Slusaj Mater

Edo Maajka

Edo Maajka (born as Edin Osmić on December 22, 1978 in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Yugoslavia) is a famous Bosniak rapper from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Edin's stage name "Edo Maajka" means "Edo the Mother".

Beginnings

Edin was born and raised in Brčko where he finished his elementary schooling. In 1992 when the Bosnian war started, Edo left his homeland Bosnia and went to Croatia. He settled in Zagreb and started attending secondary mechanical engineering school. After the war, Edo returned to Bosnia to study criminal law in Tuzla, but he never graduated.

Edin took an interest in hip-hop when he was still in high school and began battling at the age of 15. He also recorded a few of his demos on his own, creating his own backing by beatboxing. He went to Tuzla and became a member of the hardcore rap group Diskord, later named Obrana (Defence) . The group became one of the best in the city of Tuzla and all of Bosnia. Their demo single "Odbrana '99" (Defence '99) was the hit of the year on the "Radio Hit" station in Brčko.

Edo's love is hip hop and rap and he first gained exposure on the radio station "Kameleon", which featured his first freestyle rap. He is still a big part of the station's "Fmjam" show. "FM Jam" gathered young talents to create the Bosnian rap group "Disciplinska Komisija" (Disciplinary Commission), which Edo is a member of.

After a year of studying, Edo quit his education due to financial problems and went back to Zagreb to meet his friend Shot (from the group Elemental), where they recorded his first single "Minimalni rizik" (Minimum Risk) and, a month later, "Mahir i Alma". The songs were top hits on the Zagreb "Radio 101" station's show "Blackout" and the response was enthusiastic. The demo "Mahir i Alma" became Kameleon's hit of 2001.

"Edo Maajka"

Edo chose "Menart" as his label, no other label would take him, and his first album "Slušaj Mater" (Listen to Your Mother) was released in spring of 2002. The eponymous song became a hit in Bosnia and the rest of former Yugoslavia. In 2003 Edo became the most popular rapper in the ex-Yugoslavian countries. He also received several awards including Zlatna Koogla, Davorin, Porin (music award) and Crni Mačak. He established his reputation as the best and most famous rapper in the region, releasing more singles and being featured on songs by other artists, such as "Teško je ful biti kul" by Hladno Pivo. Edo had a successful tour with The Beat Fleet and finished the year 2003 with the hit single "Prikaze" (Spectres).

Soon after, in April 2004, Edo published his new album "No Sikiriki". Edo and Lexsaurini started a new booking agency A1 Booking Agency, resulting in the most booked concerts for a rapper in that region. Edo toured until the end of the year to promote "No Sikiriki". He spent 2005 performing in concerts and writing new songs for his third album.

Recording of songs for the new album "Stig'o Ćumur" (Coal's Arrived) started in August 2005, and the album was released in March 2006. The first single was "To mora da je ljubav" (It Must Be Love) featuring Remi from Elemental), for which he shot the music video in Sarajevo. Edo started the promotion of his new album "Stig'o Ćumur" at the end of March, the day his album was released.

Edo fourth album was released on March 25, 2008. The album's name was changed from "Sjeti Se" to "Idemo Dalje", and since the beginning of December it was changed and released under "Balkansko a Naše"

The Albums

Edo's first album, "Slušaj Mater" (Listen to Your Mother), became the most famous album of the entire Balkan region as was the the biggest hit. The album shook up the ground of the pop music scene, which dominated at the time.This is the album that brought Edo Maajka into the mainstream with his to the point, brilliant lyrics.This album changes the whole music scene in the Balkans, that is why Edo is the biggest hip hop star right now.

His second album, No Sikiriki, was the top album in terms of sales that year. The album had five major hits including the titular track, making it one of the most popular albums he ever released.

Edo third album was, Stig'o Ćumur, which had 4 singles. This album is famous for the last track "Severina", initially thought as a diss track to the singer Severina, but it turned out to be about the problems of Bosnia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia.The name of the song was because people did not pay attention to the words he had to say about the problems. Also about this album, it was thought taht this would be Edo's last album, but it wasn't.

