The Best of Early Polish Hip-Hop: 1995-2002

paktofonika-koncert-klub-zak-gdansk-2003-fot-lukasz_glowala_forum-0430100574.jpg, default, Paktofonika, concert in Żak club in Gdańsk, 2003, photo: Łukasz Głała / Forum, center, #0a0a0a

#music

What was the first Polish rap album? More importantly, what are the best Polish rap albums? Here, Culture.pl offers a collection of recommendations and recollections to walk you through the early years of Polish hip-hop.

(Unsurprising warning: this text contains lots of juicy profanity...)

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Deuter - Nie ma ciszy w bloku

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Many consider Kazimierz ‘Kazik’ Staszewski to be the godfather of Polish rap. Of course, marketing played a role in promoting this image, as the record label Zic Zac labelled the cassettes of Kazik’s album Spalam się (I’m Burning Up) with stickers saying, ‘The Best Rapper in the East’. Kazik himself, however, didn’t exactly agree with this label. We have to admit, though, that it was probably the first production in Poland based on sampling, and Kazik's melodeclamations often resembled rap. Kazik also was an inspiration to many later rappers, including O.S.T.R., who admitted in an interview that he was inspired to rhyme because of the album Oddalenie (Remoteness). In 1992, even DJ Damm released the rather eccentric and visionary dance rap cassette inspired by MC Hammer and Marky Mark, entitled Drugi po Kaziku (Second After Kazik).

Liroy – Alboom (1995)

‘1995. Kielce!!! Everyone who listened to hip-hop was talking about this city’, wrote Klan magazine at the end of the 1990s in its summary of the decade. It was in Kielce that the first professional rap album in Poland was created. Even before the release of Piotr ‘Liroy’ Marzec’s Alboom, rap could be heard on the streets of Kielce. By the mid-1980s, breakdancing had become popular and in 1993, Liroy organized the Rapmania Festival. The festival featured concerts, breakdancing championships, and Poland’s first graffiti jam.Why Kielce? In an interview with Bartek Chaciński, Liroy explained:

Text

This city has some kind of symbiosis with this style. We understood this message, all the first crews in Kielce, although they didn’t speak English, knew what it was all about. We danced in the streets then, we had our spots in Kielce. B-boys were coming together. I got a boombox with a plug-in microphone through my friend's father in France, which I would use to tear it up. To this day, you can see that rap is everywhere in Kielce; this music was a perfect fit for this soil.

Author

Trans. AD

What does Liroy's first album sound like? Quite a bit like American hip-hop, actually. It samples A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, and Public Enemy. In his raps, Liroy often uses English words and phrases, including the broadly understood ‘fucking’. In the song Shake Yer Bootie!, he simply repeats the title phrase, but in the background you can hear sounds from a pornographic film. No one in Poland at the time was making such explicit music, as sexuality in music was an absolutely taboo subject.

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Liroy - Scoobiedoo Ya 1995 [HD]

The song Scyzoryk (Pocket Knife) became a part of history. The track featured rappers from another important Kielce group – Wzgórze Ya-Pa 3. Grzegorz Skawiński, a member of Kombi and O.N.A., is responsible for the rock riffs. Scyzoryk became the first hip-hop anthem of Kielce – praising its dirt, danger, and neighbourhood homies.

It’s hard to imagine what Liroy would have said if, in the mid-1990s, someone told him that in the future he would record a song with jazz legend Michał Urbaniak, become an MP, an anti-vaccine activist, and run for mayor of Kielce. In the context of Marzec's political activity, today the song Śleboda (Sen o Wolności) (A Dream About Freedom) is quite amusing:

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The Church straightens my moral backbone
While the government keeps inventing new games
New constitution, new laws
And the regular guy, as usual, just gets kicked in the ass
Without money or work. They keep selling him their bullshit.

Author

From ‘Śleboda (Sen o Wolności)’ (A Dream About Freedom) by Liroy, trans. AD

_{(Filip Lech)}

Kaliber 44 – Księga Tajemnicza: Prolog (The Mysterious Book:Prologue) (1996)

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Kaliber 44, 1996, photo: Andrzej Georgiew / Forum

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Księga Tajemnicza: Prolog is the debut album from Kaliber 44, a group comprised ofMagik (Piotr Łuszcz), Ś.P. Brat Joka (Michał Marten), and AbradAba (Marcin Marten). DJ Feel-X (Sebastian Filiks) scratches, while Rahim (Sebastian Salbert) and Jajonasz (Rafał Łukaszczyk) are responsible for the production. When Księga Tajemnicza: Prolog was released, the oldest member of Kaliber 44 was 20 years old, and the youngest was a few days short of turning 18. Back then, they were young and irate. Today, they are legends of Polish rap, and their characteristic sound is unique and is impossible to imitate – crazy, psychedelic, dark, chaotic, and full of anxiety.

