It sounds incredible. Half a century has already passed since the beginning of hip hop. It was in late summer of 1973 in the West Bronx when DJ Kool Herc organized a party to remember. As he recalls, the audience asked him again and again to play the breaks. This child of immigrants from Jamaica, born by the name of Clive Campbell, certainly did not dream that he would start a culture that will conquer the world in the coming decades and conquer the hearts of the youth from city neighborhoods all over the planet. They identified with it.
This year, the 50th birthday of hip hop will be celebrated in various ways in the West. This is a good opportunity to look back at the paths this culture entered Montenegro. In this text, we will deal with only one of the four pillars of hip hop culture (rapping, DJ’s, breakdancing, graffiti) – the musical one. Probably the most prominent one.
Rap as well as hip-hop as a whole is still quite young in Montenegro, even throughout what we call the region. Over the period of last three decades, something that may be called a rap scene has been built in our country because rap found its representatives in all parts of Montenegro. Nevertheless the cohesion among its actors was generally quite weak, releases and events until relatively recently were at the level of an incident more than of some organized movement. Furthermore, the media reports were narrow and superficial, and the audience focus more on the content from other Balkan countries. However, today Montenegro can boast that it has given birth to several names that are recognizable throughout the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
The liberation hip-hop culture brought to local authors, primarily those of the younger generation, is a rare phenomenon in our country. The discovery of this medium for networking and channeling the enormous energy of various actors has resulted in a large number of albums and compilations that enrich the domestic pop cultural heritage.
Recipe for success – local slang and humor
The story of Montenegrin rap must begin with the Monteniggers. If we exclude the flirting with this genre by performers who nominally do not belong to it (Rambo Amadeus or Rade Rapido) there were no significant activities recorded in the field of rap music before Monteniggers. This happened during the 90’s. During its golden age, in the last decade of the last century, rap began to achieve global popularity. In Yugoslavian countries, there were those who wanted to “translate” this music. Monteniggers were the only authentic representatives from Montenegro in this so called first wave of Yugoslav rap. This trio immediately set the bar high and is still known as the most important Montenegrin rap group. The group started working in 1988., at the time under the name Brake Boys Cross. During the second half of the 90’s they started to attract the attention of the audience with their authentic Montenegrin slang and humor, party songs and humorous renditions of hits that came from the other side of the ocean. This combination – local slang, dialect and humor even when they deal with serious topics – proved to be the best recipe for success in the coming period for the performers who will succeed the Monteniggers.
The famous trio consisting of Igor Lazić Niggor, Duško Nikolić Duka and Nebojša Saveljić Nebo recorded only two studio albums before a series of tragic events stopped their path. Not long after the release of the debut album “Tajna Marenda” in 1996. songwriter Duško Nikolić died. Leukemia stopped him from performing with Nebo and Niggor. A year after the release of the second album, called simply “AllBoom” (1998), Nebo died in a car accident. That marked the end of Monteniggers. Niggor, who himself fought for his life and managed to defeat a pituitary tumor, has published several more rap songs to date. He is also a part of electronic music scene.
In a short period of time, the Monteniggers left an indelible mark, as a phenomenon that captures attention and is not easily forgotten, whether they rap in their own unique way about characters from the popular television series “Đekna”, action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme, the apocalypse or drinking tequila. At the time when they were active, they were familiar faces in every home. Bit funny because in many of those homes people wondered “what kind of music they were playing”. With their original and entertaining approach, they bridged the gap to those who were unfamiliar with such an expression. They left two albums full of hits that people still love to hear.
Expansion and the first kittens thrown into the water
At the beginning of this millennium started the second wave of hip hop in the former state. It happened primarily on the hype of the then newly founded first hip hop label Bassivity (VIP, Marcelo, Shorty…). We can’t forget other performers who started out on their own and made their way at the same time (Bad Copy, Juice…). In Montenegro, culturally focused mostly towards Belgrade, many young people came up with the idea that of expressing themselves with the help of a then still new and not particularly present genre. Plus was that rap did not look for any special singing abilities or expensive instruments. Computers slowly became a mandatory inventory of every home. Software for making music was far more available then before. You just had to find someone who knew how to use it and put rhymes together with the rhythm and finally to find a studio where everything could be recorded. This is how the expansion of rap in Montenegro occurs.
