Rapstar



Bilgin Özçalkan (born 31 December 1976), also known by his stage name Ceza (Turkish for punishment), is a Turkish rapper, singer, and songwriter. In 1995, Özçalkan started a group called U.C.S and performed with this group until about 1998. His group Nefret was signed under Hammer Music in 2000, leading to the release of the album Meclis Ala – İstanbul. In 2001, Özçalkan released the album Anahtar. The title track, which shares the same name as the album, was the first to have an accompanying music video. The album was a great success, and Özçalkan performed at many concerts promoting it. However, Özçalkan's major breakthrough came in 2004 when he was invited to perform at RockIstanbul, one of Turkey's biggest rock festivals. This opportunity allowed him to showcase his rap music in an environment featuring some of Turkey’s most popular music acts. In 2005, at the Turkish rock music festival Rock 'n Coke, Ceza performed a profanity-laden freestyle rap directed at singer Kıraç, who had made dismissive comments about rap not being real music. Following these events, Özçalkan collaborated with artist Mercan Dede on his album Su (Water). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.