Hip Hop Music of Finland

The hip hop scene has received strength, dating back from growing underground culture of the first Finnish Hip Hop records with lyrics in English as recorded at Vernissa (C) manus (P) Johanna Kustannus in the year 1991 by Damn the Band. Later Finland has Nuera with MCs Skem (Henry Kaprali) & Dream (Preti Laurila) from Tampere area. Nueras first released was dated in the year 1992; same guys together with DJK2 were also behind the hip hop based radio concert on YleX. The first famous hip hop band to break the taboo of making rap lyrics in Finnish (rapping in Finnish was not regarded as a serious business because the first musicians to do this is the early 1990s includes Paakkoset, Raptori and Nikke, they were humorous project and were famous mainly among the children) was Fintelligens arguably one of the most successful hip hop bands in Finland.

source of picture: www.eurovision.tv

Now rap music is one of the major kinds of Finnish pop music and there are several musicians who have reached wide fame, still it can be said, that rap-scene is mainly an underground movement. But even independent artists like ASA, is with often political and critical lyrics and it is quite famous, the ASAs leijonna metsatan album was the third on Finnish album chart in the year 2005. Finnish rap-musicians like Paleface with English lyrics have not attained international success, an exception to this is the breakbeat/electro/hiphop-band Bomfunk MCs who with their MC Raymond Ebanks became famous in the Central Europe, as they had the most sold European single of 2000, Freestyler along with trance music act Darude’s Sandstorm.