One of Turkish rap’s biggest artists Murda will finally be performing in London this December. The Turkish-Dutch rapper had been due to play the O2 Brixton Academy in February, but the event was among the concerts cancelled after the venue was closed by the authorities following the fatal crowd crush at Asake’s concert last year.
For Murda’s UK fans, it will be a chance to hear the highly rated rapper perform a selection of his biggest hits and his latest tracks, which has included new collaborations with the likes of pop singer Hadise, and fellow rappers Ezhel, Mero and Uzi.
Born into a creative immigrant family in Amsterdam, Önder ‘Murda’ Doğan’s upbringing has seen him live in Madrid and Istanbul. It was while living in Turkiye that Murda first discovered hip hop through a cousin.
After his return to the Netherlands, Murda went to live in Eindhoven and started to write and record music with Dutch rapper Fresku among others. Murda, who was nicknamed ‘Turk’ on account of his roots, featured as part of a rap collective called Militant Union, helping to build his profile further.
He met another Dutch rapper, SpaceKees, in a coffee shop, and the pair went on to record together. SpaceKees also invited Murda to be a backup MC for his tour with Jiggy Djé.
The Turkish rapper released his debut EP ‘Turkish Pizza’ at the beginning of 2008. The EP was produced by SirOJ, and included contributions from SpaceKees, Jiggy Djé, Heist Rockah, Willie Wartaal and Vieze Fur. The outro of the album was provided by comical rap duo Youssef and Kamal.
Two years later. Murda made his acting debut in the film Gangsterboys (2010). In it, he plays the lead character Mahmut, alongside fellow rapper Yes-R (as Apo). In the same year, Murda collaborated with FS Green to release his first full length album, De Kassier : Een Monnie Album – 16 tracks that straddled rap, hip hop and afrobeats.
Murda’s path to stardom in the Netherlands continued to rise with regular musical releases and more collaborations, including with members of the Lefensmen and rapper Bokoesamm. He would mainly sing in Dutch and English, while also incorporating a wide range of sounds into his music.
In 2016, he scored a hit with Ronnie Flex, Not Like. It was the first of several tracks to cross-over into the Dutch charts, which also included Shutdown (2018) featuring SFB and Spanker, and Rompe (2019) featuring Priceless and Frenna.
Internationally, Murda scored with the single Boynumdaki Chain in 2019. It was his collaboration with Turkiye’s leading rapper Ezhel and their chart-topping hit Aya, which took the Dutch-born singer-songwriter to another level.
Aya quickly garnered over 100 million views on YouTube and by 2020, the pair’s Made in Turkey album cemented their – and rap music’s – place at the top of Turkish music.
In the same 12 month period, Murda released two solo albums, Baba (2019) and Doğa (2020). The popularity of his solo songs and those on Made in Turkey propelled Murda to the top of Spotify’s most streamed Turkish artist.
Very much at the top of his game, Murda has 16 years of musical history to dip into, so expect an epic evening of entertainment from this Dutch-Turkish hip hop master when he is live at the Forum Kentish Town at the end of this year.
CONCERT DETAILS
Date: Friday 15 December 2023
Time: 7pm
Venue: O2 Forum Kentish Town, 9-17 Highgate Road, Kentish Town, London NW5 1JY
Admission: General Tickets are from £41.35. No young children and those under 14 must be with an adult at all times and seated in the balcony where available.
Tickets: click here to buy online
