culture, subculture and counterculture - Facultatea de Litere

THE ORIGINS OF ROMANIAN HIP-HOP: SOCIAL ISSUES
The market success of this first album attracts the attention of the record
label “Digital Records”, and thus two new albums appear, Nimic normal
(“Nothing Ordinary”), April 5, 1996, and Suta (“The Hundred”, but also
meaning the 100 ml of strong drinks one can order in any club), June 23, 1997
www.hiphopkulture.ro). The latter rapidly becomes the best-selling album of the
year, and many consider this – together with the following album, Nici o
problemă (“No Problems”) as being their best album to date. It features the
explosion of their specific east-coast sound and the social mockery that Paraziţii
have taken to the rank of art.
In March 1999, the group make their first international breakthrough.
Following some shows dedicated to the Romanian hip-hop scene, put together
by the manager of the group, on Radio FM Austria (the most listened youth
radio station), Paraziţii attract the attention of the Vienna “Lotus Film” film
production studio, who become interested in their music, in view of a
collaboration for the Nordrand OST. The result: Paraziţii become the first
Romanian rap group to appear on a movie OST, with paid copyrights, together
with Ace of Base, Neneh Cherry, Kelly Family, Leila K, etc
(www.20cmrecords.com).
1999 sees the beginning of the group’s emergence as the judge and jury of
the Romanian hip-hop scene. “A&A Records” lands their next album, on July
14, 1999, Nici o problemă (“No Problems”). Featuring (already) classical tracks,
such as Nu mă schimbi (“You Can’t Change Me”), Omu’ din lift (“The Man in
the Elevator”), Din inima străzii (“From the Heart of the Streets”), or Bagabonţii
‘99 (loosely translated as “Hood Hustlers”), the album brings notoriety and
fame. The video for Bagabonţii ‘99 breaks the audience record on the national
music TV station “Atomic TV” 2 weeks after it is released, and one month later
it is banned by C.N.A. (the National Audiovisual Council), and at the end of the
year the radio station ProFM declares Omu’ din lift the best song of the year
(www.hiphopboard.net/news.php). The place of DJ Ies is taken by one the most
prolific Romanian DJs, Petre Urda (stage name FreakaDaDisk), completing the
present formation of the group.
In 2000, together with a new album, Iartă-mă (“Forgive Me”), Paraziţii,
together with B.U.G. Mafia and Zdob şi Zdub, hold a concert in Chişinău,
Moldova, and the reaction of the public gets Paraziţii invited to the “Black
Elephant” club, the most renowned underground Moldavian club. After a
collaboration between “A&A Records” and “Hip-Hop Records” (one of the
biggest record labels in the U.S.A.), Paraziţii appear on the “Best of
International Hip-Hop” compilation, with the Nu mă schimbi track, along with
consecrated names, such as Texta (Austria) or Sens Unik (Switzerland)
(www.hiphop.zoom.ro). It should be mentioned that the producers of the
compilation were given a choice between several Romanian hip-hop groups.
While having more and more problems due to censorship, in November the
group begin their own recording studio, as a part of a bigger project to be
finished during 2001.
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