the owner of "Dumars Club", a well known Bucharest
club, who occasionally released hip hop singles under the stage name "DMS" to help promote his venue. "Pe Față" (Truthfully), featuring Cristina Spătar and "Cumva, Cândva" (Somehow, Sometime), featuring Anemona Niculescu were both written and produced by Tataee for DMS.
. Over the time he has jokingly stated in various interviews that his parents were not thrilled with the job he chose but that ultimately they have grown to be proud. For many years, he was also an avid supporter of FC Dinamo Bucureşti.
to Lipova
, Irimia tried to go around another vehicle and collided with a scooter
, seriously injuring the man driving it. Police investigations concluded that Irimia did not take the necessary measures before overtaking the vehicle in front of him and, as the victim was rushed to the hospital with both legs and a few ribs broken, his driver's license
was suspended for three months and a criminal record
was issued against him. The conclusions of the investigations were that, had the man driving the scooter not been wearing a helmet, he would have probably been killed in the accident, making Irimia liable for serious jail time. He went on to give details of an early 2008 incident when, driving from another concert, a truck
lost control on the road passing their car by very closely. He turned a hard right and the fact that they crashed on the side of the road was actually what saved them from being seriously injured or even killed from colliding with the runaway truck.
official page features various conversations with inquiring fans, with Irimia stating that he prefers virtual instrument manufacturers such as Native Instruments
and Steinberg
. He cites Dr.Dre and Public Enemy's Bomb Squad as his primary musical influences. During the time he answered fan questions on the bugmafia93.ro message board, he used Steinberg Cubase
to sequence and mix his beats, but he has since switched to ProTools HD. Other equipment he uses include keyboards from such manufacturers as Korg, Clavia, Kurzweil, Yamaha and Roland. The Hammond organ
is also frequently present in his work. After founding Casa Productions and releasing B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
with B.U.G. Mafia in 2002, his music became more diverse and, while retaining typical g-funk
elements such as high pitched synths pioneered by Dr.Dre and Above The Law
in their productions a decade earlier, it included new instruments such as multi-layered guitars and string arrangements. He also started using fewer vocals samples (as he had done on "Limbaj De Cartier", "Raid Mafiot 2" or "De Cartier" on the De Cartier
album in the late 90s) preferring to have Casa Productions artists such as Villy or Mario to provide backing vocals for his productions instead. The 2003 Băieţii Buni
album by B.U.G. Mafia features a completely different production style, with mellow, guitar-driven beats that, over the years, has become a production trademark for Tataee.
In the mid 90s Tataee started collaborating with Camil Beldeanu, a Romanian keyboardist who had worked with various Romanian artists and who went on to be one of the most prominent producers and arrangers to work with Romanian hip hop
artists in the late 90s and early 2000s. Beldeanu shared production credits with Irimia on many of his productions for B.U.G. Mafia's albums, including their anniversary albums Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
and Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
.
and Băieţii Buni
, released in 2003, was the significant larger amount of hours spent in the studio recording vocals for the latter. On his official Twitter
account, he shared some details of his 2004 sessions with Romanian pop-act Akcent
for their single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story), saying that he had to push them very hard to come up with that performance, as they were not used with his work style and usually spent less time working on a song.
A consequence of his perfectionism is that some artists that initially sign deals with B.U.G. Mafia's Casa Productions label never release albums. Aside from B.U.G. Mafia themselves, only Mahsat, M&G and Grasu XXL have released albums in the label's 9-year history. A significant delay of the second volume of B.U.G. Mafia's anniversary album release occurred when Ines Sound & Video, the Bucharest-based recording studio where the group was working finished their new recording room that could provide a higher quality in 2007 and, as a consequence, all the material finished up to that point was scraped and re-recorded. B.U.G. Mafia's official website, despite being announced on the 2002 B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
album cover, was released to the general public only 8 years later, in mid-2010. Tataee said that this was also a consequence of the fact that an official website that he would approve of would take an enormous amount of time to create. Romanian rapper
JerryCo
, who signed with Tataee's Legend Audio in 2005 only released his debut album in 2010 after 5 years of work. Other noteworthy acts to leave Casa Productions without releasing albums were Paco "10 Grei" of XXL&10 Grei and urban soul artist Mario who has been working on his debut album, "Liber Pe Pământ" (Free On Earth) since 2005. B.U.G. Mafia were also planning to release a hip-hop clothing
line but this project neither came to fruition as Tataee and his collaborators' demands were too high to make products that could actually bring in profits.