Kaliber 44’s debut might only be forty-six minutes long, but the load of emotions and omnipresent paranoia is really audible throughout. It would be a pity, however, to judge Księga Tajemnicza: Prolog solely through the prism of psycho-rap aesthetics. On the 20^th anniversary of the release of Księga…, Piotr Szwed emphasized that while the record is based on ‘ideas of contemporary rap used in extremely expressive ways’, it also constitutes an accurate and blunt commentary on the Polish reality of the 1990s. Moreover, as Szwed rightly notices, the record is based on direct references to the Romantic tradition, showing the full range of states, thoughts, and feelings associated with it.

Thanks to its bluntness, honesty, simplicity, and authenticity, Kaliber’s first album defends itself against criticism. It is a universal record of problems, worries, longings, and desires that often crush young, sensitive, lost people on the threshold of adulthood. You can accuse these metaphors and artistic tactics of being a bit too obvious, too awkward, but in my opinion, this is their strength. Years go by, 1996 is already a vague memory, some know this world only from stories, and yet, listening to Księga Tajemnicza: Prolog still sends shivers up the spine.

_{(Emilia Stachowska)}

Wzgórze Ya-Pa 3 – Centrum (1997)

What should Polish hip-hop sound like? Producers will probably look for the answer to this question until the end of time. In the end, you have to add something from yourself and not simply rely on foreign models. Producers go to great lengths to search for samples from Polish records, but what can Polish rappers do? The rappers from Wzgórze Ya-Pa 3 and Kaliber 44 offer a suggestion in the song Język Polski (The Polish Language). The track advocates for the Polish language, suggesting, ‘She’s ill these days / infected by Uncle Sam in all sorts of ways’, (trans. AD). This was a reaction to the mindless repetition of American formats by Liroy in Scoobiedoo Ya, but also to being dazzled by everything that is Western. After all, hip-hop was also a counter-cultural movement.

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WZGÓRZE YA-PA 3 - Język Polski (feat. KALIBER 44) [OFFICIAL AUDIO]

Fortunately, Wzgórza Ya-Pa 3’s dark prediction that ‘Soon…we will be dubbing [the classic Polish cartoon] Bolek and Lolek’ did not come true. Perhaps, in part, thanks to their championing of Polish.

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In Szczebrzeszyn, a beetle buzzes in the reed,
In rhyme it will not die rustling in the wind,
Like a leaf carried by the air to its destination,
Time to put the foreign language under the guillotine.

Author

From ‘Język Polski’ (Polish Language) by Wzgórza Ya-Pa 3 feat. Kaliber 44, trans. AD

_{(Filip Lech)}

Trzyha – Wuwua (1997)

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Nine five, Polish rock is at the bottom
I lay out my mission in detail
I learn the syntax and link the words as they flow.

Author

Trans. AD

After the rapper Jakub ‘Ceube’ Sawicki (aka Ceubina, or Ceu), was replaced by Numer Raz (Michał Antoni Witak), the group Trzyha evolved into Warszafski Deszcz and released the canonical hip-hop album Nastukafszy. While that classic album flows just as well today as it did in 1999, it’s also worth remembering an earlier release from Trzyha, which manages to capture, like nowhere else, the atmosphere of the beginnings of rap in Poland: home recordings, bragging, playing with rhymes, and freestyle vocabulary (‘I have an ill brain from which metaphors rain'). And here we have it, this novice character of the beginnings of Polish rap in 40 Stopni w Cieniu (40 Degrees in the Shade), a song that will remain a summertime hit for all time.

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3H - 40 stopni w cieniu (Hardcore Hip Hop) WuWuA najlepsza jakość!

Trzyha, or 3H, is an abbreviation for ‘hardcore hip hop’, which is funny considering that it is probably the most laid-back material that was created in Poland at that time. Their music has none of the mindless copying of American rappers or pretending to be gangsters that was present in many productions of the time and had an effect opposite to the one intended.

As 3H, Tas De Fleia (aka Tede), Ceu, and DJ JanMarian (who densely embellished this production with his scratching) had a strong debut and were noticed beyond the fledgling rap scene. Even before the release of their debut cassette, they were honoured with a Wieszak (Hanger) – an award granted by the Quchnia Artystyczna Restaurant to outstanding postmodern personalities (whatever that means). In the same year, cabaret singer Violetta Villas and poet and performer Jeremi Przybora received honorary Hangers – the 1990s were a weird time.

Not long after the release of their record, Ceubina gave up rap for a career in the clothing industry (‘Ceu, my man sews camo things / He makes a killin’ from this hustle’), and Warszafski Deszcz entered the stage. And whatever opinion one might have about how the career of Tede has turned out, it’s worth asking: who, apart from him, rapped with such eloquence back then, and who so skilfully combined insolent bickering with verbal juggling?