Number of performers appear primarily in Podgorica, but also in other cities. To date, this is the only period when the capital city had such a massive scene. When it comes to hip hop it was the center of events. Rap parties and street gatherings and small events of hip hop culture lovers, guest appearances by rappers from the ex-Yu region, appearances in the media… were more frequent in the early 2000s than before. At that time an unusual project took place. National Television of Montenegro (RTCG) recorded videos for three Podgorica rap groups (Identity, Revolucija, Bunt). They were broadcasted regularly. The first compilation of Montenegrin rap artists called “Stone Rhapsody” (2005) was published some time before RTCG project. This effort was credited to Božo Bulatović – rocker and founder of Radio Gorica. He wanted to give young rappers the opportunity to get some affirmation and to present to the audience what is new on the local music scene.
At the time in Serbia there was a sharp split between two currents of experience of what rap should represent. On one side there was rapping about partying, male-female relationships and occasional imitation of the commonplaces of American gangsta rap. On the other was “message”, art, “rebellion against the system”, abstraction. Clearly under the influence of rock ideology. Entertainment is not enough! It was required from rappers to share some deeper insights about life and the society that they were part of. The first group of rappers enjoyed wider popularity and greater presence in the media, the second were respected among the critics, intellectuals and the “urban” part of the society. The rap audience saw this division as a division between “commercial” and “underground”, although the performers who belonged to the second echelon were not always less commercially successful and less mainstream than those from the first group. This perception of the situation reflected itself on the Montenegrin scene. It caused distancing from others and a touch of elitism in certain rap circles. It created an expectation among a great part of the audience that rap should be “engaged”, but only in the sense of criticizing social phenomena and ruling politics, without understanding that rap always invaded the political zone, most violently precisely when it dealt with prohibited types of parties and other cultural practices that the system did not look favorably on.
The songs from “Stone Rhapsody”, as well as others from that period of Montenegrin rap music, varied greatly in quality. They were anachronistic in production compared to the works from the ex-Yu region. Those which themes were easier to digest (fun, parties, jokes, male-female relations) gained wider audience. Regarding that best accepted group was Gold N’ Green, slightly less Money i Nadzor who also flirted with gangsta rap. They were sonically and thematically close to what 187 and Gru represented in Serbia. Other side was represented by the groups such as Identity, Revolution, Rebelion. Their expression was more poetic and abstract, therefore limited exclusively to that parts of the rap audience which grew up on releases such as Marcelo’s “De facto” and Shorty’s “Umotvorine”. The impression is that the media that represented cheerful and colorful life in Montenegro especially on the wave of euphoria due to gaining independence were not particularly interested in “difficult topics”. Those topics reflected gray reality that could be seen on the streets of Montenegro. Audience acted the same way as their favorite TV stations. Perhaps it is in part a matter of mentality. There is interesting observation that can be helpful in understanding of rap music at that time. One of the most important Montenegrin music journalists, Željko Milović once wrote that unlike the rest of the ex-Yu republics Montenegro rock music has always gravitated more towards lighter and brighter influences from of Italy, then the darker ones from, for example, England.
At the beginning of the 2000s, it seemed that the expansion of hip hop in Montenegro was just starting. Unfortunately the whole thing quickly died down. Since there was no releases, there were no more occasions for performances and media appearances. Songs suffered from clichés and production lag behind our neighboring countries. All that made it difficult for them to reach an audience that always had access to music from all over same speaking language area. Out group had the greatest popularity at that time, mostly thanks to the choice of topics that guaranteed them media representation. Referendum song “Nezavisna” and the song dedicated to the biggest football fan group in the country “Varvari” were played for a long time. A song from this period that was probably the closest to the authenticity of the local expression, and the one that seems to have stood the test of time was the “Zabjelo effect” from the Pro LG group. Explicitly named police, relationships with women, drug mentioning… was not often the case in Montenegrin rap at the time. It was impossible for this song to get serious playtime on TV or radio. Song eventually found its way to the audience.
