Sagopa Kajmer

Turkish rapper Yunus Özyavuz (August 17, 1978), better known by his stage name Sagopa Kajmer, rose to fame in the early aughts with his vibrant mix of '90s boom-bap and Arabesque music. Born and raised in the city of Samsun, he was heavily influenced by his parent's record collection, which included everything from African music to the Italian classics. After working as a DJ in a local radio station, he moved to Istanbul in 1997 to study Persian language and literature at Istanbul University. One year later, he founded the hip-hop group Kuvvetmira and made his recording debut on the compilation Yeraltı Operasyonu under the name Silahsız Kuvvet. Further releases like the Pesimist EP series, Gerilim 99 (1999), Toplama Kampı (2000) with Ceza, Sözlerim Silahım (2001), and İhtiyar Heyeti (2002) established him as one of the strongest voices in Turkish underground rap scene while also giving him his first taste of success. In 2004, he decided to change his alias to Sagopa Kajmer, the title of his critically acclaimed 2002 studio album. In the years that followed, his career took off considerably thanks to well-received titles such as Bir Pesimistin Gözyaşları (2004), İkimizi Anlatan Bir Şey (2007), Bendeki Sen (2010) with Kolera, and Kalp Hastası (2013), all of which enjoyed great popularity in his native Turkey. Following the release of the EPs Sarkastik (2019) and Yunus (2020), Sagopa Kajmer reached Number 15 on the local charts with the Şehinşah collaborative single "Bla Bla Bla Bla," included in his 2022 full-length Kağıt Kesikleri.