Edo fourth album, Balkansko a Naše, was or is a commercial success. It was advertised as going back to the old 90's hip hop in Bosnia and Croatia. The name of the album is interesting and a person not from that region (Bosnia, Croatia,etc...) could not understand the meaning, which roughly translates to "Balkan, But Ours".

Meaning of Maajka

Edo Maajka is from Brčko. In Brčko the term majka has two meanings, one is mother and the other has a distinct meaning of started. It can't be really explained, it's just as Edo says "something that was used for a long time where he comes from".

Increasing Popularity

Edo Maajka popularity is mostly due because of his originality. He was quoted as saying "When I entered hip hop, I wanted to be something different, not American but more Bosnian/Balkan hip hop". During the time he entered the hip hop scene the Balkan region, almost every rapper had a American sounding rap name, Edo wanted something different, so Edo Maajka was born. He broke down all the doors in the Balkan region and thus expanding the hip hop scene there. His fist album shook down the pop music scene. He talks about the so called "Estrada" (pop/folk scene) in a negative way in the songs "Klise"(cliché) and "To sto se trazi"(that what is looked for). Since then hip hop has been led by Edo Maajka and is still expanding.

Edo Maajka's largest following is in Bosnia, his homeland, and he has a great number of fans in Croatia, Serbia and the rest of the former Yugoslav states. He also has fans in the diaspora of former Yugoslavia, mainly in Western Europe and North America. Edo expanded the hip-hop scene in Bosnia and the Balkans and has become the number one rapper in the Balkan region, with increasing popularity in Europe and the world. He is still a member of "Odbrana" and "Disciplinska Komisija". He often visits his homeland Bosnia and hometown Brčko.

Other Work

He also worked on the soundtrack to the film "Ljeto u Zlatnoj Dolini" ("Summer in the Golden Valley"), directed by Srđan Vuletić. The soundtrack for the movie was released on the 2003 album "Edo Maajka & Raja - Zlatna Dolina". He has said in an interview that he will work on the soundtrack for another film, but nothing more.

In 2003, Davor Konjikušić and Mišo Babović made a documentary about Edo Maajka called "Trajno Nastanjeni Stranac" and it was a hit at the Zagreb Film Festival.

In 2007, he recorded a duet with a Montenegrin band The Books of Knjige, titled "Ja suludan neću biti" ("I Won't Be Mad"), in order to promote Montenegrin government's anti-drug campaign.

HTV filmed a documentary about Edo called "Edo Maajka - Sevdah o Rodama". The documentary premiered July 27, 2007 on the Motovun Film Festival and Sunday October 28, 2007 Edo Maajka - Sevdah o Rodama premiered on HRT.

At the beginning of June he announced that he created a new band called TRNOKOP and the badn premiered at the Rokajfest. The band is somewhat of a Rage Against the Machine in that it combines reggea, hip hop, and rock.

Themes

Edo Maajka often raps about the contemporary political situation and the consequences of the Yugoslav wars, representing the Bosnian point of view, but also about the problems of the three main ethnic groups in Bosnia. For example, on "On je mlađi" he raps about the son of a Croatian War veteran who is engaged to a Serb girl. His lyrics are not limited to politics - he often raps about youth issues like in "Saletova Osveta", the state of pop music ("Kliše"), bad rapping ("Slušaj mater") and others. Some of the songs have positive messages, such as the title track from his album "No Sikiriki".