Who See as bearers of the flame
Soon followed a period of almost complete silence on the Montenegrin rap scene. Only one flame, but the one that, along with Monteniggers, shone the brightest dispelled the darkness of inactivity. “The Coming” – the most significant, longest-running and, for a long time, the only hip hop show on Montenegrin radio waves, hosted by one of the local pioneers of this culture, DJ Mono, with his collaborators – will turn out to be crucial for the Who See group. It was the place where the duo from Boka connected with the Montenegrin audience. They were delighted with live freestyles, which was a very rare practice at the time. The Coming also helped Who See to get in touch with their colleagues from Serbia, above all with the group Bad Copy. The result was an appearance on the compilation “Ulice vol. 1” (2003). It was published by the Bassivity label. Who See had guest appearance on the release of the group 43zla “Sve same barabe” (2004) and performed in Belgrade. In addition to that debut album “Sviranje kupcu” and its songs were on a high level. Lyrically and in a sense of production. Very fast Deda and Noyz very known as the most important rap band in Montenegro.
All previously mentioned performers still strove to sound like their colleagues from Serbia, mainly because they listened them the most. After Monteniggers only Who See entered the space for an authentic Montenegrin expression, songs in which the coastal dialect and street slang of Boka uncontrollably dominated. No one on the ex Yu counterparts sounded like them and that fact alone was enough to set them apart.
Their debut album consisted of classical representative songs (“Rajm buk krcat”, “Bokeška brigada”), social themed songs (“S kintom tanki”, “Tu smo đe smo”), songs that dealt with social problems such as drug addiction (“Batina ti dat”), the frequency of traffic accidents (“Put pasat”) and police violence (“Stop police”). There were also descriptions of love experiences on the coast (“Feste ispod vešte”, “Love at a distance”) which will become the trademark of the group. Who See conquered the rap audience in Montenegro and beyond. Duo experienced a real boom with the second album. It paved the way for the group to become one of the most recognizable musical groups in the country. Thanks to the memorable chorus, the dance rhythm, but perhaps most of all – the unique music video recorded in Cuba and signed by Zonjo from The Books of Knjige, the hit track “Regeton Montenegro” made Deda and Noyz a regional sensation. It gained them wider audience which was generally not interested in rap. It was an ideal prelude to the second album “Krš i drača”.
With that recipe of Monteniggers – local themes and slang, a fun and humorous approach – hits such as “Nije preša”, “Shoferscheiben”, “Koji sam meni kralj” they brought the group a popularity that no other rap group in the country ever enjoyed. This was followed by performances in the region, awards, collaborations with pop musicians, and then, for many, the shocking decision of the National Television that Who See should represent Montenegro at the Eurovision. Montenegrin rap made its way back in every household. Knowing that they are no longer addressing only the youth hanging out on the streets, duo from Boka had to soften their expression a little. The beats were not so hard, marijuana was no longer mentioned in every song, the amount of indignation due to the social situation in the country that could be felt on previous albums was reduced. Generally the approach became a bit more cheerful. These formulas were used on the next albums “Nemam ti kad” and “Pamidore”.
Rap moves to Nikšić and Bar
In the shadow of the success of Who See, the center of events has moved to Nikšić and Bar. Hip hop collectives from these two cities joined forces through the NaVamGa organization in an attempt to revive the scene, which had been quite stagnant until then. They produced a series of albums and compilations that brings together performers from these two cities… and a few from outside. This movement was characterized by independence. They made music at home, recorded songs, published them and organized events by themselves. The Internet began to play an increasingly important role in music promotion and communication in general. First Montenegrin hip hop online forum Rotacija appeared a little earlier. Unfortunately, it could not offer much. It lasted for a few years mainly due to the rapper’s publishing inactivity at the time. It became practically the exclusive channel for advertising the team from Nikšić and Bar. It was the only alternative for the mainstream media in general not interested in their work. Remember that early 2000s dividing lines between rappers? While the first group that fostered a sound more accessible to a wider audience almost disappeared from the radar (Gold N’ Green spawned a few more tracks, and one of their videos was on the regional MTV channel), the NaVamGa collective belonged to the second group. Led by local leaders Psiho Mistik (Nikšić) and Dvorska Luda (Bar), whose solo releases paved the way for others, this group of performers mostly leaned towards a darker and harder sound and abstract lyrics. Their rap was esoteric, sometimes avant-garde and sometimes hermetic. It was rap for rappers and fans of alternative sound. It limited their media exposure and access to wider audience. This did not particularly affect the members of the NaVamGa collective. They saw themselves as rebels against a system that did not give space to something, which was not pop lemonades or at least cheerful and humorous songs. The best-received releases were those signed by Bacili (“Plan C” in 2013) and Joe Shua Kizz (“Barska mušica” in 2011). Bači Rimu Trupa from Podgorica cultivated similar expression. They worked closely with NaVamGa collective.