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

DJ 600V – Produkcja Hip-hop (1998)

In 1998, only a few lucky crews could boast having official LPs, so all those districts hungry for raps had to be fed with underground compilations. Two compilations released by SP Records entered circulation with other mixtapes, including Smak B.E.A.T. Records, Znasz Zasady (You Know the Rules), Wspólna Scene (Common Scene), Hiphopowy Raport Z Osiedla W Najlepszym Wykonaniu (Hip-Hop Report from the Hood), Osiedle Pełne Rymów (Hood Full of Rhymes), plus those added to the monthly Machina. Each of these compilations was a bundle of hits and debuts from an ever-emerging set of new crews, many of which would go on to shape rap trends for the next two decades.

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Ja Się Wcale Nie Chwalę

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Among these pioneering mixtapes, the album produced by Sebastian ‘Volt’ Imbierowicz (aka DJ 600 V) played the most important role. The credit goes to Volt, who contributed the most to the development and popularisation of Polish rap. He was the founder of one of the first Warsaw crews, 1khz, and also a DJ and organiser of events at Alfa and Hybrydy, where half of the Warsaw crews were formed. Additionally, he co-hosted, together with Bogna Świątkowska, the programme Kolorszok, which for Warsaw’s rhymeoholics was what Yo! MTV Raps was for the hip-hop heads overseas. And most of all, Volt was the first professional producer and beatmaker in the time of ‘buzzing samples from shitty Atari’, as Molesta said.

In 1999, the monthly Machina mentioned Volt as part of the thirteen Polish men and women who we would hear a lot about in the 21st century (next to novelist Jacek Dukaj, artist and director Janek Koza, etc.). In the memories of many rappers, the mere appearance of Volt on a rapper’s album was equivalent to winning the rap lottery.

The album Produkcja Hip-hop (Hip-Hop Production) impresses with its panache. It is a two-disc release that clocks in at almost two and a half hours (!) of music and features dozens of MCs. Almost all the significant and recognizable names are here, with the majority of the representatives coming from districts across Warsaw – from Bielany to Wilanów (OMP, my absolute favourite among the crews, comes from Wilanów. OMP has, unfortunately been forgotten about along the way, but shouldn’t have been.). The record also features Snuz from Szczecin, Kaliber from Katowice, and Wzgórze and V.E.T.O. from Kielce. As Franek from Stereofonia rapped:

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Pure passion, don't go looking for an idol here,
cuz there ain't no king here, cuz this ain’t rock'n'roll.

Author

Trans. AD

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Ogród Zwany Edenem

And although some of the songs only have historical value today – the beats, especially those on Strona Ciemna (Dark Side), are tiring in the long run (clichés of Polish rap, meaning, samples of the ‘sad piano’ type) – this release is to Polish rap what archaic Polish is to the Polish language today.

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Stare Miasto – Stare Miasto (The Old Town) (1998)

The debut album of Stare Miasto is one of only six albums that we all agreed should be included in this list. Meanwhile, a review in the sixth issue of Klan offered this take:

[...] You can't help feeling that the album is overdone, forced in order to discount the hip-hop trend. [...] Unfortunately, the joy of rhyming that the capital's MCs usually have has been dominated and drowned out by overly intrusive productions, which makes the lyrics just an addition to the sound of various trumpets, double basses, and other saxophones. The question is: where is the hip-hop here? I predict a commercial and environmental failure for this album.

Rating: 2.5/5.

_{Trans. AD}

Strong words for a review of what is a living quintessence of the purest rap passion.

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STARE MIASTO- Bohaterzy

Mainly due to their single Jak Się Poruszać po Mieście (How to Move Around the City) the group Stare Miasto got stuck with the label of being rappers for polite kids, which did not bring them PR benefits. I remember this one friend I had from elementary school whose mum forbade him to listen to rap; however, he was able to convince her to allow him to listen to Stare Miasto.

Indeed, the naive and youthful lyrics made you smile sometimes (which was normal, considering the fact that Wujlok, Wube, and Kret were still high school students at the time), and the debut stood out positively from the majority of domestic productions. Towards the end of the 1990s, when Polish producers were just beginning to cope with the use of samplers, Stare Miasto, with its gleeful jazz-funk instrumentals, did not really fit the spirit of the era. The group fully showed its potential three years later on the album Minuty (Minutes), which was much better, but not well received, which unfortunately led to the group disbanding.

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Molesta – Skandal (1998)

The group Molesta (made up of Włodi, Pelson, Vienio and Wilku) changed the face of Polish hip-hop and laid the foundation for the mythology of Warsaw’s residential districts with their 1998 album Skandal. ‘Name one person it didn’t influence’, Vienio would later rap of Skandal. Włodi, too, reminds rappers, ‘“Skandal’ – remember who raised you?’ And they are right about Molesta’s 1998 album. The intensity of its iconic verses exceeds its scale. It’s a goldmine of quotations that have entered colloquial language, and can only be compared to earlier such influences as from the iconic films Miś (Teddy Bear) or Psy (Pigs). There is no other album that has been followed up as often; and it is the only Polish rap album to have its own tribute album.

