Bilgin Özçalkan (; born 31 December 1976), also known by his stage name Ceza (, Turkish for 'punishment'), is a
Turkish rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
and songwriter.
Early works
In 1995, Özçalkan started a group called U.C.S and performed with this group until about 1998. His group Nefret got signed under Hammer Music in 2000, and the album ''Meclis Ala – İstanbul'' was released. In 2001, Özçalkan proceeded to release the album ''Anahtar''. The title track on this album that holds the same name as the album itself was the first one that came with a music video. The album was a great success, and Özçalkan performed at many concerts from it.
However, Özçalkan's big breakthrough came in 2004. He was invited to one of the biggest rock festivals in Turkey, namely RockIstanbul, and was asked to perform on stage there. He was able to showcase his rap music in an environment that held the largest Turkish popular music acts.
In 2005, at the Turkish rock music festival
Rock 'n Coke, Ceza let out a profanity-laden freestyle rap directed at the singer
Kıraç, who had made comments about rap not being real music.
After these two projects, Özçalkan had a featuring with artist Mercan Dede in his album ''Su'' ("Water").
Personal life
Özçalkan was born on 31 December 1976 in
Üsküdar
Üsküdar () is a large and densely populated district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered to the north by Beykoz, to the east by Ümraniye, to the southeast by Ataşehir and to the south by Kadıköy; ...
,
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
, but he was registered on 1 January 1977 in his birth certification. He worked for 8 years as an electrician before he started rapping. He is the first and only Turkish singer who won a
MTV Music Award
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
in 2007. Again in 2007, he created his own clothing brand called Evin Delisi.
[ ED BRAND https://www.evindelisi.com.tr/ Retrieved 24 November 2019.]
His sister,
Ayben Özçalkan Ülkü is also a rapper.
Discography
Solo albums
Split albums
;with Dr. Fuchs
;with
Killa Hakan
Singles
* "Açık Ara Bul Kon" (2009)
* "Artık Suç Değil Sevgi İşleyin" (2010)
* "Sende Biraz Delisin" (2011)
* "Türk Marşı" (2012)
* "Mind Right" (feat. Kaan) (2016)
* "Denizci" (2018)
* "Fight Kulüp" (feat.
Killa Hakan &
Ezhel
Sercan İpekçioğlu (born 1 July 1991), better known by his stage name Ezhel (), is a Turkish rapper and singer whose music blends trap, hip hop and reggae. His song "AYA" has been streamed more than 80 million times on Spotify. He has been ...
&
Ben Fero) (2019)
* "Komedi v Dram" (feat. Sayedar & Önder Şahin) (2019)
* "Beatcoin" (2019)
* "Yak" (with Tepki) (2020)
* "Yeni Mesaj" (2020)
;International (as featured artist)
Filmography
References
External links
Official websiteOfficial YouTube channel
*
Ceza
on Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...
{{Authority control
1976 births
Living people
Turkish rappers
Turkish male singers
Turkish-language singers
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Turkish lyricists