Sivilo – over the Belgrade to the stars
Meanwhile, the Podgorica rapper Sivilo slowly began to attract different audience. The singles turned to videos like “MALA” and “Sam protiv svih” presented a rapper who carefully built his image outside of the Montenegrin scene. He looked closely at his Belgrade colleagues. That’s why the stubborn Montenegrin rap audience and performers did not accept him particularly well at the start. Off course he will deal with them later through several songs. Sivilo, as usually happens with musicians from these areas, chose a roundabout way. First goal is to succeed in neighboring Serbia, then to be accepted here. There was no doubt that this was a technically proficient MC. He delivered his lyrics in a convincing manner and was no stranger to word games. The subject of his songs (from criticism of society to male-female relations and celebrating himself as someone who is above the things he perceived as the diseases of the csociety) and the sound of his songs was catchy enough to reach those for whom rap was not necessarily a favorite musical choice. His expression was actually not so much authentically Montenegrin as it was close to what the Bassivity label nurtured at the time, so it is not surprising that he became one of their performers. In the eyes of the audience, this strengthened his status as a must-hear rapper and gave him the opportunity to be heard throughout the region. The debut album “The Dark Side of Happiness” met positive reviews. Sivilo did not bring anything revolutionary new to the genre, but he brought his craft to a high level and became a recognizable name, the most famous representative of the Montenegrin scene next to the group Who See. He performed at some of the most important festivals in the region, won the charts and released another album and two mixtapes. The impression is that his presence in the media and the frequency of concerts in Montenegro did not correspond with the popularity of his songs. Maybe partly it was because he spent more time in Belgrade, or perhaps because the Podgorica rapper’s music was not as accessible to the local media as that of the group Who See.
Random is appreciated both on the street and in intellectual circles
There was no rap community in Podgorica like in Nikšić and Bar, but rappers who would intrigue the audience began to appear in the capital. With a couple of songs Random was present even in the years after the release of “Stone Rhapsody”. He was also known as one of the better beatlers on Serbian hip hop forums. His rise began ten years ago with the group JJ Okoča. Spanning from 2013 to 2016, the group released several releases from the debut EP “Niko nije spreman” to the album “AB revolucija” without much fanfare. Their songs were made of authentic combination of Podgorica slang, witty comments on social events and retellings of events from the hood with main protagonists such as local dealers and fraudsters, city faces, and pop personalities. The Montenegrin media pumped these images into public domain. Those images refracted through the prism of street cynicism, slowly found their way to the most diverse audience. With the “word to mouth” technique, Okoča’s music reached both street kids and intellectuals. Songs of Podgorica, being too brutal for the local media, could not be heard on radio or TV, but newspaper columns wrote about them. Performances in Montenegro and abroad, collaborations with famous rappers began to take place. Random gained regional popularity through rap battles. Since 2014, the Rap Skillz organization has held a regional competition in rap battling. There, Random emerged as the champion on several occasions. Videos from those tournaments published on the YouTube were watched throughout the ex Yu. Many people outside Montenegro heard about tč6he rapper from Podgorica who was distinguished by exceptional technical skill and complexity in arranging rhymes. On the other hand, he popularized this type of competition among rappers in Montenegro. This was the way that battles were enthusiasticač6lly followed even by those completely alien to hip hop culture. The expression he established with Okoča has been honed to diamond quality on his solo releases. Last of them was last year’s extremely praised album “Eo viđi”. He became the most popular rapper in Montenegro alongside Who See and Sivilo. He did it all without videos (not counting a couple of videos by Okoča), without a publisher, with minimal media exposure and very rare pč6erformances in the last five years.
