MOK

A Berlin-born hardcore rapper of Turkish descent, MOK is affiliated with the popular Aggro Berlin collective as a member of Die Sekte, the label’s flagship group. He has his own label, Ersboeserjunge, for solo releases, along with a partnership with Sony BMG. Born in the Neukölln district of Berlin, MOK (an acronym for Muzik Oder Knast — in English, “Music or Prison”) entered the rap industry via Bassboxxx, a pioneering independent German rap label that was home to Mach One, a fellow rapper with whom he’d become acquainted. In 2002, Bassboxxx released Fick MOR, the rapper’s full-length debut. MOK was subsequently arrested in 2002, during the time he was working on his second album, Neukölln Hustler (later released in 2004), and was charged with bandenkriminalität (gang criminality) and körperverletzung (battery). He was sentenced to five years and six months in JVA Tegal (Justizvollzugsanstalt Tegel), the largest and one of the oldest prisons in Germany. With the help of Aggro Berlin, however, it was arranged that he could serve an offenen vollzug (open execution), which, thanks to German law, applies to nearly 20 percent of offenders in the country, according to statistics. Besides his legal troubles, MOK was experiencing problems with Bassboxxx. He and Tony D, another Bassboxxx affiliate, consequently accepted an invitation to join the Aggro Berlin collective as members of Die Sekte, the label’s flagship group. Via Sektenmusik, an Aggro Berlin subsidiary label dedicated to Sekte-related releases, MOK issued Musik Oder Knast (2005), a solo album that addressed his legal situation in musical terms. Three MOK releases followed in 2006 — Das Beste, a compilation; and two mixtapes, Badboys and Badboys, Vol. 2 — and a couple re-releases in 2007: Muzik Oder Knast [Premium Edition] and Badboys [Premium Edition]. Hustler (2007), MOK’s first proper full-length since Musik Oder Knast, spawned the hit single “Big Boss,” which broke the Top Ten on MTV’s TRL countdown in March. ~ Jason Birchmeier