Denis Jašarević (born 19 October 1984), known by his stage name Gramatik, is a Slovenian

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

producer, originally from

Portorož Portorož (; it, Portorose) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. He currently resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Early life

Denis Jašarević was born in

SR Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

on 19 October 1984. Jašarević’s interest in music began at the age of three, when his mother would catch him listening to American funk,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

and blues from his older sister’s cassette tapes. As he got older, he was introduced to hip hop culture and listened to artists such as

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...

, Guru,

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

and

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

Career

At the age of 13, Jašarević started producing hip-hop music using an early PC. He later began sharing his tracks through the

online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be us ...

, which helped him gain a following in the United States and Europe. Beatport is what Jašarević cites as his gateway to emerging as an electronic artist and landing his first US agent, Hunter Williams. After Jašarević signed with his new agency, he moved to

and released his debut studio album ''Expedition 44'' in July 2008, as well as his second studio album ''Street Bangerz Vol. 1'' in December 2008. ''SB1'' charted on

's Top 100 Chill Out chart for six months. In an interview with Britt Chester, Jašarević said, "I didn't even expect the album to sell one track on Beatport, nothing else was sold on beatport except techno and house. When I dropped my album and it started selling, I was really surprised, since I'd never seen a hip-hop album sell on Beatport. So when it sold, I was like 'Wow!' These were hip-hop beats, but it was labeled 'Chill Out' on Beatport. People saw it and thought it was awesome good chill out music, which is fine for me. I didn't expect it at all, and I didn't expect someone to reach out to me as a booking agent." A year after releasing his first album, Jašarević signed to the Pretty Lights Music label as its first new artist, which at the time consisted of only the electronic music producer

Pretty Lights Derek Vincent Smith (born November 25, 1981), known by his stage name Pretty Lights, is an American electronic music producer. Pretty Lights was originally a music project consisting of Smith and Michal Menert, who left after the release of thei ...

(Derek Vincent Smith). The label utilizes a fee-free music model, and Jašarević has stated his belief is that it is "morally right for music to be primarily free", and has been vocal about his history with digital piracy and how it has benefited his career in multiple ways. Jašarević cited his third

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) ''#digitalfreedom'' as having a theme involving "the fight against severe internet censorship bills" such as

ACTA Acta or ACTA may refer to: Institutions * Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, an intellectual property trade agreement * Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments, a standards organization for terminal equipment such as registered jacks * A ...

SOPA Sopa or SOPA may refer to: * Sopa (tribe), an Albanian tribe of the Sharr Mountains * Lake Sopa, Albania * School of Performing Arts Seoul, an arts high school in Seoul, South Korea * Senior Officer Present Afloat, a term used in the U.S. Navy ...

and

PIPA The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ran ...

. In 2013, Jašarević announced his departure from the Pretty Lights Music label in order to form his own vanity record label named Lowtemp Recordings. The label's name is an abbreviation of "low temperature", which Jašarević has explained is meant to indicate that music from his label would be "cool", stating, "So from now on, if you think a song of mine is cool, you gotta say that shit's

rom Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

Lowtemp." Lowtemp now consists of artists Exmag (a side project of Gramatik), ILLUMNTR, Gibbz, BRANX, and Russ Liquid. In 2014, Jašarević reissued his first seven albums—including the ''Street Bangerz'' series, renamed as ''SB''—on the Lowtemp label with new or updated artwork. On November 9th, 2017, Gramatik launched his own cryptocurrency, GRMTK, and raised the maximum amount of $2.48 million (7500 ETH) in under 24 hours during his GRMTK token sale in Zurich. He was among the first artists to 'tokenize' his intellectual property.

Accolades

*Three "Best Track" awards - Beatport Music Awards (2012) *Nomination for "Best Chill Out Artist" - Beatport Music Awards (2010)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Expedition 44'' (2008) (reissued 2014) *''Street Bangerz Vol. 1'' (2008) (reissued 2014 as ''SB1'') *''Street Bangerz Vol. 2'' (2009) (reissued 2014 as ''SB2'') *''Street Bangerz Vol. 3'' (2010) (reissued 2014 as ''SB3'') *''No Shortcuts'' (2010) (reissued 2014) *''Beatz & Pieces Vol. 1'' (2011) (reissued 2014) *''Street Bangerz Vol. 4'' (2013) (reissued 2014 as ''SB4'') *''The Age of Reason'' (2014) *''Epigram'' (2016) *''Street Bangerz Vol. 5'' (2018) *''Re: Coil Deluxe'' (2020) *Cyberpunk 2020 OST (2020)

Extended plays

*''Dreams About Her'' (2008) (reissued 2014) *''Water 4 The Soul'' (2009) (reissued 2014) *''#digitalfreedom EP'' (2012) (reissued 2015) *''Re:Coil Part I EP'' (2017)

Singles

*"You Don't Understand" (2013) *"Brave Men" (2014) *"Hit That Jive" (2014) *"Native Son" (2016) *"Voyager Twins" (2017) *"Recovery" (2017) *"Puff Your Cares Away" (2019) *"Better Believe It Now" (with

Big Gigantic Big Gigantic are an American instrumental electronic hip hop and jazz musical duo based in Boulder, Colorado. The band have played at a wide range of music festivals, including Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza, Ultra Mu ...

) (2019) *"Requiem for Peace" (with Anomalie featuring

Waka Flocka Flame Juaquin James Malphurs (born May 31, 1986), known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. Signing to 1017 Brick Squad and Warner Bros. Records in 2009, he became a mainstream artist with the release of his singles " O Let ...

and Chrishira Perrier) (2019)

Compilations

*''Coffee Shop Selection'' (2015)

References

{{Authority control 1984 births Living people American electronic musicians American hip hop musicians Slovenian emigrants to the United States Slovenian hip hop musicians People from the Municipality of Piran