in his productions. This has led to controversy among B.U.G. Mafia's fans: as none of the samples he used have been credited on any of the covers of the albums he has worked on it fueled rumors of plagiarism
. As "UCMR-ADA" (The Composers' Union in Romania
) had broken off all contacts with ASCAP in the communist era, clearing any sample from records released in the United States
was virtually impossible, so Tataee chose to use whatever samples he wanted to use without any permission, since he had no legal way to do otherwise. He cleared this issue himself in a post on the B.U.G. Mafia fan message board, while conversing with the fans:
Despite Tataee making use of samples in his productions, especially in the 90s, covers of albums on which he worked on give insight on a number of musicians he has collaborated with over the years. Camil Beldeanu is one of his most frequent collaborators, being credited as a keyboardist on every B.U.G. Mafia album since 1997's IV: Deasupra Tuturor
and, although on this album, he is also credited with guitar work, since 1998's De Cartier
, guitarist Cristi Andrei has done a considerable amount of work for Tataee. An electric guitar solo from the 1998 B.U.G. Mafia song "Poveste Fără Sfarșit" (Endless Story), which is famous among the fans as being one of the group's most soulful songs, has also been played by Cristi Andrei. The acoustic guitar
on the remade version of "Poveste Fără Sfarșit" from Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
was played by Vlad Crețu, guitarist for Romanian groups Todomondo
and Hara. Cristi Andrei shared guitar duties with Andrei "The Cat" Vlad, a Romanian session guitarist on the 2002 compilation album
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
. Andrei created the guitar riff playing through "După blocuri" the first single from the B.U.G. Mafia album of the same name and one of the group's most famous songs and he also returned to work with Tataee on both volumes of "Viața Noastră". Gabriel Mitran and Viorel Sârbu composed basslines for Tataee's productions during work for De Cartier
and După blocuri
albums. More recent collaborators include Ștefan Mihăilescu, doing guitar work for B.U.G. Mafia's first anniversary album, Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
and even being credited with keyboards on the second volume of the anniversary album, on the "O lume nebună, nebună de tot" (A crazy, crazy world) remake. Florin Sever, a Romanian film score
composer did the string arrangements for both anniversary albums of B.U.G. Mafia.
Although Tataee is the main producer for B.U.G. Mafia, bandmates Uzzi
and Caddy are credited as co-producers on many of the group's songs. Tataee has said on his official Twitter
account that they occasionally contribute in the production process and that this will probably occure in the future too. When asked about considering other producer's work for the group, he answered that this is also a possibility, but any composition will be produced by himself, thus maintaining his position as the group's producer. This was the case on JerryCo
's debut album, "Orice E Posibil" (Anything Is Possible) where, despite producing the whole album, Bucharest-based production duo Agresiv have contributed to many of the album's compositions, being credited accordingly. Frequent B.U.G. Mafia collaborator Villy has also done keyboard work for Tataee, especially on songs where he was featured as a vocalist.
As far as post-production, B.U.G. Mafia album covers credited Romanian songwriters Jolt Kerestely and his son, Andrei Kerestely and sound engineer Eddy Schneinder with mixing and mastering the bulk of Tataee's work for the group until the late '90s, when Romanian sound engineer Cristian Dobrică started working with B.U.G. Mafia and has mixed and mastered their every album since. Tataee has stated on his Twitter
account that he will often guide the mixing sessions and work as assistant mixer on his productions but that Dobrică will make the final calls regarding mixing and mastering. Holograf
's Tino Furtună is credited with the mastering of IV: Deasupra tuturor
, as the vocal sessions for this album took place in his home studio. A premiere occurred during the post production of JerryCo
's debut album, Orice E Posibil
(Anything Is Possible), when Tataee personally mixed every song on the album, as credited in the album's liner notes.
, featuring Tataee doing guide vocals for Sârbu.
He wrote the lyrics for the 2004 Akcent
single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story) and he also wrote Cristina Spătar's 2006 "Fără Egal" single (Like No One Else) and Adriana Rusu's "Noi Doi" (Us). Exceptions occurred during the making of B.U.G. Mafia's 1996 albums Înc-o zi, înc-o poveste
and Născut şi crescut în Pantelimon
when bandmate Daddy Caddy wrote "Pantelimonu' Petrece" and "Până Când Moartea Ne Va Despărți" by himself for the group as stated by Tataee on his Twitter
page. Caddy also wrote the lyrics of the 2008 single "Ridică Mâinile" (Raise Your Hands) by Andreea Antonescu, while Tataee produced the song.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, rapper, record executive, and music manager. He is one of the founders and the main producer of the well-known Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
trio B.U.G. Mafia
B.U.G. Mafia
B.U.G. Mafia is a Romanian hip hop group from Pantelimon, Bucharest, widely regarded as one of the seminal acts of gangsta rap in Romania. Founded in 1993, it was among the first Romanian hip hop acts.The original line-up consisted of Vlad "Tataee" Irimia, Dragoş "Caddillac" Vlad-Neagu and two...
, also having produced albums and overseeing the careers of many acclaimed Romanian rappers, such as La Familia, XXL & 10 Grei, Mahsat and JerryCo
JerryCo
Mihai Dumitrescu , better known by his stage name, JerryCo, is a Romanian rapper from Bucharest, Romania who is signed to Tataee's Legend Audio record label.-Biography:...
. As a music producer he is frequently credited as one of the pioneers and key figures in the architecture of the Romanian version of 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...
