t Hof van Commerce is a Belgian hip hop crew from

Izegem Izegem (; ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Izegem proper and the towns of Emelgem and Kachtem. Emelgem was added to Izegem in 1965, Kachtem in 1977. Izegem itse ...

in the province

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Their name means 'commercial court' in their local dialect. Almost all their raps/lyrics are in

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French Flanders), , ) is a collection of Low Franconian varieties spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands. West Flemish is spoken by ...

, the Dutch dialect of the province of West Flanders, with the exception of some lines sung in

Limburgish Limburgish ( or ; ; also Limburgian, Limburgic or Limburgan) refers to a group of South Low Franconian Variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands, characterized by their distance to, and limited participation ...

by DJ 4T4 or a mix between those two dialects. Band members are Filip Cauwelier (a.k.a. Levrancier, a.k.a. Flip Kowlier), Serge Buyse (a.k.a. Dommestik, a.k.a. BZA, pronounce: ''buzze'') and Kristof Michiels (DJ 4T4). Ex-members include Johnny de Pony (a.k.a. Georges De Keesmaecker) and Floerke den Aap (a.k.a. Wilhelm De Tura).

History

It started with the crossover band ''The Prophets of Finance'' which stopped around 1993–1994. In 1997, t Hof van Commerce'' was founded, and in 1998, they release their first album '' En in Izzegem'', referring to the little city

where the band was founded. About 8000 albums were sold. That was quite a high number for a debut because the entire CD was sung in West Flemish, only understood by about one million people. The next year, they already had a second CD with the title ''Herman''. That album was sold 5000 times. In 2000 Flip Kowlier started a successful solo career as a singer-songwriter, while staying a member of '' 't Hof van Commerce''. Two years later, in 2002, they got their third album, titled ''Rocky 7''. That album was their biggest success this far, with 10 000 sells. So in 2003, t Hof'' (how they call themselves) was asked a lot in festivals in

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 2005, t Hof'' released another album with the title ''Ezoa en niet anders'' ''(This way and not differently)''. For the first time under their own record label ''Plasticine''. For that record, a lot of guest rappers were invited such as TLP and

Gabriel Rios In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

. In 2011, Flip Kowlier temporarily stopped his (still successful) solo career, to continue with t Hof van Commerce'' after a long silence. This resulted in a new album in 2012 with the title ''Stuntman''. t Hof van Commerce'' has been on hiatus between October 2013 and January 2018.

Discography

Albums

* " En in Izzegem" (Kinky Star, 1998) * " Herman" (Kinky Star, 1999) * " Rocky 7" (Kinky Star, 2002) * " Ezoa en niet anders" (Petrol/EMI, 2005) * "

Stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

" (Petrol, 2012) * " LP6" (Petrol, 2025)

Hits

Singles

* ''Zonder niet'' (translation: without nothing) 1998 * ''Dommestik en levrancier'' (1998) * ''Spek'n'Bwon'n'' (1998) * ''Kom mor ip'' (translation: bring it on) (2002) * ''Zonder totetrekkerie'' (translation: without insincerity) (2003) * ''Punk of yo!'' (2003) * ''Niemand grodder'' (translation: nobody bigger) (2005) * ''Jaloes'' (translation: jealous) (2005) * ''Wupperbol'' (translation: bouncing ball) (2011) * "Ti Nie Wo Wi!" (translation: It isn't true) (2024)

External links

Official site

Kinky Star Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hof van Commerce Belgian hip hop groups Musical groups established in 1997 Dutch-language musical groups from Belgium