Hip-hop in Albania
Albanian hip-hop represents a vibrant cultural and social movement that encompasses artists from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and various other Albanian communities. Many of these communities were formerly part of Yugoslavia and experienced different levels of freedom to participate in the global hip-hop arena. Albanians frequently imitate the performance style of American rappers and singers. Nevertheless, the Albanian hip-hop scene is distinct from the United States and other nations. To begin with, the Albanian hip-hop and R&B scenes are delineated as in other regions. Hip-hop is regarded as a social movement centered on rap, while R&B features gentler rhythms and romantic themes, serving as a foundation for rap and hip-hop. The Albanian hip-hop scene has been predominantly shaped by visual and performance aspects of rap and hip-hop artists, whereas R&B has had a more profound influence on lyrical content, resulting in a unique interpretation of Albanian hip-hop. A recurring motif among these artists is the incorporation of the Albanian language in their lyrics, often interspersed with English terms, mirroring trends observed in Italian and German hip-hop (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Albanian hip-hop is exemplified by the rap group, the West Side Family, created by three young men: Roland, Miri, and Flori (stage name Dr. Flori) while students at the same high school in Tirana. The rap group draws its name from the West Coast rappers in the United States who inspired them, including Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. In the beginning, West Side Family focused on modest rap minus the choruses and melodies. Their lyrics focused on the daily problems facing Albanians. They became well-known in 2000 with their first song “Deluzion” (Delusion), and successively, in 2002, with “Mesazh” (Message) showcased at the national song competition “Kenga Magjike 2002” (Magical Song 2002). Rama, a jury member and mayor of Tirana, requested that they write a song dedicated to the city. They were later invited to perform alongside Rama for Mother Teresa Day in October 2003 (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
In 2003, their first album, Jeta Shkon (Life Passes By), produced by Super Sonic Albania, was released, including the song “Tirona.” Their second album, finished in 2007, contained several songs performed at Albanian festivals. Although Jeta Shkon concentrated on hip-hop, their second album sampled a variety of genres, including pop, folk, and classical music. Furthermore, whereas their debut album covered more lighthearted subjects, their second album drew attention to social matters through Dr. Flori’s emotional and refined lyrics. Since 2010, Westside Family's career has declined, even though Dr. Flori wrote the lyrics for the award-winning song at the National Festival 2012. The song “Identitet” (Identity) was Albania’s representative at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Sweden in May 2013 (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Hip-hop in Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), mostly inhabited by Bosniaks and Croats, consists of ten regions. Republika Srpska (RS), with a majority Serb population, forms a separate governing entity. The Brčko District operates under a special self-governing regime and is jointly supervised by both entities. Absolute authority is vested in the internationally appointed Office of the High Representative (OHR). A three-member presidency leads a nominal central government in Sarajevo. People who purely identify as Bosnian, Roma, Jews, and/or other minorities are constitutionally forbidden from many public offices. Under this quasi-democratic electoral system, individual citizens have little direct influence over governance matters. Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) hip-hop serves as a medium for dissent, criticism, protest, and resistance against both the ethnic nationalists who uphold the existing order and their international allies who support political elites (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Bosnia and Herzegovina's hip-hop scene began in 1999. It was primarily focused on the FM Jam production house located in the historic steel city of Tuzla. There are similarities between the antagonism shown in American rap music and the broader ghettoized experience of Yugoslav refugees in Europe and North America. They often mention and give testimonials to performers such as KRS-One, Redman, and N.W.A. as influences and pioneers. BiH hip-hop is deeply political, and the artists are fundamentally political (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Several musical acts emerged from the FM Jam era, with the most notable being Edo Maajka, Frenkie, and HZA. Maajka's debut album in 2002, titled ‘Slusaj mater’ (Listen to Mother), achieved immediate success. From the outset, tracks such as “Sverc Komerc” (Smuggling as Commerce) and “Pare, Pare” (Money, Money) set the prevailing themes for BiH hip-hop: corruption, xenophobia, and nationalism. The political insights garnered Maajka and his contemporaries a dedicated following and enhanced their reputations. In 2004, with the release of his second album, No sikiriki (No Worries), Maajka continued to deliver politically charged rap lyrics, particularly evident in the song “Mater Vam Jebem” (Motherfuckers). Additionally, there is Dubioza Kolektiv (Dubious Collective), whose 2011 album in English, ‘Wild, Wild East’, became a crossover success, while their 2013 LP Apsurdistan concentrated on local political issues (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Hip-hop in former Yugoslavia
As commercial rap became more mainstream, underground rap materialized as a counter-movement in search of cultural and historical relevance. There are obvious similarities and dissimilarities between mainstream hip-hop artists retained by big or “major” record companies and underground or alternative hip-hop artists not signed to the major music labels. Both sets of artists’ music are centered on themes of violence, homophobia, misogyny, and hypermasculinity, reinvigorated by commercial entities. Underground rap music distorts the boundaries of restricted (non-commercial) and large-scale production (commercial). It incorporates anti-establishment, civically stimulating, and socially mindful lyrics to advance non-commercial interests. However, “Rappers’ habitus or lived experiences force the artists to adopt commercial rap market methods to appeal to both alternative rap customers and big record labels (Oware, 2014).
