BIJLMER STYLE: A New Era of Dutch Hip-hop pt.1

The last couple of years the Bijlmer community has been on the Hip-hop scene a lot.

For years we have tried to get our fair shine from the industry. Finally folks have turned their heads to the black part of town, looking for good old rap music. The Bijlmer is the new Harlem in the Old Amsterdam and Bijlmer Style is undisputed the number one platform for rap artists from Amsterdam south east.

Last year independent label “SamenSterk” artists M.O. & Brakko, heavily promoted by Bijlmer Style took home the biggest money prize a rap act could win and became the first act from the Bijlmer to do such.

This year Bijlmer Style and SamenSterk joined forces to push Hip-hop duo Dret & Krulle to the finals. The Hip-Hop duo, members of “VaderLozeTroepe”, entered the competition as outsiders and went on to become not only the winner of the highly anticipated prize, but also won the crowd’s favorite award. Giving Bijlmer Style and SamenSterk a momentum and putting the community on the national stage for years to come. Yet there is more work to do. The Bijlmer community harbors many talents and with platform such as Bijlmer Style, SamenSterk and Apo-clipZ we are trying to explore these talents for the country if not the world to see.

Founder of Bijlmer Style is Robert Coblijn. His love and passion for Hip-hop music and the neighborhood he grew up in, has driven him to set up Bijlmer Style in 2002. The platform’s primary focus was on acts from the Bijlmer Community. He started off with the self titled compilation album: BijlmerStyle vol.1 which successfully led to bigger things. Many successful underground artists in the Hip-hop scene has worked with Bijlmer Style or were first heard by great audience through their appearance on a Bijlmer Style compilation. By 2007 there were artists calling for Bijlmer Style instead of the other way around. But Bijlmer Style is more than Hip-hop. It has the community in a grip that it can easily become a political force.

In 2008 the platform worked closely with independent label SamenSterk (translated:United Strong) founded by Spliff, to have bigger impact on the industry. Of course the collaboration took nothing away from Bijlmer Style’s great work in the community or threatened their projects with other artists. In fact the collaboration is a huge step forward for the music movement in Amsterdam south east. SamenSterk is the home of Hip-hop veteran Rex and his partner in rhyme Undercover and the mainstream accepted underground duo M.O. & Brakko. Bijlmer Style is harboring the breakthrough artist of 2009 Gikkels and shares the publishing right of the winners of 2009 and new school heads Dret & Krulle. Ever since the joint venture their promotion machine is as strong and consistent as their fan base. Their videos are top notch with the talented Teemong, an aspired video director whose works proves he will soon make the switch from music video director to future film director. I predict that. Add up the producing skills of Killing Skillz and you know the deal: The new era of Dutch Hip-hop is born.