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'Skandal' by Molesta, photo: B.E.A.T. Records

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On the track Osiedlowe Akcje (Hood Moves), Włodi briefly reviews his material: ‘the best quality hooligan report from the blocks’. The boys, deep in the game and engrossed in the morbid stories of Mobb Deep and Wu Tang Clan, have creatively translated them into native slang.

Of course, everything is a bit lopsided and rough here; linguistic awkwardness meets minimalist beats sampled from records found randomly in second-hand shops or in the collections of their parents’ generation. But no one really cared about this – in my opinion, this is an additional advantage of this album. As the rapper Piernikowski said 19 years later, ‘simple lyrics, first versions, shitty tapes – always the best, _{(trans. AD)}.

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Molesta - Wiedzialem ze tak bedzie

The rapper Smarki Smark was quoted in the Anthology of Polish Rap remembering, ‘When I heard Skandal, I was afraid to listen to this album’. Me too! Just like you Smark! I heard Skandal for the first time around the year of its premiere; my older cousin lent me their tape. I had heard some Polish rap before, I definitely knew Liroy and the first Wzgórze album. As an elementary school student, my reflections on those earlier albums were limited to ‘cool, they swear a lot’, but with Skandal, things were different. It was much more serious. I felt as if I was partaking in some criminal practice or had committed a severe offence against human and divine rights. I was hooked by a terrifying and fascinating mystery that did not allow me to stop listening to this music.

We all are from Skandal, all of us.

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Grammatik – Światła miasta (City Lights) (2000)

If I were forced to choose only one Polish hip-hop album that will survive the next era – let's say that some great climate catastrophe is approaching, clouds with data from streaming services have long since evaporated, and there will be little room on the ark storing information on the history of mankind – without hesitating, I would grab the CD Światła Miasta (City Lights) from the group Grammatik. In the music history textbooks written after this imagined catastrophe, it will be written of this album, ‘Rappers Ash, Eldo, Jotuze, the producer Noon, and DJ Romek on the turntables have created the most mature example of hip-hop style in Polish music’.

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Wiatruczas

So, what's so special about Światła miasta? It is the fullest combination of urban, street aesthetics with a conscious approach to beauty. A combination of poetry and everyday life; sometimes grey and daunting, but also beautiful. ‘We wanted to use Polish correctly, and besides, we were young hypersensitive people’, said Leszek ‘Eldo’ Kaźmierczak. ‘Each of us is an artist, but also a human’, adds Marcin ‘Jotuze’ Józwa, in the immortal verse from the track Friko. Eldo, while on a walk around the hood with his friends ('Today I am happy just doing things freely with my boys / You know, rhymes, moments with them are pure like laughter’), reflects on the nature of man (‘Since eternity, seems like the same desire exists in man / The desire to cheat time, to kill the fear of vanishing’). Grammatik combines poetics with colloquial language. They offer not only a lyrical fondness for the world, but also a call to work: ‘You won't get anywhere even with seven-mile shoes / Listen to me, there are no shortcuts, none’ _{(trans. AD)}, raps Łukasz ‘Ash’ Morawski. The ethos of work, slowly reaching your own success, and not looking at others is one of the main virtues of Polish hip-hop.

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Wiatrucień

But the real strength of Światła Miasta does not lie in the rhymes, but in the accompanying music from Mikołaj ‘Noon’ Bugajak. The album begins and ends with the sound of the wind, and between the lines we hear samples, often barely recognizable, of well-known songs by Republika, Budka Suflera, Urszula Sipińska, Carla Bley, and Talk Talk. Bugajak's sound in hip-hop productions is unmistakable.

_{(Filip Lech)}

Paktofonika – Kinematografia (Cinematography) (2000)

Kinematografia needs no introduction – it’s a milestone in Polish hip-hop; an album that never gets old. Touching, moving material with a monstrous emotional charge. The group Paktofonika brought together members of Kaliber 44 (Piotr ‘Magik’ Łuszcz ) and 3xKlan (Sebastian ‘Rahim’ Salbert) with Wojciech ‘Fokus’ Alsze, so the omnipresent reflexivity, emotionality, and darkness of the album should come as no surprise. Nevertheless, Kinematografia is not as literal and direct as, for example, the previous furious, full of rage, frustration, and helplessness, screamed psychorap stories of Magik. Maybe because on Mysterious Book... Magik and Kaliber 44 were chaotic, contrary to appearances, and built from rebellion and discord, while Paktofonika presents more subdued attitudes, filled with nostalgia and longing.

