Bulgarian hip hop

The Bulgarian hip hop culture development and influence is divided into two main periods. "The First Wave" ran from the mid '80s to mid '90s of the 20th century. This period is known with its underground rap and quite unfamous breakdancing crews, few graffiti artist and almost no DJs. At that time some of the active rappers were Avi MC, Teslata and Bulldogz.

"The Second Wave" from 1999 to 2005, was a big time success in comparison to the first one. There were many artists, much media support and things were looking good until the Second Wave's collapse. Prominent artists from this time are Misho Shamara with his RnB Records label, DJ Stancho, Spens and Slim and their label Sniper Records. Those two labels were quite controversial in terms of "real hip-hop", sampling and mostly which is the better one. This east-west conflict was and is present in the US hip-hop scene, but is was pretty strong, aggressive and real there. In Bulgaria it was only for commercial attention - there were no real problems such as in the USA.

Notable acts of hip-hop positive development are the several clubs specialised in R'n'B and hip-hop music, established by Misho Shamara and his clothing line. On the other side - Sniper Records - the quite successful hip-hop magazine "Knockout", the "NGP" video shooting studio, and the several hip-hop events powered by Sniper Records such as the Wu-Tang Clan and RZA concert in Bulgaria and the "No borders" balkan festivals placed in Sofia. No doubt this was a big progress for the Bulgarian hip-hop.

There are two main trends in Bulgarian hip-hop: mainstream and underground.The first one set by Gumeni Glavi and their label R'n'b Records mirrors the American rap scene as depicted on MTV, complete with grillz, heavy jewelry, scantly clad women, Dirty South/East Coast/West Coast variations. The most distinct commercial Bulgarian rappers are Misho Shamara, who has recently finished recording his newest album in the U.S., Konsa, 100 Kila, Upsurt. There are also some Bulgarian mainstream hip-hop artists who collaborate with folk-stars (e.g.Ustata). The hip-hop scene in Bulgaria consists of numerous performers, including Spens, DeepCode (Pierro and Styleback) Wosh and Yoko, Deadly Mindz, Kuchetata (The Dogz), X-Team, KingSize, FARS (Funatic Adventures of Rhyme Sapiens), Horata na Izgreva (The Sunrise People), warm-up act of Onyx and Das Efx concerts. DRS+ (Dope Reach Squad working alongside Nokaut since 2002). Udarnata Grupa (The Striking Team) is the most prominent underground formation in Bulgaria, with no media appearance, a few events in Plovdiv, but with own distinctive style of rapping which is appreciated form those who are familiar with what is to be called "real hip-hop".

Upsurt is a very famous hip-hop group, which has gone from underground to mainstream. Their first album, Bozdugan, was released in 1999 and was based on rude and vulgar rhymes as well as original pop references. Their latest hit, Vtora Cedka, is a collaboration with Maia Rodriguez; a combination of rapping and Latin rhythms.

Lyrics focus mainly on agricultural issues, intra-Slavic conflicts, nationalism, as well more traditional topics like bling, subject women, relationships and racism.

In the end of 2005 there was a decay in the scene, many artists retired due to lack of media support, finance but mostly lack of interest from the public. Only a few artists continued to work hard, but didn't achieve any success at all.