, a style of music that closely resembles its American counterpart but also includes various progressions
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
derived from funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
or, more recently, electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
Tataee began his career in music as a solo artist and he later found fame with the influential 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...
group B.U.G. Mafia
B.U.G. Mafia
B.U.G. Mafia is a Romanian hip hop group from Pantelimon, Bucharest, widely regarded as one of the seminal acts of gangsta rap in Romania. Founded in 1993, it was among the first Romanian hip hop acts.The original line-up consisted of Vlad "Tataee" Irimia, Dragoş "Caddillac" Vlad-Neagu and two...
with Alin "Uzzi" Demeter and Dragos "Caddilac" Vlad-Neagu, who popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. Their 1998 album, "De Cartier
De Cartier
De cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
", released under Cat Music in Romania led them to become one of the country's best-selling performing artists, as well as one of the most respected Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
groups. Later in his career, he worked with Romanian artists such as Akcent
Akcent
Akcent is a Romanian dance-pop act.- Biography :Adrian Claudiu Sînă started the group in 1999. At the time, it consisted of him and his female counterpart, Ramona Barta....
, Bitză
Bitza
Biță is a Romanian rapper and urban soul musician.He was born in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. His first album was Sevraj in 2004 and...
, Andreea Antonescu, Cristina Spătar or Adriana Rusu, receiving credit for changing and improving their sound.
Following the success of B.U.G. Mafia's Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni is the eighth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on December 7, 2003, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania and it was the first studio album to be released by the group on their own imprint, Casa Productions...
in 2003, Tataee focused on producing music for various other artists. He started his own record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Legend Audio, in 2004, as he assumed his role as a record producer and music executive. In 2005, he signed Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
artist JerryCo
JerryCo
Mihai Dumitrescu , better known by his stage name, JerryCo, is a Romanian rapper from Bucharest, Romania who is signed to Tataee's Legend Audio record label.-Biography:...
who released his debut single in late 2009 following a four year work period with Tataee on his first album, "Orice E Posibil
Orice E Posibil
Orice E Posibil is the debut album by Romanian rapper JerryCo, released April 7, 2010, by Legend Audio in Romania. The first single: "Stai, Eşti În Pericol" , produced by and featuring Tataee and Simona Nae, was released in late 2009 and received heavy airplay in Romania...
" (Everything Is Possible), released in 2010 by Legend Audio in Romania.
Early life
A middle child, Tataee was born Vlad Irimia on October 17, 1976 in SebeşSebes
Sebeș is a city in Alba County, central Romania, southern Transylvania.-Geography:The city lies on the Mureș River valley and it straddles the Sebeș river...
, a city in Alba County
Alba County
Alba is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, its capital city being Alba-Iulia with a population of 66,406.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 382,747 and the population density was 61/km².* Romanians - 90.4%* Hungarians - 5.4%...
, central Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, southern Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. He has a younger brother and a younger sister, also living in Bucharest. He began attending school in 1983 and graduated from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza highschool in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1995, just before B.U.G. Mafia's first release in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. He played basketball for over ten years and quit circa 1998 so he could focus on his work.
Before B.U.G. Mafia (1990-1992)
As RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
had been a communist
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
country until late 1989, western music was banned by Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's regime and official releases of hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
albums were virtually impossible to find on the Romanian music market. Tataee himself stated in an interview for CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
that he got acquainted with rap music after the political regime switch that occurred in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 1989. As a more liberal political system replaced the totalitarian
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
rule of communism, heavy bootlegging of American music occurred on the Eastern European market. Inspired by Public Enemy and N.W.A, Tataee tried steering his professional options towards becoming a rapper and started working on his own music. By 1993, when he met his first collaborator, Daddy Caddy, he had only recorded one song and had little professional perspective. The official press release for B.U.G. Mafia states that they first met in late 1993
1993 in music
This is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....
and recorded their first track together in 1994
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
.
B.U.G. Mafia (1993–Present)
In 1993 Tataee met with Dragoş Vlad-Neagu who would become known as Daddy Caddy in Bucharest. They started talking about Vlad-Neagu's Cypress Hill cap and discovered they had a common interest in rap music and they both already tried to make music so they decided to start a group which they named B.U.G.(Bucharest UnderGround) Their first rap aliases were Klax 187 and Doom(later changed to Mr.Juice), showing a heavy influence from the American rap scene, especially gangsta rap. They recorded their first track rapping in English with the help of Adi Niculescu, a then well-known radio personality who produced one of the first hip hop radio shows in Romania called "YO! Rap is moving!". The song was influenced by the N.W.A hit single Straight Outta Compton, being significantly named "Straight Outta Da Hell" and it got its first radio airplay on Radio Uniplus where it was actually recorded.B.U.G. recorded more tracks in English, producing their own beats with help from Romeo Vănică, a well known producer, who had a professional keyboard. In 1994 they had their first live appearance in one of the first Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
shows, made possible by Bogdan "DJ Sleek" Untea, a famous Romanian hip-hop DJ and one of the first Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
to pursue this career. Still looking for new rappers they met with Demonii ("The Demons"), one of the few Romanian hip-hop crews to rap in Romanian at the time. One of the members was Alin Demeter, also known as drama Drama then, later as Uzzi, who joined the group in 1995 and at the same time they changed their name adding Mafia so the Romanian public would get better acquainted with their style. They also stopped writing lyrics in English and switched to Romanian for the same reason. In the summer of 1995 they signed their first professional music contract to record an album on now-defunct Amma Sound.