The title was really spot on. Back then, the material was as fresh as it can get, and even today, most of the songs have an innovative allure. Wacław ‘Waco’ Gołdanowski’s Świeży Materiał was the first release under Prosto – a label now known by almost anyone with an interest in Polish rap. Comparing it with the historical Volt mixtape, it's hard to believe that only three years passed between the releases of both albums; the scene was so dynamic then that milestones appeared approximately once every six months. The early 2000s were a period when production became incredibly professional, and rappers made a lot of progress.

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WACO - Świeży Materiał [Full Album]

Looking back at Świeży Materiał, it’s worth mentioning three songs: Graffiti, a love letter to graffiti featuring rappers Deluks and Kosi from JWP; Czas Dokonać Wyboru (Time to Make a Choice), street-moralizing storytelling featuring Wilk and Pelson; and Tak to Wygląda (This Is What It Looks Like) featuring WWO. On Tak to Wygląda, Wojciech ‘Sokół’ Sosnowski (of WWO) delivers one of his best verses; and in his case, there are a lot to choose from.

The greatest innovation and hallmarks of Wacław ‘Waco’ Gołdanowski are atmospheric, melodic beats, that evoke inspirations from French rap, which became loved by tough Warsaw crews. In an interview with Filip Kalinowski, the producer said:

Polish flow, in most cases, is not an instrument in itself and is far from jazzy, syncopated phrasing. If there are no changes in the melody, no new tracks will come in, after eight bars the piece usually loses its energy and stops being appealing. At least I, when arranging beats, had such an impression – so I devoted a lot of time to the right arrangement. French productions, on the other hand, were very lyrical in those years; sampling classical and orchestral music was frequent.

_{Trans. AD}

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Peja i Slums Attack – Na Legalu? (Legal?) (2001)

The magnum opus of the Poznań rapper Ryszard ‘Peja’ Andrzejewski and the group Slums Attack. To this day, it is one of the most sincere and authentic records of the reality of classism and indifference from which street rap originated. Most Poles have probably heard this album; if not all of it, then at least snippets. ‘Forbidden songs from knowledge about society’, a line from the song WOS, has entered the bloodstream of the Polish language for good. One very clear request comes from the album – for us to open our eyes and not turn our backs on poverty.

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Peja Slums Attack - Kolejny stracony dzień (prod. Peja, Magiera, DJ Decks)

The media eagerly picked up on the slogan ‘reprezentuję biedę’ (I represent poverty), from a track of the same name; but 20 years later, we still aren’t really talking about it. Hip-hop has always been aware of economic inequality and injustice, and the best example of it is Na Legalu?. Peja, as one of the few Polish rappers who entered the mainstream, understood the powerlessness and sense of social rejection recorded in the genealogy of American hip-hop. Though the rapper from Poznań’s Jeżyce district did not really manage to make any changes in the social consciousness, Peja’s voice has become an important element of Polish hip-hop identity. In a famous interview with TVP1, he said:

For every hip-hop performer, this is probably the biggest reward, when someone comes up to you and says, ‘Your record made me think [...] I'm done with drugs [...] Your song saved my life’.

_{Trans. AD}

We might also mention that Kolejny Stracony Dzień (Another Lost Day) is the most beautiful example of storytelling in Polish rap.

_{(Magda Staniszewska)}

Afro Kolektyw – Płyta Pilśniowa (The Felt Album) (2001)

‘Our music has always been borrowed, borrowed from Sly Stone and George Clinton’. From the musical aspect, Michał ‘Afro Jax’ Hoffmann and Paweł ‘Nestor’ Rymsza (aka Wielesław) of the group Afro Kolektyw set themselves an ambitious task: to show young Polish men both the roots of hip-hop and the absurdity of any sort of racism. Of course, hardly anyone in 2001 got it (this is vividly illustrated by the recording used as a hip-hop skit, in which a disgruntled listener calls the Radiostacja radio station and says: ‘commercial, lame, Afro shit something’). The group’s organic sound derived straight from funk, soul, and Philadelphia disco was not exactly what Polish hip-hop fans were waiting for at that time. Besides, their first recording, Negatywne Wibracje (Negative Vibrations), which was self-published, was originally going to be called Muzyka dla Nikogo (Music for Nobody).

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Afro Kolektyw - Czytaj z ruchu moich ust

Their lyrics also failed to improve their situation. Of course, they were full of lamentations and mockery about the mental decay of rap idols and their fans (a comic in the album’s booklet is also devoted to this issue), because Polish hip-hop cannot exist without complaining about Polish hip-hop – that’s how it was, that’s how it is, and that’s how it always will be.

I'm shaking, my hands are sweating,
One more awful place I must walk through.
They see me, they scream: ‘Look, the loser!’
I already know that I will get socked in the balls and phallus.
If it wasn't for ZIP Skład and Molesta, I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.
This truth hurts, and knockouts hurt even more.
I deserved it, I must admit it:
I'm a loser, I'm a loser!

