Edo Maajka
Edo Maajka<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Edo Maajka </td></tr> | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information <tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Edin Osmić</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">December 22 1978</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Brčko, SFR Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Hip hop</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">rapper, songwriter</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">rapping</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1999 – present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Menart |
Edo Maajka (born as Edin Osmić on December 22, 1978 in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is the most popular rapper from Bosnia and the most popular rapper in the ex-Yugoslavian countries[citation needed]. Edin's stage name "Edo Maajka" means "Edo the Mother".
Contents |
Beginnings
In 1992 when the Bosnian war started, Edo left his homeland Bosnia and went to Zagreb. After the war, Edo returned to Bosnia to study criminal law. He went to Tuzla and became a member of the hardcore rap group Diskord, later named Odbrana (Defence). The group became one of the best in Tuzla and Bosnia. Their demo single "Odbrana '99" (Defence '99) was the hit of the year on the "Radio Hit" station in Brčko.
Edo's love is hip hop and rap and he first gained exposure on the radio station "Kameleon", which featured his first freestyle rap. He is still a big part of the station's "FM Jam" show. "FM Jam" gathered young talents to create the Bosnian rap group "Disciplinska Komisija" (Disciplinary Commission), which Edo is a member of.
After a year of studying, Edo quit his education due to financial problems and went back to Zagreb to meet his friend Shot (from the group Elemental), where they recorded his first single "Minimalni rizik" (Minimum Risk) and, a month later, "Mahir i Alma". The songs were top hits on the Zagreb "Radio 101" station's show "Blackout" and the response was enthusiastic. The demo "Mahir i Alma" became Kameleon's hit of 2001.
"Edo Maajka"
Edo chose "Menart" as his label and his first album "Slušaj Mater" (Listen to Your Mother) was released in spring of 2002. The eponymous song became a hit in Bosnia and the rest of former Yugoslavia. In 2003 Edo became the most popular rapper in the ex-Yugoslavian countries. He also received several awards including Zlatna Koogla, Davorin, Porin (music award) and Crni Mačak. He established his reputation as the best and most famous rapper in the region, releasing more singles and being featured on songs by other artists, such as "Teško je ful biti kul" by Hladno Pivo. Edo had a successful tour with The Beat Fleet and finished the year 2003 with the hit single "Prikaze" (Spectres).
Soon after, in April of 2004, Edo published his new album "No Sikiriki". Edo and Lexsaurini started a new booking agency A1 Booking Agency, resulting in the most booked concerts for a rapper in that region. Edo toured until the end of the year to promote "No Sikiriki". He spent 2005 performing in concerts and writing new songs for his third album.
Recording of songs for the new album "Stig'o Ćumur" (Coal's Here) started in August of 2005, and the album was released in March of 2006. The first single was "To mora da je ljubav" (It Must Be Love) featuring Remi from Elemental), for which he shot the music video in Sarajevo. Edo started the promotion of his new album "Stig'o Ćumur" at the end of March, the day his album was released.
Increasing Popularity
Edo Maajka's largest following is in Bosnia, his homeland, and he has a great number of fans in Croatia, Serbia and the rest of the former Yugoslav states. He also has fans in the diaspora of former Yugoslavia, mainly in Western Europe and North America. Edo expanded the hip-hop scene in Bosnia and the Balkans and has become the number one rapper in the Balkan region, with increasing popularity in Europe and the world. He is still a member of "Odbrana" and "Disciplinska Komisija". He is married and still lives and works in Zagreb, but often visits his homeland Bosnia and hometown Brčko.
He is currently working on an Internet-only project, recording songs under the name MC Berbo, supposedly the total opposite of what he is now, representing the worst aspects of hip hop.
Other Work
He also worked on the soundtrack to the film "Ljeto u Zlatnoj Dolini" ("Summer in the Golden Valley"), directed by Srđan Vuletić. The soundtrack for the movie was released on the 2003 album "Edo Maajka & Raja - Zlatna Dolina". He has said in an interview that he will work on the soundtrack for another film, but nothing more.
In 2003, Davor Konjikušić and Mišo Babović made a documentary about Edo Maajka called "Trajno Nastanjeni Stranac" and it was a hit at the Zagreb Film Festival.
Themes
Edo Maajka often raps about the contemporary political situation and the consequences of the Yugoslav wars, representing the Bosnian point of view, but also about the problems of the three main ethnic groups in Bosnia. For example, on "On je mlađi" he raps about the son of a Croatian War veteran who is engaged to a Serb girl. His lyrics are not limited to politics - he often raps about youth issues like in "Saletova Osveta", the state of pop music ("Kliše"), bad rapping ("Slušaj mater") and others. Some of the songs have positive messages, such as the title track from his album "No Sikiriki".
Feud with Severina
Edo Maajka has a feud with the Croatian pop singer Severina. In his 2004 album No Sikiriki, Maajka sang "svi znamo repat, svako može Severinu jebat" (everyone knows how to rap, anyone can screw Severina), apparently referring to posers on the music scene and braggarts boasting of invented sexual adventures. (False rumors of orgies involving Severina were abundant in the late 1990s.) However, Severina chose to take it as an insult, which stang all the more in the light of her much-publicized sex scandal later in the year. On her album Severgreen, Severina responded with the song Hrvatica (Croatian Girl) where she sang "hrvatski reperi dignite hajku, [...] djeca vam slušaju krivu majku" (Croatian rappers, revolt [...] your kids are listening to the wrong "mother"). Maajka in turn took that as a personal attack on him, stating in an interview that Severina said it because he's Bosnian and more famous in Croatia than she is.
In reference to this feud, the last song on 3rd Edo's album is called "Severina". But at beginning of song Edo says: "Većina ljudi što su za ovaj CD dali love, ne bi čuli ovu stvar da se ona ovako ne zove. Žalosna je okolnost čime privlacim pozornost, ali ovo morate čuti smjesta pa mi nisu bitna sredstva." (Most of people that paid for this CD wouldn't hear this song if it weren't called like this. It's a sad circumstance the way I'm drawing attention, but you must hear this so the means doesn't matter.) And the chorus is: "Severina, Severina da ne mislite da ste prevareni, ova pjesma je u biti o meni. Severina, Severina da nemislite da ste prevareni ova pjesma je u biti o tebi i o meni." (Severina, Severina so you don't think you're cheated, this song is actually about me. Severina, Severina so you don't think you are cheated this song is actually about me and you). The song is actually about problems in the Balkans, but in his previous album "No Sikiriki", the video spot "Mater Vam Jebem" was also about problems in the Balkans, but no one payed attention to his words instead they payed attention to the name of the song, so he hoped by naming this song "Severina" people would listen better to what he has to say.
Awards
- Best urban album "No Sikiriki" (2005)
- Song of the year "No Sikiriki" (2005)
- Urban song of the year "No Sikiriki" (2005)
- Urban artist "Edo Maajka" (2005)
- Best urban album "No Sikiriki" (2005)
- Best video spot "Pržiiiii" (2005)
- New artist "Edo Maajka" (2003)
- Zlatna Koogla:
- Best artist "Edo Maajka" (2005)
- Best video spot "Pržiiiii" (2005)
- Best web site "www.edomaajka.com"(2005)
- Golden dop of the year - Artist accepting of the criticism "Edo Maajka" (2005)
- Crni Mačak:
- Artist of the year "Edo Maajka" (2003)
- Best song "Znaš me" (2003)
Discography
 | Slušaj Mater
|
 | No Sikiriki |
 | Stig'o Ćumur |
Categories
Articles with unsourced statements | Bosnian and Herzegovinan rappers | 1978 births | Living people