Move to Casa Productions (2001–2003)
In 1997, Tataee provided vocals and produced several tracks on La Familia's debut album, Băieţi De Cartier (Hoodboys), paving the group's way to hip hop superstardom in RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and remaining a frequent collaborator until the feud that occurred between them in 2003. Later, in 1998, he produced XXL&10 Grei's whole debut album, Personajul Negativ (The Bad Guy) and although the album sold poorly, it was met with unanimous positive reviews by music critics and fans as well, establishing Grasu XXL and his collaborator, Paco "10 Grei" as two of the most proeminent figures in Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
. The B.U.G. Mafia Prezintă Casa (B.U.G. Mafia Presents Casa) album, released February 20, 2002, featured songs by his group, B.U.G. Mafia, as well as by newly signed Casa artists and the single Cine E Cu Noi (Who's With Us), intended as a new milestone in Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
. Tataee mentioned the project in various interviews before 2002, the year the label was officially established, describing it initially as a record distribution company that later tunred into a record label, so the group could independently produce their own albums and sign new artists. Also in 2002, he remixed Paraziţii
Parazitii
Paraziţii is a Romanian three-man rap and hip hop group founded in 1994. It consists of Cheloo , Ombladon , and FreakaDaDisk .The group is largely known for their dark beats and political humorous lyricism.-History:The group was subject to multiple restrictions by the Romanian National Audiovisual...
's hit single "În Focuri" and the resulting track was included on the single's commercial release.
The turning point for Casa Productions occurred in 2006 when Grasu XXL, formerly of XXL & 10 Grei, released his debut solo album, Curaj (Courage) that spawned hit singles such as "Fără Filtru" (Without Filtre) or "Curaj" (Courage) and helped establish Casa Productions as one of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's high profile music labels. During this time, Tataee also started his own record label, separate from Casa Productions which was a group effort from B.U.G. Mafia, Legend Audio and signed the first artist he was going to work with and develop separatly from B.U.G. Mafia, JerryCo.
Move to Legend Audio (2004–2005)
During the time Tataee answered fan questions on B.U.G. Mafia's unofficial fan forum, he stated that outside the Casa Productions project, every group member had founded his own record label so that they could work with various artists independently from the group's releases and projects. Tataee founded Legend Audio around 2002 but, due to the vast amount of work that being a member of B.U.G. Mafia implied, the first artist to sign with him, JerryCo, did so only in 2005.JerryCo, a Romanian rapper had released two independent albums while still part of Agresiv, the well-known Romanian producing duo. JerryCo met Tataee in 2004, as the latter heard a demo containing some songs and called him to discuss a record contract. It was only a year after this meeting occurred that JerryCo actually signed with the label, after making significant progress on his own, enough to impress Tataee and determin him to finally start the Legend Audio project. The debut album, "Totul E Posibil" (Everything Is Possible) was released after a five year work period and Tataee produced every track and provided vocals for the lead single "Stai! (Eşti În Pericol)" (Wait! You're In Danger). This also marked the beginning of Tataee's career as a music manager as he also signed on to oversee JerryCo's whole musical career and not only work on music, as he previously did.
Focus on production (2003–Present)
Besides overseeing the production for every B.U.G. Mafia album, Tataee proved to have a strong interest for work as a music producer since the late-90s, helping launch careers for acclaimed acts such as La Familia, XXL & 10 Grei or Mahsat, to name a few. Following the success of Băieţii BuniBăieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni is the eighth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on December 7, 2003, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania and it was the first studio album to be released by the group on their own imprint, Casa Productions...
, Tataee focused on producing songs and albums for other artists. In 2004, he produced the third album for raggamuffin Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
-based group M&G, also providing vocals for the album's lead single, "Asalt Raggafonic" (Raggaphonic Assault). Tataee's work on the album earned them an MTV Romanian Music Awards nomination in 2005, in the "Best New Act" category. He produced Bitză
Bitza
Biță is a Romanian rapper and urban soul musician.He was born in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. His first album was Sevraj in 2004 and...
's "Urmatorul Pas" (The Next Step), the first single from his debut album, "Sevraj" (Withdrawal). The track proved to be a great success, launching Bitză
Bitza
Biță is a Romanian rapper and urban soul musician.He was born in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. His first album was Sevraj in 2004 and...
's career while providing significant record sales. He also worked with Romanian pop group Akcent
Akcent
Akcent is a Romanian dance-pop act.- Biography :Adrian Claudiu Sînă started the group in 1999. At the time, it consisted of him and his female counterpart, Ramona Barta....
, producing and writing their 2004 single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story).
He produced and provided vocals for the single "Fără Egal" (Like No One Else) by R&B singer Cristina Spătar. In 2007, he produced the lead single of pop singer Adriana Rusu's debut album, "Sentimente" (Feelings), a track called "Noi Doi" (Us Two) on which he also performed two of the song's verses. He worked with Andreea Antonescu, formerly of the pop group Andre
Andre (band)
Andre was a Romanian dance band, formed in 1998 by Andreea Antonescu and Andreea Bălan. They were nicknamed The Queens of Romanian Dance Music.- Biography :...
to produce her 2008 single "Ridica Mâinile" (Raise Your Hands).
