Rapper Ezhel has imbibed music and art with his mother's milk. Hailing from Ankara, his family is deeply rooted in the art scene. He grew up in a female-powered household, was socialized in a leftist-socialist way, and from an early age was made aware of diversity within society. It was clear to him early on that something could be moved socially with music and art.

But what was special about his rap was initially trampled upon. Ezhel's rap is in Turkish and no label wanted to sign him. Fortunately, he started rapping at a time when the first platforms like YouTube, MySpace and the like were triumphant. Ezhel had to get 100 lira together to upload his music there and promptly surfed the wave of success. His first song, "Hayate Dise," was a diss against his teacher, because he didn't have the place in the sun in his school days either. "Rap gave me the opportunity to talk about problems with people".

Ezhel came to Berlin in 2018 and rediscovered the Turkish community for himself. And not only that, Ezhel's family has music in its blood through and through. So it's hardly surprising that his cousin is none other than techno DJane İpek, who has been mixing up the Berlin club scene since the early '90s. Both met and fell in love in Berlin. "Musically, we are both not far from each other," says İpek.

Successful rapper Ufo361 also became aware of the boy with the Turkish punchlines. The two got to know each other via Instagram and shortly afterwards dropped their joint album "Lights Out," which was hailed as an absolute success in the rap scene.

In his home country, Turkey, the socially critical rapper had a hard time. Ezhel was arrested for thematizing sex, drugs and politics in his rap lyrics in Turkey and sat in prison in Istanbul for a month, not knowing when he would get out. "I'm proud of every Turkish rapper because it was hard for us to express ourselves. To be simple."

He has found a second home in his adopted city of Berlin, not only physically, but also with his music. He calls Berlin the birthplace of Turkish rap: "Turkish rap was born in Berlin. There was no Turkish rap in Turkey."

Ezhel plays with language, words and beats, moving musically between trap, hip-hop and reggae. His credo: "Art cannot be confined."

We accompanied Ezhel and his cousin IPek through Neukölln and talked to him about identity, the will to initiate something socially and living torn between two cultures.

00:00 Intro
00:33 Ezhel on his artistic upbringing in Ankara and how he and his cousin DJane Ipek complement each other musically.
04:33 How Ezhel wrote his first rap lyrics and his path to his first release
07:12 Why Ezhel's rap landed him in jail and why art can't be locked up
09:31 Ezhel on the birth of Turkish rap and why he's proud of every Turkish rapper
11:00 Why Berlin is more than just his adopted home for Ezhel, how he plays with language in his lyrics, and learning German
12:31 Ezhel on the problems and his connection to Turkey
14:00 How Ezhel and Ipek are an enrichment for each other and why they immortalized their homesickness in a song
15:11 What home is for Ezhel


Tracklist
00:00 Intro
00:42 Ezhel - Daima
05:19 Ezhel - Sakata
06:21 Ezhel - Geceler
08:02 Ezhel & Kelvyn Colt - End Of Time
09:18 Murda & Ezhel - Made In Turkey
10:18 Ezhel & Ufo361 - We Are Kral
11:22 Ezhel & Kelvyn Colt - Link Up
12:05 Ezhel - Mayrig
15:11 Gentleman x Luciano x Ezhel - Devam


With:
Ezhel
DJane Ipek

Author
Negar Ghalamzan

Sound
Vladimir Gelwich

Camera
Sel Dizman
Ayşe Alacakaptan

Editing
Louis Huwald

Production management
Laura Obereisenbuchner

Production Management ZDF
Christiane Alsfasser
Anna Schmid

Creative Producer
Gabriel Rufatto

Editing Social Media
Isabelle Krämer
Ariam Hilbtay

Producer
Bastian Asdonk

Editing ZDF
Daniel Konhäuser, Holger Faber, Nil Banu Varol

Format Development ZDF
Vanessa Olivier, Leonie Steinfeld

Editorial Social Media ZDF
Laura Diaz, Muriel Spiegel

Editorial Online ZDF
Katharina Klaas, Thurid Mohr, Heidi Spirk


#GERMANIA #EZHEL

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)