Feud with Severina

Edo had a feud with the very popular Croatian pop singer Severina. In his 2004 album No Sikiriki, Maajka sang "svi znamo repat, svako može Severinu jebat" (everyone knows how to rap, anyone can fuck Severina), apparently referring to posers on the music scene who were boasting with invented sexual adventures (false rumors of orgies involving Severina) which were abundant in the early 2000s. Interestingly, Severina became involved in a much-publicized sex scandal later the same year, being caught on video tape with a married-with two children Bosnian businessman. In her album Severgreen, Severina responded back in the song Hrvatica (Croatian Girl) where in a rhyme she sang "hrvatski reperi dignite hajku, djeca vam slušaju krivu majku" (Croatian rappers, revolt - your kids are listening to the wrong "mother"). Edo in turn took that as a personal attack on him, stating in an interview that Severina used this because he was a Bosnian Muslim but more popular in Croatia than she was.

In reference to this feud, the last song on Edo's third album is called "Severina". The song is actually about the problems the Balkans is facing today. On his previous album "No Sikiriki", the video spot "Mater Vam Jebem" ("I fuck your mother") was dealing also with the problems in the Balkans, but no one paid attention to his words, instead paying attention to the cursing, so he hoped by naming this song "Severina", that people would listen precise to what he had to say.

Personal life

Edo opened a bar in Zagreb in 2006 and called it "No Sikiriki".

He separated from his wife in late 2007; according to her "he was spending too much time running his bar and being in the studio".

Edo has a new girlfriend. He met her in Tel Aviv. Edo said he was taking things slow. She got to know about his career while they went to a music festival together. There she found out that he was one of the performers.

Edo has been quoted saying that "I don't see myself on a stage at the age of 35".

Edo has been quoted as saying that "I'd rather have a fan tell me that my album is great, than anything else". He was referring to awards.

Edo turned down an offer to write his biography saying it was still too early for that.

He stills talks about opening a fast food "Cevap" restaurant, but still hasn't managed to set his finances straight.

International Fame

Edo Maajka's song "Bomba" was used in an episode of the second season Sleeper Cell titled "School".
His 2007 documentary was featured in the Bosnian Chicago Film Festival, Unerhoert Film Festival in Hamburg and MOFFOM in Prag
The single "Gansi" has a sample from the Guns-n-Roses
His 2007 documentary won two awards

2007 - People's choice - 5th Liburnija Film Festival
2008 - Documentary Festival (DORF) - Best documentary

He is well known for his involvement with non-profit organizations that include UNICEF.
He was the only Bosnian and rapper to be featured at the Aerodrome festival in 2005, where there were many famous world singers like Prodigy, Asian Dub Foundation, Hivesse, Incubus and many more.He also performed at the Exit festival in 2005.

Awards

Davorin:

2003

Urban artist of the year "Edo Maajka"
Album of the year - "Slušaj Mater"
New sound - Edo Maajka
Video of the year - Edo Maajka "Znaš me"

2004

International work - Edo Maajka and Hladno pivo - "Teško je ful biti kul"

2005

Urban artist of the year "Edo Maajka"
Album of the year "No Sikiriki"
Urban song of the year "No Sikiriki"
Song of the year (in all categories) "No Sikiriki"

2006

Best song together - Edo Maajka and Frenkie "Hajmo Rušit"

2007

Album of the year "Stig'o Ćumur"
Song of the year "Bomba"

Porin:

2003

New artist "Edo Maajka" (2003)

2004

Best vocal featuring - Edo Maajka and Hladno Pivo - "Teško je ful biti kul"(2004)

2005

Best urban album "No Sikiriki" (2005)
Best video spot "Pržiiiii" (2005)

Zlatna Koogla:

2005

Artist of the year "Edo Maajka"
Best video spot "Edo Maajka - Pržiiiii"
Best web site "www.edomaajka.com"
Zlatni DOP (Golden DOP)of the year - Artist accepting of the criticism "Edo Maajka"

2007

Artist of the year "Edo Maajka"
Album of the year "Stig'o Ćumur"
Concerts held during the year "Edo Maajka"
Design and imaging of the album "Stig'o Ćumur"
People's choice "Edo Maajka"
Zlatni DOP (Golden DOP)of the year - Artist accepting of the criticism "Edo Maajka"