In 2006, together with bandmate Daddy Caddy, Tataee served as the executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of Grasu XXL's debut solo album, "Curaj" (Courage) and while he had virtually no contribution to the musical production, he helped create an album that would spawn one of the most successful singles in the Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
industry, "Fără Filtru" (Without Filtre), also appearing in the song's music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
.
Although in 2009 he produced and released the second volume of B.U.G. Mafia's anniversary album, he has been generally hard to spot in the Romanian media outside a handful of interviews promoting the album's release and his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page where he constantly interacts with his fans. In 2009 he also worked with Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
artist Marijuana to produce a track on her untitled 2010 second album. Tataee is also good friends with Marcel Sârbu, the owner of "Dumars Club", a well known Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
club, who occasionally released hip hop singles under the stage name "DMS" to help promote his venue. "Pe Față" (Truthfully), featuring Cristina Spătar and "Cumva, Cândva" (Somehow, Sometime), featuring Anemona Niculescu were both written and produced by Tataee for DMS.
Relationships and family
Irimia has been in a stable relationship with his girlfriend for several years and is currently planning to get married sometime in the future. His first child, Antonia Olga, was born in early 2011. He also has an older brother and a younger sister who also live in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. Over the time he has jokingly stated in various interviews that his parents were not thrilled with the job he chose but that ultimately they have grown to be proud. For many years, he was also an avid supporter of FC Dinamo Bucureşti.
Car accident
On the night of August 9, 2008, while driving from a B.U.G. Mafia concert from PeriamPeriam
Periam is a commune in Timiş County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Periam, and also included Pesac until it broke off as a separate commune in 2007....
to Lipova
Lipova, Arad
Lipova is a town in Romania, Arad County, located in the Banat region of western Transylvania. It is situated at a distance of 34 km from Arad, the county capital, at the contact zone of the Mureș River with the Zarand Mountains, Western Plateau and Lipovei Hills...
, Irimia tried to go around another vehicle and collided with a scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
, seriously injuring the man driving it. Police investigations concluded that Irimia did not take the necessary measures before overtaking the vehicle in front of him and, as the victim was rushed to the hospital with both legs and a few ribs broken, his driver's license
Driving licence in Romania
In Romania the driving licence is a governmental right given to those who request a licence for any of the categories they desire. It is required for every type of motorized vehicle. The minimum age to obtain a driving licence is 18 years...
was suspended for three months and a criminal record
Criminal record
A criminal record is a record of a person's criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country...
was issued against him. The conclusions of the investigations were that, had the man driving the scooter not been wearing a helmet, he would have probably been killed in the accident, making Irimia liable for serious jail time. He went on to give details of an early 2008 incident when, driving from another concert, a truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
lost control on the road passing their car by very closely. He turned a hard right and the fact that they crashed on the side of the road was actually what saved them from being seriously injured or even killed from colliding with the runaway truck.
Musical influences and style
Tataee has said that he uses multiple instruments while working in the studio, preferring to use virtual instruments and the computer to arrange and produce his instrumentals. His TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
official page features various conversations with inquiring fans, with Irimia stating that he prefers virtual instrument manufacturers such as Native Instruments
Native Instruments
Native Instruments is a technology company that develops software and hardware for music production and DJing. The company has originally been identified mostly with software instruments, but has also expanded to various other music equipment segments in recent years.Current products of Native...
and Steinberg
Steinberg
Steinberg GmbH is a German musical software and equipment company based in Hamburg. It mainly produces music recording, arranging and editing software as used in digital audio workstations and VSTi software synthesizers.- History :...
. He cites Dr.Dre and Public Enemy's Bomb Squad as his primary musical influences. During the time he answered fan questions on the bugmafia93.ro message board, he used Steinberg Cubase
Steinberg Cubase
Cubase is a music software product developed by Steinberg for music recording, arranging and editing as part of a Digital Audio Workstation. It is one of the oldest DAWs to still enjoy widespread use...
to sequence and mix his beats, but he has since switched to ProTools HD. Other equipment he uses include keyboards from such manufacturers as Korg, Clavia, Kurzweil, Yamaha and Roland. The Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
is also frequently present in his work. After founding Casa Productions and releasing B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA is a compilation album by B.U.G. Mafia. It was released in 2002 and was the first release on their then newly established Casa Productions. Featured on the album is a bevy of acts who were among the earliest to sign to Casa Productions, many of whom quickly became...
with B.U.G. Mafia in 2002, his music became more diverse and, while retaining typical g-funk
G-funk
G-funk, or Gangsta-funk, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that emerged from Westcoast gangsta rap in the early 1990s. G-funk incorporates multi-layered and melodic synthesizers, slow hypnotic grooves, a deep bass, background female vocals, the extensive sampling of P-funk tunes, and a high-pitched...
elements such as high pitched synths pioneered by Dr.Dre and Above The Law
Above the Law
Above the Law may refer to:*legibus solutus, doctrine of Roman Law*Above the Law , a law blog*Righting Wrongs, a 1986 Hong Kong film titled "Above the Law" for international release...
in their productions a decade earlier, it included new instruments such as multi-layered guitars and string arrangements. He also started using fewer vocals samples (as he had done on "Limbaj De Cartier", "Raid Mafiot 2" or "De Cartier" on the De Cartier
De Cartier
De cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
album in the late 90s) preferring to have Casa Productions artists such as Villy or Mario to provide backing vocals for his productions instead. The 2003 Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni is the eighth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on December 7, 2003, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania and it was the first studio album to be released by the group on their own imprint, Casa Productions...
album by B.U.G. Mafia features a completely different production style, with mellow, guitar-driven beats that, over the years, has become a production trademark for Tataee.