Montenegro represents
During the 2010s, new rap artists began to appear in almost all parts of Montenegro. The successes of the č6groups Who See and Sivilo, the expansion of online communication and social networks made possible to connect with rap communities and independent labels that sprung up outside of Montenegro. The fact that NaVamGa, Okoča and others showed that new artists essentially do not need labels and traditional media influenced the presence of the genre. The north of the country has always been less active compared to the rest of Montenegro. On the other hand the Berane band Brutal was present at “Stone Rhapsody”. One of the members of the NaVamGa collective was the Prefix from Bijelo Polje. He released debut album “Budi se Prefix” in 2014. One of the Montenegrin trap pioneers, Bradr Hari is from Pljevlja. He collaborated more with Serbian rappers than with Montenegrin ones. He is supported by JetSet Records. Stato from Mojkovac is one of the hardworking rappers from Montenegro, with a bunch of releases launched by his own B2 label. He started hip hop festival Centrum in his own city. Nikšić’s Lucid released the EP “Žeđ bolesnika” in 2020. Group from Herceg Novi Meštri o’ majka released the album “Iz meštrove škrabije” in 2014. Their fellow citizen Remety Beat was involved in several projects, while the Podgorica-Cetinje duo Story and Strašilo produced the albums “Davanje po turinu” (2015) and “Predrag” (2016). This is to mention only some of the performers’ active in this period. Story and Strašilo introduced themselves to the region through successful performances in the reality show “I have a talent”. There is an impression that they did not capitalize on this success as much as they could. Story released the album “Bez Natege” and several singles and accompanying videos in cooperation with the Monopol label from Republika Srpska.
After Bar and Nikšić, the primacy when it comes to the largest concentration of active rappers was taken by Budva. It happened mostly thanks to the Radio Katakomba collective. Necke, Dobbla, Most Wanted, Jollanda and others published a series of colorful releases for this label. This team also organized several hip hop events in Budva.
The gathering point is missing, but at least women are more active
The Internet allowed better connection and easier publishing for Montenegrin rappers. In addition, it made promotion difficult. Their music, in numerous accounts, reached a very limited number of people. Today, the battle for the attention of content consumers on the Internet is increasingly intense. It seems that the Montenegrin rap scene needs a better connection among its participants. The connection that goes beyond the virtual. Furthermore hip-hop fans need a place to get together – in cyber or real world. The audience had to be directed to some relevant source, which will serve them important information, events and products. Until then they are left to wander looking for the YouTube channels of artists and labels.
The presence of rappers in the media today is greater than before, but their representation is still very superficial and it usually covers the news about some releases or events. There is no deeper analysis of the events and is filled with extremely limited understanding of hip-hop culture.
The most important hip-hop radio show The Coming is no more. Largest and at the time only hip-hop festival Asfaltiranje has been shut down in the mid-’10s. Practically no one systematically deals with the topic of hip-hop development in Montenegro. The rap scene is fragmented. A bunch of mini universes rarely connects. Therefore, there is no chance to produce significant cultural shifts.
Hip-hop in the ex-Yu is no longer exotic. It has largely become a mainstream. Regional artists of the genre have been conquering the charts for some time. Some have millions of views on YouTube, regularly appear in the media and collaborate with famous musicians of other genres. Since they address the audience from the BSHC speaking area, they have a significant number of fans in Montenegro as well.
Montenegrin rappers are still an endemic species and they still rarely manage to win a share of the regional pie of success. The fact that Montenegro currently has two active female rappers can be a sign of positive changes. AV47, who lives and works in Belgrade, has already drawn attention to herself with several hit singles. Recently, Sarah Tonin introduced her first songs to the audience. This may be a hint that more women will be encouraged to “drop the rhyme”. Previously we had only two of them – Labia frequent collaborator of Who See and Apro who worked with NaVamGa collective. Unfortunately, none of them did not make it to the album.
Stefan STRUGAR
The article is part of the project “Gaining Freedom – Cultural corrective from an individual to a collective action” supported through small-grants program. The program is part of the national project “Diagnosis and therapy on freedom of expression, hate speech and ethnic tensions” which is a joint initiative of Montenegro Media Institute, Center for Democracy and Human Rights and Portal UL Info aimed at strengthening and advocating for freedom of expression, combating hate speech and reducing ethnic tensions in Montenegro. The project is financed by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and co-financed by the Ministry of Public Administration of Montenegro. The content of this article is sole responsibility of the author and in no way reflects the views of the donors.