_{From ‘Smutny i Nudny cz. II’ (Sad and Boring Pt. II) by Afro Kolektyw, trans. AD}

Of course, there is an element of creation in this, which later accompanied Afro Jax's work: the philosophy of failure, cheerful resignation, and praising loserdom. It is rare to come across an album where such incredibly accurate and witty lines (e.g., the song Transportem do Pracy [Commuting to Work] is probably the first such accurate description of the corporate ethos and business newspeak) coincide with incredibly stale and stupid ones (their scatological humour has not aged well).

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Poema Faktu – A Pfuj, Co Tu Tak Śmierdzi Kochanie?! (Phew, What’s That Smell Baby?!) (2001)

The members of the group Poema Faktu were silent pioneers of Polish hip-hop from Chrzanów. They were already listening to rap recordings at the end of the 1980s. Dany Tego, the leader of Poema Faktu, recalled in an interview for skwer.org that he received his first cassettes in packages his grandmother sent him from America – there were tapes with recordings of Public Enemy, KRS, and Ice-T. The members of Poema Faktu founded their first group, under the rather naive name The Guys from the Rap Street, in 1991. Later, there were other ephemeral creations: Podziemie/BMS (Banda Muodyh Squrvysynuf) (Underground/BMS [Gang of Young Motherfuckers]) and Kolektyf. Finally, in 1999, Poema Faktu flourished. They released three albums and then disappeared from the stage forever. They were commemorated in the annals of hip-hop history with the rapper Pezet's verse on the song Projekt jest w Drodze (The Project is on its Way): ‘An urban pact, as independent as the world of Poema Fakt’.

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Poema Faktu - A Pfuj, Co Tu Tak Śmierdzi Kochanie ?! (Full Album)

Poema Faktu is punk rap, loud as well as political, and sometimes over-intellectualised. ‘I’ve read everything, Erich Fromm, the anarchists, sociologists, Gombrowicz’, Dany once said in an interview. They nevertheless never forgot where they came from and remained engaged with the struggles of those who could not cope with the political transformations of the era. They were also interested in pro-ecological causes. Even though almost 20 years have passed, their songs are still relevant today. They are probably a nightmare for people creating politically and socially engaged music. In the song Od 89 (Since 89) they sang:

I avoid television because I want to be mentally healthy.
Changes here, changes there, but we’re on the sidelines.
A dull shadow of prospects and life drags on.
I don't know how it used to be and I don't even ask.
A new history, I don’t give shit about a new history.

_{‘Od 89’ (From 89) by Poema Faktu, trans.AD}

The musical layer is also interesting. Heavy, misty beats based on samples from funk numbers dominate. In them you can feel the spirit of such bands as Parliament and Funkadelic – big funk bands from Detroit, which, despite their cheerful dance music, did not avoid political topics. The record also includes the new age interlude Miłość Pramatki (A Foremother’s Love), the percussion-punk jam Sparaliżowani Autorytetem (Paralyzed by Authority), and a lot of jazz flute samples.

_{(Filip Lech)}

Tede – S.P.O.R.T. (2001)

Looking at the history of the development of the Polish hip-hop scene, it is difficult to find a more colourful and consistent character than Jacek ‘Tede’ Graniecki. Tede entered the Polish hip-hop scene in the mid-1990s as a teenager interested in graffiti, skateboarding, and rap – and he hasn’t changed that much since. And for that, sincerely, huge props. His youthful lippiness provided a solid foundation for the future trap revolution. Tede very quickly saw that rapping can be a fun game that can bring you fame and fortune, thus causing considerable controversy among defenders of hip-hop values.

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Wyścig Szczurów

The record S.P.O.R.T. was promoted using the song Wyścig Szczurów (Rat Race), which was later said to have predicted the development of the entire corporate generation. ‘Look out / a good show is about to start’, raps Radoskór in Drin za Drinem (Drink After Drink), a classic of Tede’s that’s hard to beat. And so, after this album, the show really started – his career blew up. S.P.O.R.T. draws us in with its ease – a kind of ease that is difficult to achieve, especially if life is rough. With Tede it wasn’t so bad; he came from a good home, so he did not feel obliged to carry the mission of making the world aware of the reality of Polish streets. This translated into his natural flow and great sense of humour, which still resounds with brazenness.

Tede was often given a hard time because of where he came from. Did he care? Absolutely not. His main wish from Łaaaał – ‘For every hip-hop player to know me’ – was granted very quickly.

_{(Magda Staniszewska)}

WWO – We Własnej Osobie (In Person) (2002)

I had my first contact with the Warsaw crew WWO around the same time as when I first got into the Fisz album Polepione Dźwięki. It was a moment when hip-hop was hitting the mainstream in Poland and proposing strange projects – often ones that seemed to have nothing in common with actual hip-hop. The show VIVA Polska was aired on TVN, and hip-hop acts such as Rychu Peja, O.S.T.R., and WWO fought international acts Evanescence and Linkin Park for the top spot on the show’s charts. At that time, I did not have a computer, internet, or satellite TV, so I absorbed rap in a rather fragmented way, making selections from a really wild mix, which included, among others, Mezo, Ascetoholix, Jeden Osiem L, Slums Attack, 52 Dębiec, and Paktofonika.