In the mid 90s Tataee started collaborating with Camil Beldeanu, a Romanian keyboardist who had worked with various Romanian artists and who went on to be one of the most prominent producers and arrangers to work with Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
artists in the late 90s and early 2000s. Beldeanu shared production credits with Irimia on many of his productions for B.U.G. Mafia's albums, including their anniversary albums Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
Viaţa noastră is the first greatest hits album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on February 2, 2006, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania...
and Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
Viaţa noastră is the second greatest hits album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on August 11, 2009, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania. The album contains a new track named "Cu Tălpile Arse" and 14 re-recorded versions of older tracks.-Track listing:#"Cu Tălpile...
.
Work ethic
Tataee has stated that he is a perfectionist and is known to pressure the artists with whom he records to give flawless performances. He has refined this technique over the years, as he stated the most important reason of the quality difference between B.U.G. Mafia's 1998 De CartierDe Cartier
De cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
and Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni
Băieţii Buni is the eighth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on December 7, 2003, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania and it was the first studio album to be released by the group on their own imprint, Casa Productions...
, released in 2003, was the significant larger amount of hours spent in the studio recording vocals for the latter. On his official Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account, he shared some details of his 2004 sessions with Romanian pop-act Akcent
Akcent
Akcent is a Romanian dance-pop act.- Biography :Adrian Claudiu Sînă started the group in 1999. At the time, it consisted of him and his female counterpart, Ramona Barta....
for their single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story), saying that he had to push them very hard to come up with that performance, as they were not used with his work style and usually spent less time working on a song.
A consequence of his perfectionism is that some artists that initially sign deals with B.U.G. Mafia's Casa Productions label never release albums. Aside from B.U.G. Mafia themselves, only Mahsat, M&G and Grasu XXL have released albums in the label's 9-year history. A significant delay of the second volume of B.U.G. Mafia's anniversary album release occurred when Ines Sound & Video, the Bucharest-based recording studio where the group was working finished their new recording room that could provide a higher quality in 2007 and, as a consequence, all the material finished up to that point was scraped and re-recorded. B.U.G. Mafia's official website, despite being announced on the 2002 B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA is a compilation album by B.U.G. Mafia. It was released in 2002 and was the first release on their then newly established Casa Productions. Featured on the album is a bevy of acts who were among the earliest to sign to Casa Productions, many of whom quickly became...
album cover, was released to the general public only 8 years later, in mid-2010. Tataee said that this was also a consequence of the fact that an official website that he would approve of would take an enormous amount of time to create. Romanian rapper
Romanian hip hop
Romanian hip hop is the hip hop music style that was developed in Romania around 1992. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe...
JerryCo
JerryCo
Mihai Dumitrescu , better known by his stage name, JerryCo, is a Romanian rapper from Bucharest, Romania who is signed to Tataee's Legend Audio record label.-Biography:...
, who signed with Tataee's Legend Audio in 2005 only released his debut album in 2010 after 5 years of work. Other noteworthy acts to leave Casa Productions without releasing albums were Paco "10 Grei" of XXL&10 Grei and urban soul artist Mario who has been working on his debut album, "Liber Pe Pământ" (Free On Earth) since 2005. B.U.G. Mafia were also planning to release a hip-hop clothing
Hip hop fashion
Hip hop fashion is a distinctive style of dress originating with African American youth on the scene of New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, St. Louis, Jersey City, Miami, Toronto and Vancouver among others. Each city...
line but this project neither came to fruition as Tataee and his collaborators' demands were too high to make products that could actually bring in profits.
Collaborators
Like most hip hop producers in the '90s, Tataee made use of various music samplesSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
in his productions. This has led to controversy among B.U.G. Mafia's fans: as none of the samples he used have been credited on any of the covers of the albums he has worked on it fueled rumors of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. As "UCMR-ADA" (The Composers' Union in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
) had broken off all contacts with ASCAP in the communist era, clearing any sample from records released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was virtually impossible, so Tataee chose to use whatever samples he wanted to use without any permission, since he had no legal way to do otherwise. He cleared this issue himself in a post on the B.U.G. Mafia fan message board, while conversing with the fans:
Despite Tataee making use of samples in his productions, especially in the 90s, covers of albums on which he worked on give insight on a number of musicians he has collaborated with over the years. Camil Beldeanu is one of his most frequent collaborators, being credited as a keyboardist on every B.U.G. Mafia album since 1997's IV: Deasupra Tuturor
IV: Deasupra tuturor
IV: Deasupra tuturor is the third studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on November 10, 1997, by Cat Music in Romania, receiving universal acclaim from the group's fans as the way the tracks sounded was noticeably different from the previous three albums...
