Mete Erpek (born 6 September 1987), better known by his stage name Joker, is a Turkish rapper, singer and songwriter.

Life and career

Born in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

on September 6, 1987, Mete Erpek became acquainted with hip hop culture thanks to the

breakdancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Nuyorican, Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consist ...

videos and tapes he acquired from

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in 2002. He dealt with

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

for 2 years, established his own studio in 2004 and started making rap music as an amateur under the name "Narkoza a.k.a. Stanley". He released his first amateur album, ''Narkoz a.k.a. Stanley'', in 2005. In addition, the song "Mutluluk Tohumları" entered the top 10 in a demo contest. This success led him to join a group called Darp in Istanbul. He worked here for a year and then left the band. After attending university in Burdur for a while, he returned to Eskişehir. He took part in the albums of Battery Records and

Allâme Hamza Gül (born 27 July 1987), better known by his stage name Allâme, is a Turkish rapper, singer and songwriter. Discography Albums EPs Instrumental albums Compilation and split albums Singles References Living ...

. In particular, they attracted attention with the song "Dünya İnanmıyor", which they included in the compilation album called ''Organize Oluyoruz 2'' with Allâme. Joker announced on 11 December 11 2012 on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

that he was leaving Battery Records. He worked with important names of Turkish rap music such as

Ceza Bilgin Özçalkan (; born 31 December 1976), also known by his stage name Ceza (, Turkish for "punishment"), is a Turkish rapper, singer, and songwriter. Early works In 1995, Özçalkan started a group called U.C.S and performed with this grou ...

and

Sansar Salvo Sansar may refer to: * Samsara, a concept in Indian religions * ''Sansar'' (1951 film), directed by S. S. Vasan * ''Sansar'' (1971 film), directed by Dilip Bose * ''Sansar'' (1975 film), a Turkish film of 1975 * ''Sansar'' (1987 film), directe ...

in his album ''Rhymestein'', which he released in 2013. He founded his own studio, Hiphopjobz, in 2014. Released on 20 November 2015 with the label Dokuz Sekiz Müzik, was the album ''Microphone Show''. He participated as a contestant in ''

O Ses Türkiye ''O Ses Türkiye'' is a Turkish reality singing competition and local version of '' The Voice''. It started on October 10, 2011. ''O Ses Türkiye'' is presented by Acun Ilıcalı (since 2011–2022). One of the important premises of the show is ...

'' on 25 December 2016 and reached the quarter finals. On 10 August 2018, he released his second album, ''Element'', by the Sony Music label. He thinks it is wrong to associate rap music with drugs. Since 2018, Joker has released a number of EPs and singles. In 2024, he released the album ''Inflowencer.''

Discography

Under the name Narkoz a.k.a. Stanley

Under the name Joker

References

Living people 1987 births Turkish male rappers Turkish hip-hop Turkish lyricists People from Eskişehir 21st-century Turkish male singers {{turkey-musician-stub