Rap music debuted in Yugoslavia in the 1980s. It began as a marginal niche genre that lacked a distinct local ethos and identity. It largely imitated its origins, the American rap scene, and especially its flamboyant and suggestive language. The emergence of hip-hop culture in the early 1990s in the former Yugoslavia coincided with the rise of national hip-hop scenes and markets in Europe. Similar to other European nations, rap and hip-hop emerged as products of a popular music industry that was culturally influenced by the United States and propelled by both local artists and fans (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Rap music became an authoritative avenue for the spreading of social and political messages. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia, rap music gradually acquired its particular distinguishing style, especially concerning the interethnic Yugoslav wars and their aftermath. Rap music adopted the local languages and dialects, becoming the voice of disenfranchised youth. It reflected the social, economic, and political realities of their lives. Rap’s variety and inconsistent jargon, nationalistic fervor, and its antiwar messages and standards provide conflicting cultural, social, and political interpretations. They are symbols of a multi-vocal culture, profoundly aggrieved by history (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
In the mid-1990s, a distinct hip-hop character began to develop due to war, sanctions, and isolation. In the majority of large cities, it spread in local vernaculars, rapping about major political matters related to their war understanding, the termination of Yugoslavia, and commonplace socioeconomic struggles. Rap music assumed the activist function from rock music, which became progressively sidelined during this era. It was unsuccessful in relating to the outcomes of the Civil War (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
For illustration, Croatian rap delivered reviews on significant social and political occurrences, in addition to concerns connected to ethics, faith, the future, and environmentalism. In 2002, in Serbia and Montenegro, the group Beogradski Sindikat released the protest song ‘Govedina’, aiding the universalization of hip-hop all over the country. The group Beogradski Sindikat utilized harsh expressions to censure the new politicians. In Serbia, hip-hop is popular in Belgrade, particularly among youths who classify themselves as ghetto residents. They find parallels between their experience in Belgrade’s impoverished, risky districts, stigmatized by lifetimes of conflict, and American gangsta rappers' experiences (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
The Republic of North Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia after the violent breakup of the latter in September 1991. Although Macedonia did not participate in the Yugoslav civil war, it experienced an armed conflict in 2001 between the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Macedonian state army, which ended after six months of military crisis and negotiations. The conflict created a climate of interethnic tension and violence in the city, reflecting Macedonia’s multilingual and culturally diverse society, which includes, besides a large Macedonian population, Albanian, Roma, Serbian, and Turkish minorities. These diverse ethnic groups face linguistic, religious, cultural, and political differences, and over the past few decades, very prominent and mutually antagonistic nationalistic ideologies, especially between Macedonians and Albanians. There is very little interethnic cooperation among the youth of various ethnic groups after the 2001 conflict between Macedonians and Albanians. This alienation is maintained by the ethnically separate schooling system, separate neighborhoods, and distinct entertainment venues that keep Albanian and Macedonian youths apart (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
In North Macedonia, like in the other metropolis in former Yugoslavia, rap music established itself by commenting on the disintegration of Yugoslavia and its consequences. An example is the antiwar song “Rapovanje” by the rock/rap group Supernova. The song’s lyrics had a captivating and memorable expression “Bolje da se rapuje nego da se ratuje” (Better to rap than to wage war) sung in Serbo-Croat to attract and to empathize with the experience of war in Yugoslavia. Nowadays, it is not surprising for Macedonian rappers to use Serbian writing or to enjoy Serbian rap. Although local disparities exist, new administrative borders have not expunged shared political and cultural pasts or the continuous flow of people, philosophies, culture, and music among the former regions of Yugoslavia (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Cross-regional flow of rap music beyond the cognitive maps of ethnicity and nation shows that, despite the breakdown of the country and the demarcation of boundaries, people in the territories of former Yugoslavia today share common everyday struggles, burning problems of economic oppression, interethnic tension, and political instability and insecurity. Indeed, according to Soysal, rap music as an expressive genre crosses analytical boundaries with seeming effortlessness, including boundaries of culture, nationality, class, political orientation, identity, and manages to create moral, cultural, commercial, and political tremors of varying degrees (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
The Serbian band Beogradski Sindikat has published several music videos on YouTube, such as ‘Ovlovni vojnici’, ‘Niko ne moze da zna’, ‘Crvene beretke’, that portray war imageries from former Yugoslav World War II movies, but also compelling pictures from the latest conflict, for example, soldiers clutching weapons before the camera, weeping mothers, smoldering homes, shelled churches, and injured children. Other imageries provide graphic accounts that satisfy national imaginations and outline historical and political awareness, particularly among youths. The imageries include Orthodox illustrations like elderly women igniting a church candle, a policeman smooching a symbol, Serbian state emblems (the Serbian flag, the coat of arms of Serbia with the double-headed white eagle, and the Serbian cross), undesirable imageries of Albanians such as an Albanian smooching a photograph of former U.S. President George W. Bush, and Albanian nationalistic misinformation, visibly conveyed in a map of Albania displaying the opposing claims to Macedonian regions in Macedonia, Serbia, and Greece (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
Correspondingly, “Srceto na Lavot” (The Heart of the Lion) rap music video released by the group Bad Contract from Ohrid city in Macedonia, reenacts Macedonian’s past via nationalistic imageries to enrich the lyrics. The video commences with a picture from Vergina’s “Sun’ and the English words: “The truth is like the Sun, Macedonia forever.” It portrays haphazard, disjointed imageries from Macedonian history, injured Macedonian soldiers from the Second World War, a great migration of little children, filthy and famished children taking bread. Likewise, it interposes a famous Macedonian folk song in the opening and inside the music video with the lyric “I nie sme deca na Makedonija i nie imame pravo da ziveeme” (We are also children of Macedonia, and we have the right to live)” It continues with imageries from contemporary Macedonian history, representing Macedonian political figures since 1991, the assassination of Kiro Gligorov, a NATO conference, emblems of the EU, Alexander the Great with the lyrics, “Alexander is ours; I know history”, and a map demonstrating the partition of Macedonia between Greece, Albania, Kosovo and Bulgaria (Miszczynski & Helbig, 2017).
References
Miszczynski, M. & Helbig. A. (2017). Hip Hop at Europe’s Edge : Music, Agency, and Social Change. Indiana University Press.
