AHKER: Your old listeners know you well, but tell us a little about yourself so that the new ones can get to know you.

BEKTAŞ: I was born in Yozgat in 1975. I've been involved with hip hop since the early 90s. I rap. I made an album with my friend Sırtlan. I'll mention the name before we begin.

AHKER: You could talk about some older projects, for example, your projects with Cartel and Erci E.

BEKTAŞ: Of course. Those are a bit old. We had some collaborations with Erci-e. Erci-e, Hakan Kırpınar, and I released an album as a cartel with Peter Maffay. I participated in a project with RZA. There are many more collaborations and projects. Most of them are in Germany, in the German market. We came here to promote the album we made with Sırtlan. Nobody knows about it yet, the album hasn't been released. Hopefully, something will happen after the summer...

SIRTLAN: I've been involved with rap since 1995, like everyone else, you know. We've done collaborations with many artists. Right now, as Bektas mentioned, we have an album project. We're hoping to release it soon, God willing. We performed 9 songs at the concert here tonight. There's a huge turnout. I wasn't expecting this, actually...

AHKER: This was your first time performing in Istanbul, wasn't it?

SIRTLAN: Yes, this is my first time performing in Istanbul, man. We'd performed in Ankara before, Yener was with us. We were Teoman's opening act, but the audience was mostly rock, so it was the complete opposite. We played rap for them, but it still went well. But this place is completely different. Everyone here is so welcoming, thank you all.

AHKER: Tell us a bit about the album, are there any collaborations?

SIRTLAN: There are no rap features, but some vocalists accompanied on certain tracks. Tugba and Gultekin did the vocals. The album is mostly live music; we hardly used any samples. Or rather, we took samples and played them live. Everything is live. The DJ set and recordings were made in Aksit's studio. It's an album in letter format. Actually, the album is a letter; we're just conveying that.

BEKTAŞ: The name itself says it all before we even begin our lines. It's like a letter. Letters always start like that, don't they? The album has 2 representative tracks, 2 dance tracks, and 8 tracks in letter format, plus intros, outros, and skits—a total of 17 tracks.

AHKER: Is there a second project you're working on together?

BEKTAŞ: Why not? It's possible. This is our first album together. Let's see how this goes, then we'll see about the future.

AHKER: Hyena, you and Fuat did a lot of work together. You're not working together anymore. What happened?

SIRYLAN: I started working with Fuat between 2000-2001. Before meeting him, I had met Kılla Hakan and his producer Volkan (you all probably know him). Then we met Fuat, who was shooting his second album. It was a perfect coincidence. We hit it off, became friends, recorded songs together, gave concerts together, and then everyone went their own way. There's a big part in it being a change of mind. You don't notice it at first; it takes a certain amount of time. We did this and that, then we parted ways. I respected his opinion, and he respected mine. I respect everyone's opinion. Everyone does what they want to do. Free will. Later, I did features on Kılla Hakan's "Çakalar" album. During that process, I met Erci-E. Initially, I went to interview him on behalf of Turkish folk music. Later, we became close friends talking about rap. Erci-E said, "Do you rap too?" I said "yes," and things developed. Then I met my friend Bektas. After that, things developed with Bektas. Bektas came up with an idea, "Before we start our lines," and I agreed. It was something I wanted to do with pleasure. We did it, we talked, and here we are...

AHKER: So Bektas, we first got to know and listen to you through Erci-E. How did things develop between you two? Are there any projects you are currently working on together?

BEKTAŞ: I've known Erci since elementary school; we went to elementary and high school together. We had a long-term friendship, about 15 years. It's over now. I sang the first lyrics I wrote in Turkish on Erci's album. Before that, I was doing it in German. Then we did the Mafay and Cartel project. We had a great 8-week tour. After we returned, we were going to make songs and things like that. We prepared the lyrics, I wrote them, and we were going to sing them together, but it didn't happen. Due to personal problems, we no longer have contact.

AHKER: There are some changes in style, that's how I felt.

BEKTAŞ: It changed, of course, but actually it varies a bit from song to song. The beat and content of the song show you how to sing it.

AHKER: The flows seem to have slowed down a bit.

BEKTAŞ: Now, those fast-paced rap styles, flexes, etc., are gone. Those who can't rap are now flexing. They're either catching the beat or not. Of course, there's a difference in style. Let me explain it more clearly, more understandably.

AHKER: Hyena, there's a change in your style too.

SIRTLAN: The songs we made with Fuat were different. The approach and style were different, like you mentioned, the flex and lyrics were different. We were people who hung out together almost 24/7 with Fuat, but of course styles change, ideas change...

AHKER: There were mostly critical remarks.