and, although on this album, he is also credited with guitar work, since 1998's De Cartier
De Cartier
De cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
, guitarist Cristi Andrei has done a considerable amount of work for Tataee. An electric guitar solo from the 1998 B.U.G. Mafia song "Poveste Fără Sfarșit" (Endless Story), which is famous among the fans as being one of the group's most soulful songs, has also been played by Cristi Andrei. The acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
on the remade version of "Poveste Fără Sfarșit" from Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
Viaţa noastră (Vol.2)
Viaţa noastră is the second greatest hits album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on August 11, 2009, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania. The album contains a new track named "Cu Tălpile Arse" and 14 re-recorded versions of older tracks.-Track listing:#"Cu Tălpile...
was played by Vlad Crețu, guitarist for Romanian groups Todomondo
Todomondo
Todomondo represented Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with their song "Liubi, Liubi, I love you". They were the 20th group to perform and finished in 13th place.-Andrei Ştefănescu:...
and Hara. Cristi Andrei shared guitar duties with Andrei "The Cat" Vlad, a Romanian session guitarist on the 2002 compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA
B.U.G. Mafia prezintă CASA is a compilation album by B.U.G. Mafia. It was released in 2002 and was the first release on their then newly established Casa Productions. Featured on the album is a bevy of acts who were among the earliest to sign to Casa Productions, many of whom quickly became...
. Andrei created the guitar riff playing through "După blocuri" the first single from the B.U.G. Mafia album of the same name and one of the group's most famous songs and he also returned to work with Tataee on both volumes of "Viața Noastră". Gabriel Mitran and Viorel Sârbu composed basslines for Tataee's productions during work for De Cartier
De Cartier
De cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
and După blocuri
După blocuri
După blocuri is the fifth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released on January 18, 2000, by Cat Music in Romania. Recording sessions for the album took place throughout 1999 at the "Magic Sound" studios in Bucharest. The album features a darker tone than its predecessor, with...
albums. More recent collaborators include Ștefan Mihăilescu, doing guitar work for B.U.G. Mafia's first anniversary album, Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
Viaţa noastră (Vol.1)
Viaţa noastră is the first greatest hits album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on February 2, 2006, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania...
and even being credited with keyboards on the second volume of the anniversary album, on the "O lume nebună, nebună de tot" (A crazy, crazy world) remake. Florin Sever, a Romanian film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
composer did the string arrangements for both anniversary albums of B.U.G. Mafia.
Although Tataee is the main producer for B.U.G. Mafia, bandmates Uzzi
Uzzi
Uzzi is a biblical name meaning "the Lord is my strength".People with this name:biblical:* , the son of Bukki, a descendant of Aaron * , a grandson of Issachar...
and Caddy are credited as co-producers on many of the group's songs. Tataee has said on his official Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account that they occasionally contribute in the production process and that this will probably occure in the future too. When asked about considering other producer's work for the group, he answered that this is also a possibility, but any composition will be produced by himself, thus maintaining his position as the group's producer. This was the case on JerryCo
JerryCo
Mihai Dumitrescu , better known by his stage name, JerryCo, is a Romanian rapper from Bucharest, Romania who is signed to Tataee's Legend Audio record label.-Biography:...
's debut album, "Orice E Posibil" (Anything Is Possible) where, despite producing the whole album, Bucharest-based production duo Agresiv have contributed to many of the album's compositions, being credited accordingly. Frequent B.U.G. Mafia collaborator Villy has also done keyboard work for Tataee, especially on songs where he was featured as a vocalist.
As far as post-production, B.U.G. Mafia album covers credited Romanian songwriters Jolt Kerestely and his son, Andrei Kerestely and sound engineer Eddy Schneinder with mixing and mastering the bulk of Tataee's work for the group until the late '90s, when Romanian sound engineer Cristian Dobrică started working with B.U.G. Mafia and has mixed and mastered their every album since. Tataee has stated on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account that he will often guide the mixing sessions and work as assistant mixer on his productions but that Dobrică will make the final calls regarding mixing and mastering. Holograf
Dan Bittman
Dan Bittman is a Romanian singer who represented the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 and came 21st with 14 points.Dan Bittman is the lead singer of Holograf, since 1985. Since November 2004, he is the host of "Dănutz S.R.L.", a TV show on TVR 1....
's Tino Furtună is credited with the mastering of IV: Deasupra tuturor
IV: Deasupra tuturor
IV: Deasupra tuturor is the third studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on November 10, 1997, by Cat Music in Romania, receiving universal acclaim from the group's fans as the way the tracks sounded was noticeably different from the previous three albums...
, as the vocal sessions for this album took place in his home studio. A premiere occurred during the post production of JerryCo
JerryCo
Mihai Dumitrescu , better known by his stage name, JerryCo, is a Romanian rapper from Bucharest, Romania who is signed to Tataee's Legend Audio record label.-Biography:...
's debut album, Orice E Posibil
Orice E Posibil
Orice E Posibil is the debut album by Romanian rapper JerryCo, released April 7, 2010, by Legend Audio in Romania. The first single: "Stai, Eşti În Pericol" , produced by and featuring Tataee and Simona Nae, was released in late 2009 and received heavy airplay in Romania...
(Anything Is Possible), when Tataee personally mixed every song on the album, as credited in the album's liner notes.
