Hungarian hip-hop

Hungarian hip hop is popular among the inner city/urban population in Hungary. Performers include a gangsta rap pioneer, Ganxsta Zolee, his local fellow Dopeman, L.L. Junior and Sub Bass Monster.

It began with a rapper named Ganxsta "Döglégy" Zolee (b. Zoltán Zana, 7 January 1968) and his clique The Kartel. He is the son of a high-class actor family and is a professional ice-hockey player. In musical grounds he was originally the drummer for a hard rock band Sex Action before forming his then-underground gangsta rap collective in 1995. Their first album Egyenesen a gettóból ("Straight out the Ghetto") was not a commercial success and gained little radio airplay, though their first single "Boom a fejbe" ("Boom to the Head") reached the top 20 on a major record megastore sales chart that was published weekly in Danubius Rádió (the only commercial radio station with full country coverage then). Their second and third LP's, Jégre teszlek ("Put you on Ice") and Helldorado, were big successes with the latter having a Latino rap influence and being certified platinum (50,000).

The underground hip hop artist always attacked the mainstream hip hop artists because their music is too popular and they are "selling" their music for everybody. The underground hip hop musician's creations are most imaginative and have more message than the mainstream. The most well-known Hungarian underground hip hop publishers are: Kriminal Beats, WacuumAirs, Gimmeshot, S-10, Garage, Bloose Broavaz.

Meanwhile, one of the members of the Kartel, Lory B left the crew and converted a born again Christian and starting a solo effort in Christian rap. Another member O.G. Sámson release "Ganjaman" a single written in jungle rap genre that became also successful thanks to its weed-worshipper lyrics and nudist video. The group adopted a new member Dopeman who had street creditibility with his suburban-gipsy background. His trademark is a rapping technique similar to Master P's "Uhh!" sound and the use of enjambements in his verses. Later he quit the band and started a solo career as well as producing new artists including acts such as Fekete Vonat (Eng.: Black Train) a trio who have used traditional roma techniques in their hip hop recordings and MC Ducky a female rapper and Majka Papa a former Való Világ (Real World) runner-up.