Icelandic hip hop

Icelandic hip hop is hip hop culture from Iceland, which includes hip hop music and rapping, breakdancing by b-girls and b-boys, and graffiti artists and graffiti writers. Early hip hop groups included Quarashi, Subterranean, Team 13 (which later became Twisted Minds), Multifunctionals, Oblivion, Bounce Brothers and Hip Hop Elements (later named Kritikal Mazz). The next generation of hip hop performers, notably BlazRoca and Sesar A rapped in Icelandic. XXX Rottweiler and Sesar A published the first all Icelandic hip hop albums in 2001. Subsequent artists included Bæjarins bestu, Móri, Afkvæmi Guðanna (The Offspring of the Gods), Bent og 7Berg (Bent and 7Berg), Skytturnar (The Marksmen), Hæsta Hendin (The Highest Hand) and Forgotten Lores. MGísli Palmi, Þriðja Hæðin (The Third Floor), Cell 7, Kilo, Shadez of Reykjavík, Úlfur Úlfur, and Emmsjé Gauti. Icelandic lyrics are usually very direct and aggressive, with battle raps. An important hip hop events is Rímnaflæði in Miðberg, a freestyle competition. Element Crew has been the leading B-boy crew since 1998. The graffiti scene started 1991 with graffiti writers such as ONE, Pharokees, Atom, Sharq, Kez and Youze.