Writing
Tataee usually writes his own lyrics and he will even write for artists he is working with. This was the case when working with Bucharest-based club owner Marcel Sârbu who released a number of hip hop singles under the professional name "DMS" to help promote his business, two of which were produced and written by Tataee himself. A demo version of "Pe Față" (Truthfully) was even leaked to the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, featuring Tataee doing guide vocals for Sârbu.
He wrote the lyrics for the 2004 Akcent
Akcent
Akcent is a Romanian dance-pop act.- Biography :Adrian Claudiu Sînă started the group in 1999. At the time, it consisted of him and his female counterpart, Ramona Barta....
single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story) and he also wrote Cristina Spătar's 2006 "Fără Egal" single (Like No One Else) and Adriana Rusu's "Noi Doi" (Us). Exceptions occurred during the making of B.U.G. Mafia's 1996 albums Înc-o zi, înc-o poveste
Înc-o zi, înc-o poveste
Înc-o zi, înc-o poveste is a ten track EP released by B.U.G. Mafia on June 8, 1996. It was their first release after they signed with Cat Music, local branch of Sony Records, on their first real professional record deal. It was released after Mafia and capitalized on their newfound success...
and Născut şi crescut în Pantelimon
Nascut si crescut în Pantelimon
Născut şi crescut în Pantelimon is the second studio album by B.U.G. Mafia, released by Cat Music/Media Services in Romania on 29 November 1996...
when bandmate Daddy Caddy wrote "Pantelimonu' Petrece" and "Până Când Moartea Ne Va Despărți" by himself for the group as stated by Tataee on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page. Caddy also wrote the lyrics of the 2008 single "Ridică Mâinile" (Raise Your Hands) by Andreea Antonescu, while Tataee produced the song.
Studio albums
- MafiaMafia (B.U.G. Mafia album)Mafia is the debut studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1995 on local Bucharest-based label Amma Sound. Production for the album was handled by group member and founder Tataee, with various composers and keyboardists giving co-production. Heavily influenced...
("The Mafia") - 1995 - Născut şi crescut în PantelimonNascut si crescut în PantelimonNăscut şi crescut în Pantelimon is the second studio album by B.U.G. Mafia, released by Cat Music/Media Services in Romania on 29 November 1996...
("Born And Raised In Pantelimon") - 1996 - IV: Deasupra tuturorIV: Deasupra tuturorIV: Deasupra tuturor is the third studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on November 10, 1997, by Cat Music in Romania, receiving universal acclaim from the group's fans as the way the tracks sounded was noticeably different from the previous three albums...
("IV: Above All") - 1997 - De CartierDe CartierDe cartier is the fourth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released September 20, 1998, by Cat Music in Romania...
("From The Hood") - 1998 - După blocuriDupă blocuriDupă blocuri is the fifth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released on January 18, 2000, by Cat Music in Romania. Recording sessions for the album took place throughout 1999 at the "Magic Sound" studios in Bucharest. The album features a darker tone than its predecessor, with...
("In The Projects") - 2000 - Întotdeauna pentru totdeaunaÎntotdeauna pentru totdeaunaÎntotdeauna pentru totdeauna is the sixth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on October 17, 2000, by Cat Music in Romania. Recording sessions for the album took place in 2000 at the Magic Sound studios in Bucharest, Romania...
("Always Forever") - 2000 - Băieţii BuniBăieţii BuniBăieţii Buni is the eighth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on December 7, 2003, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania and it was the first studio album to be released by the group on their own imprint, Casa Productions...
("The Goodfellas") - 2003 - Înapoi În ViitorÎnapoi În ViitorÎnapoi În Viitor is the ninth studio album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia, released on September 1, 2011 by Casa Productions in Romania. The album was originally due for a September 2010 release, but was not completed in time...
("Back To The Future") - 2011
Maxi-singles
- Hoteluri ("Hotels") - 1997
- Pentru '98 (For '98) - 1998
- Lumea e a mea (The World Is Mine) - 1998 (Loredana GrozaLoredana GrozaLoredana Groza is a Romanian pop singer. Singer, actress, TV hostess and mother, Loredana began her career in the city of Oneşti. She alternated music styles in order to show her wide talents...
feat. B.U.G. Mafia) - România (Romania) - 1999
- Un 2 și 3 de 0 (A 2 Followed by 3 Zeros) - 2000
- Poezie de stradă (Street Poetry) - 2001
- Străzile (The Streets) - 2005
Best-Of Albums
- Viaţa noastră Vol.1 ("Our Life Vol. 1") - 2006
- Viaţa noastră Vol.2 ("Our Life Vol. 2") - 2009
- Viaţa noastră (Deluxe Edition)Viaţa noastră (Deluxe Edition)Viaţa noastră is the third and final greatest hits album by Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia. It was released on September 11, 2009, by Casa Productions/Cat Music in Romania. It included both "Viaţa noastră" albums and a bonus DVD with all the official music videos that the group had released...
(Our Life Deluxe Edition) - 2009
External links
- Official website
- http://www.facebook.com/bugmafiaB.U.G. Mafia official FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page] - Tataee's official Twitter account
- Unofficial Fan-Site
- Tataee doing Q&A's with the fans