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WWO - Damy rade

Time backed up many of my choices; and after almost twenty years, the second WWO album is still considered one of the most essential. It is possible that nostalgia has a lot to do with it. It’s a nostalgia for a time when finding new music was really like a search for hidden treasures. It also doesn’t hurt that WWO is simply great at storytelling, which never gets boring, and that they have a knack for memorable lines. There are no lyrical acrobatics here – the texts are simple, honest, blunt, and without compromise. At the same time, they also are always melodious, always firm, always a hit.

An example? The single Damy Radę (We’ll Make It) based on a sample from Roger Waters' The Powers That Be, or the song produced by White House, Nie Bój Się Zmiany na Lepsze (Don't be Afraid of Change for the Better), featuring Soundkail and Fu. Because, after all, in 2002, I definitely was not the only one rapping ‘two Victorias, left one on top – a sign that we’ll manage, because it’s in our nature’ and, for sure, I was not the only one trying to rap in French. Even when I did not understand the lyrics, I could feel inside myself that it was a strong, important message. They made it.

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WWO - Pamietacie

We Własnej Osobie (In Person) is one of the cult albums of Polish rap, released by the equally legendary record label Prosto Over ten producers worked on the release, including L.A., Waco, DJ 600V, DJ Deszczu Strugi, Karton, Noon, Jędker, Reego, Doltz, Sokół, and the aforementioned White House. It was impossible for it to fail.

_{(Emilia Stachowska)}

Pezet/Noon – Muzyka Klasyczna (Classical Music) (2002)

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Pezet, 2002, photo: Michał Kołyga / East News

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Paweł ‘Pezet’ Kapliński and Mikołaj ‘Noon’ Bugajak are one of the most recognizable MC-producer duos in Polish hip-hop (second only, perhaps, to Łona and Webber). While their second album, Muzyka Poważna (Serious Music) was more mature and emotional, it was not the immediate hit that their first record, Muzyka Klasyczna, was. After Muzyka Klasyczna was released, half of the young rappers in Poland wanted to imitate Pezet's flow, which is full of metaphors and has a specific technical style of rhyming. It was because of the track Re-Fleksje (Re-flections) that many teenagers discovered their sensitivity, while Seniorita was blasted on the speakers at many house parties. The record found both artistic and commercial success, which is quite rare in Polish rap.

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Re-Fleksje

Without question, Muzyka Klasyczna is less coherent than its successor. Nowadays, reflective songs do much better than party ones (although, without the party songs, the album would not have achieved the same success). The record is dense from the very beginning – the opening song, To Tylko Ja (It’s Only Me) is definitely one of the best entries in the history of the Polish rap game. Pezet has some great moments here; for example, Ukryty w Mieście Krzyk (A Shout Hidden in the City) or Te Same Dni, Te Same Sny (Same Days, Same Dreams). If these tracks didn’t give you goosebumps as a youngster, I’m not sure what kind of person you are. Unfortunately, however, Pezet sometimes raps just to find rhymes: lyrics such as ‘you warm me up like Coldrex’ or ‘you're wet like Bonaqua’ are difficult to listen to today without feeling embarrassed. These rhymes were also mocked upon their release, with WWO making fun of the joyful babble of Slang on their track Halabardy.

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Ukryty w Mieście Krzyk

However, Noon seems to have the leading role here. His adventure with rap lasted only five years, and yet the few records he produced set the bar so high that to this day many producers are not able to reach such heights even on stilts. In Jacek Baliński's book To Nie jest Hip-Hop: Rozmowy (This is Not Hip-Hop: Conversations), Noon said that while working on this album, he struggled to create a certain sound quality. He won the fight, because how often does it happen that listening to the instrumental itself is more engaging than listening to regular songs?

_{(Patryk Zakrzewski)}

Dizkret / Praktik – IQ (2002)

In 2002, Wojciech ‘Dizkret’ Nosowski, a rapper associated with the group Stare Miasto, and producer Jakub ‘Praktik’ Nowak stood up for original hip-hop values and glued together this iconic record of jazz-bass bragga (from braggadocio – rappers use braggadocio to boast, to speak about themselves with great pride – editor’s note). With IQ, they opposed the broadly understood mediocrity and monetization of hip-hop culture. Even though it was a loud spurt, the guys left the hip-hop scene a few years later.

