Sagopa Kajmer

Born in Samsun, Turkey, in 1978 as Yunus Özyavuz, Sagopa Kajmer began his career as a DJ on a local radio station before moving to Istanbul, where he studied Persian language and literature at university. Active since the late 1990s, he first became known under the names DJ Mic Check and then Silahsız Kuvvet, founded the collective Kuvvetmira in 1998, and appeared on the compilation Yeraltı Operasyonu in 1999 amid the rise of Turkish underground rap. With the 2002 album Sagopa Kajmer he established a dark, introspective identity for Turkish hip-hop, characterized by dense writing, measured flows and productions marked by melancholic atmospheres, arabesque-like inflections and, at times, references to Anatolian melodies. Both a producer and a rapper, he worked with Ceza in the early 2000s and contributed to the soundtrack of the film G.O.R.A. in 2004. His discography includes Bir Pesimistin Gözyaşları (2004), Romantizma (2005), Kötü İnsanları Tanıma Senesi (2008), Şarkı Koleksiyoncusu (2009), Saydam Odalar (2011), Kalp Hastası (2013) and Kağıt Kesikleri (2022). In 2005 he co-founded the label Melankolia Müzik and also released, together with Kolera, the albums İkimizi Anlatan Bir Şey (2007) and Bendeki Sen (2010).