Hip hop in Greece has followed a similar journey to scenes outside the US, in many other corners of the world, from the UK to South Africa: in the early ‘80s and ‘90s, homegrown rappers and artists tried to imitate whatever they could get their hands on from the US, with only the most accomplished being able to fuse local language and culture with foreign inspiration in an authentic and convincing way. But those early days are long gone. Today, Greek hip hop has fully matured to find its own voice and now Athens’ most successful rappers—whether they rap in Greek or English—are courting global attention.

It’s a sweltering spring night and Athens’ hip hop faithful are crowded into the basement of Faust in Psirri. After a DJ and warm up acts have got the crowd jumping, the main event kicks into gear: Negros Tou Moria takes to the stage in full traditional dress: tsarouchia shoes with woollen pom poms, leg garters known as gonatares and a fustanella, a pleated skirt-like garment worn by the country’s Presidential Guard. Seeing Negros rock the mic and rap in Greek in such idiosyncratic attire may seem strange but it all fits into the artist’s message—and the crowd are loving it.

After a short interval, Negros appears back on stage in a tee and his Converse—a more conventional rapper’s uniform. Near the end of his set, he’s joined by another titan of the Athens hip hop scene: Kareem Kalokoh. Unlike Negros, Kareem raps in English and alongside his collective ATH Kids has led the way in opening up Greek hip hop to the world’s ears. With their remarkable videos and eye-catching sense of style, ATH Kids have picked up coverage from Dazed, High Snobiety, Huck and others and, before Covid, were regularly travelling and performing outside of Greece.

Alongside rappers Complex Shadow and Majin Cost (who both rap in Greek), producers Dazedboi and Taj Jamal, and director Valentin Rivera, DJ Joseph Mouzakitis is one of the leading lights of the collective. He’s buzzed by the group’s own achievements but also excited by how the success of ATH Kids has inspired a whole new generation of younger Greek rappers just coming through.

DJ and producer Kid Young is behind the most novel hip hop brew to have come out of Athens in years: Athliens—a hip hop sci-fi comic adventure. Young partnered up with prolific comic book artist Costas Pantoulas to bring the idea to life and the comic is accompanied by a number of EPs featuring artists including Moose, Negros Tou Moria, Daree and others. You can find the comic at stores around Athens such as Solaris, Comicon-Shop and Tilt and check out the animated tracks on YouTube.

One of the most hard-working Athenian rappers is Moose, a driving force behind the coalescence of the local hip hop scene. Released in 2019, The Kompilation is an album that brings Athens’ best hip hop artists together—regardless of what language they rap in—for the first time. It wasn’t the first time Greek rappers have collaborated, of course, but the project’s great reception has helped spark a stream of projects between different artists that has amplified everyone’s profile and raised ambitions across the board.