Dizkret/Praktik - IQ [2002] [CAŁA PŁYTA]

‘We’re celebrating cuz we have a few beers, we’re celebrating cuz we have girls and weed’. Today, in the face of an uncertain future, this simple carpe diem rap sounds perfect. IQ captured the lack of consent to the changes brought about by the divisions and pigeonholing of artists according to their ‘market value’. Praktik’s eclectic and soft beats subdue the funky dreamy atmosphere. I think IQ helped many homies stay sane.

_{(Magda Staniszewska)}

Firma – Z Dedykacją dla Ulicy (Dedicated to the Streets) (2002)

At first, Z Dedykajcą dla Ulicy seems to be no different than many other records. Vulgar, about the streets, anti-police, against informers, praising the advantages of marijuana and friends.

Dedicated to the streets and to people like us, to all those who are gone. It’s a chapter of our lives – which don’t always treat us right. These stories are based on facts and we are giving them away to you. With luck.

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Why, then, are we writing about it? Above all, because it is one of the most interestingly produced street records in Poland. From the get-go, the intro itself is interesting, inviting listeners with the piercing sounds of an organ, interrupted by a monumental sample of the brass section of a symphony orchestra. After repeating the orchestral fanfare several times, the raw sound of the drum machine and impressive scratches come in. Rozejrzyj Się (Look Around You) is based on the minimalist sound of a synthesizer and is accompanied by a palette of scratches. Siemasz (Yo) is built on a cheerful breakbeat. Być w Porządku (Be Okay) is a slow and gloomy drum and bass song with samples from East Asian music. Palę (I Smoke) uses the sounds of a Roland TB-303 synthesizer, which created the acid house sound of the club genre. Bazyle (Ugly Broads) is an aggressive dancehall track.

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Firma - Siemasz

In addition, it is worth looking deeper at the fate of the members of Firma. Their stories tell us a lot about Poland, and even about the world.

First, we have Tadeusz ‘Tadek’ Polkowski. Tadek is the son of a poet and Solidarity activist (who later was a spokesman for Jan Olszewski's government and a member of Jan Polkowski's supervisory boards). Tadek has become one of the main performers of patriotic rap and a populariser of history. He has recorded three ‘martyrdom records’, on which he raps mainly about the ‘cursed soldiers’ of the Polish Underground in WWII and the Stalinist period, though he also managed to go back to the time of the January Uprising (1863-1864). Songs from the album Niewygodna Prawda (An Inconvenient Truth) were even arranged for an orchestra and Tadek’s performance was accompanied by classically-trained singers. When asked in 2014 by Tomasz Terlikowski in the pages of the book Pojedynki (Affair of Honour) whether he believed that his actions could really affect Poles, he replied:

During the concert, I drilled their heads so much that during the two weeks after the event, a few guys collected a ton of food for veterans in the Eastern Borderlands, and then they founded a historical club and the patriotic activity they are running is thriving. It shows where there's a will there's a way. And that a lot of things can be done. Also with state or EU money.

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Tadek Symfonicznie Filharmonia Krakowska 28.02.2013 "Inka"

Next, there is Bosski Roman (Roman Paweł Lachowolski), who recorded, amongst others, a series of five albums, Krak, in which the language of street hip-hop meets a fascination with grime, dancehall, and drum and bass. Additionally, he is a social activist and founded the Drużyna Mistrzów Sport Muzyka Pasja (Champions Team. Sport. Music. Passion) Foundation, which uses hip-hop to promote a healthy lifestyle and sports. He also wrote the anthem of the Ju Jitsu National Team.

Bosski Roman & Piero - 09.Mocne Uderzenie - Krak

Marcin ‘Kali’ Gutkowski, also originally of Firma, has successfully continued his musical career. His albums feature guest appearances from Paluch, Gedz, Żabson, Sokół, Pezet, and many others. Rafał Woś, in a column for Tygodnik Powszechny, called him the contemporary Polish Kurt Weill. He runs the record label and clothing brand Ganja Mafia and even has his own line of organic-grown CBD. In his free time, he preaches various conspiracy theories based on the American QAnon movement.

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KALI #Hot16Challenge2 (prod. Sergiusz)

And finally, there’s Popek (Paweł Ryszard Mikołajuw), who, wanted on an arrest warrant in Poland, emigrated to London. There, he made music (his albums featured Polish musicians, but also the American star The Game and Wiley, a grime classic) and did mixed martial arts (after his fans started riots, he was banned from appearing in the British MMA league). Between 2014 and 2017, he led the popular music group Gang Albanii; they sold about 300,000 CDs. In the group, Popek performed as ‘the King of Albania’, a cocaine baron character drawn straight from Orientalist fantasies of the Balkans; a cross between the hero of Emir Kusturica's films and a mad rapper. He made headlines thanks to his scarifications and not very successful return to MMA fighting – he lost to actor and celebrity strongman Tomasz Oświeciński, as well disco polo singer Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Originally written in Polish, translated by Agnes Dudek

Language English

hip-hop

electronic music

1990s

polish artists of the 1990s