HYENA: Of course, but you can't criticize everything, after all, no one is perfect. If you ask the current hyena, I agree with that. Once, while talking to Bektas, he said, "If you criticize everyone, you forget your own mistakes." So, everyone should stay as they are. As you said, there's a big change in style here, and this was done intentionally, something I wanted and liked...

AHKER: Let's talk a little more about the album.

BEKTAŞ: The album is finished. The recordings are complete, mixing and mastering are done. We are currently in the process of negotiating with record companies. There are a few big companies involved.

AHKER: So, will the album be released in Turkey? Generally, albums released in Germany either don't come to Turkey at all or arrive very late...

BEKTAŞ: Now, after they understand, the next steps are... First, let's make an agreement, these are the details. After the contract. Of course, we want it to be sold in Turkey...

TURBO: I want to clarify this issue. The record company first releases the album for purchase, then looks at the sales. If the sales are high, especially if the Turkish audience demands it, they bring it to Turkey. They see if there's money involved, of course they'll do it. As Bektas said, it's tied to the contract. For example, when Hakan made the "Cakallar" album, I insisted a lot that it be released in Turkey because there was a lot of demand here. When the album first came out, I had a promotional CD and I took it to big companies like Universal Sony here. They liked it and asked for some time. If Hakan had been a little more patient, the album would have been released by a big company, but it didn't happen, it wasn't released for nothing.

AHKER: Hyena, the things you said before were very controversial. For example, you said, "You will burn along with the mosques, you 'tough Muslim'..."

HYENA: Brother, first of all, thank God we are all Muslims. I would never disregard my Muslim faith. I also heard about it and wondered why he said it, but now, is it my place to say it? God forbid, I wouldn't interfere. How could I possibly say anything against my religion? This incident has definitely been misunderstood. 1. I explained it incorrectly, I couldn't say what I wanted to say. 2. It was misunderstood. These were external statements.

TURBO: I spoke with Recai. He was understandably angry when he first heard it, I would have been too. But I explained about Sırtlan; he did something like that once, but he doesn't want to do diss tracks anymore. He changed his style. He abandoned his old style. For example, Statik doesn't do diss tracks anymore either. Like us…

SIRLTAN: This is absolutely how it happened. We're happy if we were able to clarify the situation. We are all Muslims, thank God, and we're glad we were born Muslim. There was also a saying, "chaotic calls to prayer." I'd seen funny sketches about it online, in a humorous way. Actually, I couldn't explain it properly. I just put the words there directly. Now, if someone came along and said, "Hey, you're talking about chaotic calls to prayer," and got angry, they'd be right, but I didn't mean to say it like that. Those incidents are in the past now. I've closed those chapters. I realized it didn't suit me. As a person develops, they understand themselves better. It wasn't appropriate for me. Every person can make mistakes; no one is perfect. We can't criticize everyone.
There was also the comment, "I couldn't find a decent rapper in Istanbul." It completely stems from other events. Fuat and I came to Istanbul a while ago and were wandering around. Before coming here, I had heard many good things, like rap had progressed a lot in Turkey. We were walking around Taksim and seeing mostly rock musicians. So I said, "Isn't there a single rapper here, man? If we saw someone, even if we didn't know them, we could sit down and chat." That's why I said that; it's definitely not a diss. Nobody should misunderstand; that's all there is to it.

There were also the words, "We will destroy West Istanbul." West Istanbul doesn't even exist; the person who said that was inspired by West Berlin. Let them do what they want, of course, but since West Istanbul doesn't exist, this situation is like this... We are absolutely not angry at anyone. In fact, in Berlin, Germany, we are Turks, we are people, we are foreigners who are being increasingly suppressed. Why should we be angry at our country? For example, if I were to criticize Mardin, what good would it do me? Ultimately, it's my country, Turkey. I don't want such things to happen. Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, nobody should discriminate. If Americans do it, let them do it, but we shouldn't.

TURBO: They say there's swearing in the streets, but who can swear in front of their parents? No. Just because there's swearing in the streets doesn't mean we need to bring it into rap. We should blend rap with our own culture. Turkish rap is something different. Just because someone is forming a gang there doesn't mean we're going to do the same…

YENER: We live and keep alive Turkish hip-hop culture. It's not American hip-hop. Here, if someone insults someone's mother or wife, a machine gun is pulled out and it's blasted right in the middle of their brain. That's not the case in America. We don't eat pork either...

TURBO: By the way, our site is reopening very soon. www.turkishhiphop.net We are friendly sites, sister sites with you already J)

AHKER: Thank you to everyone here for this wonderful interview. I wish you even more success in the future…

…..ahker….Istanbul…2004……..SND………