Ezhel

Ezhel, formerly also known as Ais Ezhel, is real name Ömer Sercan İpekçioğlu and was born on July 1, 1991 in Ankara. The Turkish rapper draws on various styles of trap, hip-hop and reggae. in 2006, still on the road as a reggae singer with the band Afra Tafra, he also began performing as a street musician. After disbanding his first band, he founded the band Kökler Filizleniyor with a few friends from Ankara. He used the stage name Ais Ezhel until 2017 and released his debut album Müptezel (Turkish for "worthless") in 2017. In terms of content, Ezhel deals with street life, the capital's underground culture and socio-critical issues such as child labor, poverty, sexual harassment and child abuse. He also addresses the arrest of journalists and incorporates Kurdish words into his texts. In 2019, the New York Times named him one of the 15 most important contemporary European pop artists. Ezhel has lived in Berlin since 2019 and in the same year released the album Lights Out together with his rap colleague Ufo361, which made it into the German, Austrian and Swiss charts. After another collaboration album, this time with Murda and the album Made in Turkey (2020), the single "Devam" with Gentleman and Luciano is also released in 2020, which climbs to number 9 in the German charts. in 2021, Ezhel released the single "4 Kanaken" with Haftbefehl, Capo & Veysel, as well as the track "Lifeline" with Gentleman and "Not a Day" with Patrice. The joint single "Hot Baklava Germany" with Geenaro & Ghana Beats feat. Mero, Summer Cem is released in August 2023. The song reaches number 72 in the German charts. In November 2024, the second studio album Derdo is released.