Early life

Edin Osmić was born to Bosniak parents Azemina and Fehim, and raised in Brčko (at the time SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) where he finished elementary school. In 1992, when the Bosnian War started, he left Bosnia and Herzegovina and went to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where he began attending high mechanical engineering school.^[1] After the war, he returned to Bosnia to study criminal law in Tuzla, but never graduated.^[1]

He took an interest in hip-hop when he was in high school and began to do rap battling at the age of fifteen. He also recorded a few demo tracks, creating his own instrumentals by beatboxing. He went to Tuzla and became a member of the hardcore rap group Diskord, later named Odbrana (Defence in Bosnian). The group became one of the best in the city of Tuzla and all of Bosnia. Their demo single "Odbrana '99" (Defence '99) was the hit of the year on the "Radio Hit" station in Brčko.^[1]

After a year of studying, he left school due to financial problems and returned to Zagreb to meet a friend (from the group Elemental) and recorded his first single "Minimalni rizik" (Minimum Risk) and, a month later, "Mahir i Alma". The songs were top hits on the Zagreb "Radio 101" station's show "Blackout" and the response was enthusiastic. The demo, "Mahir i Alma", became Kameleon's hit of 2001.^[2][3]

Career

Influences and rapping technique

Osmić has named several artists that have influenced him, including Rambo Amadeus, TBF, Safet Isović, Miladin Šobić, Azra, Zabranjeno Pušenje, Disciplina Kičme, Atomsko Sklonište, Majke, Rupa u Zidu among others.^[17]

His rapping technique is described as having a perfect flow,^[18] also his varied subject matter, connecting with his audience, carrying a concept over a series of albums and got most praised for his ability to write brilliant lyrics.^[18]

His lyrics have also been described as a variation in connecting emotionally to the viewer. As Anur Hadžiomerspahić says "once you start listening to a Edo Maajka song, when you first start listening it hits you, gives you goosebumps and grabs you by the throat, then the very next verse makes you laugh".^[19]

Alter ego

Osmić has an alter ego or pseudonym that he names MC Berbo.^[20] He is described as a man who loves drugs, alcohol, fast and expensive cars, women and pop music.^[20] Osmić stated that the character of Berbo is the complete opposite of himself and that it is more of a joke than taken seriously.^[21]

Themes and lyrical content

Osmić started his career with storytelling songs with the demo songs of "Minimalni rizik" (small risk) and the storytelling/love songs "Mahir i Alma". He is known for his brilliant storytelling ability.^[1][18][22]

Business ventures

In September 2006, Osmić opened up a cafe bar called "No sikiriki", named after his second album.^[23] Along with beverages, the cafe also serves his favorite food, ćevapi.^[24]

Along with the cafe bar, he also plans to publish a weekly magazine which will only focus on positive things that are happening in everyday life and the music scene.^[25]

Legal issues

Osmić released his first single and music video for his third album, named To mora da je ljubav, before his album came out, in which his producer Koolade used the song "Cissy Strut" from 1969 by The Meters. Some media outlets have criticized him for plagiarizing the music in the song. Osmić answered back by saying "Sampling is not stealing. In hip hop you sample music, you take someones beat and rap on that beat. My album was postponed 1 week just because of that reason, while we waited for the authorization to use that song. The fact is that sometimes this waiting for authorization can be as long as one year, we redid the beat a little, gave credit to the author and not on us. You can see that the credit goes to the author on the inside cover of the album. Hip hop is made up of sampling, that is normal. On this particular track, Koolade is not named as the beat maker, but the author is.^[26] Remi, who is featured on the song, also gave a comment on the issue, saying that "That is not stealing, we are dealing with sampling of a already made song. You take one part of a song and combine it with your text. People who are not in hip hop don't usually know that this is a practice in this type of music.^[26]

Sports Hall Incident

Osmić held a concert in the Sports Hall (Dom sportova) in 2005. The sponsor for the concert was T-mobile Croatia. Osmić held a press conference before the concert where he criticized his sponsors for the firing of workers after they changed their "brand".^[26] He also explained his decision to work with a telecommunications monopoly by saying that he wanted his ticket for his concert to be 45 kuna or less.^[26] He added "you can only do that with a compromise, no one is criticizing Hladno Pivo that they sold out because their sponsor for the tour was Ozujsko beer, whose owners are also foreigners".^[26]

Concert in Serbia controversy

Bassivity (music label that released Osmić's album in Serbia) promoted Osmić's concert, which he was unaware of. When Osmić was asked about this in an interview for Svet magazine, he replied "I don't know where this idea that I will promote my album in Belgrade came from? "Bassivity" did that promotion on their own. I don't plan to go to Serbia, at least in the coming months. I don't want to go to a country that promotes the burning of mosques, and yet thousands of young people are howling on the streets. If I come to Serbia for an album promotion, which I promised to do, I am sure that it will not be for a while."^[27] Svet also tried to bring some of Osmić mistakes from the past to light, in which they stated that he was supposed to have concert with Mile Kitić, but they never revealed the source for that.^[27] In the same interview, Svet made some untrue and false accusations against Osmić and his family, saying that his brother and sister "live from black marketing in Northern Bosnia" and that his close family live of pirate sales from his own albums.^[27]

UNICEF's Education Action in Bosnia

Osmić was one of three artists that was featured in UNICEF's education program in Bosnia against HIV/AIDS.^[28]

Refusal to air music video

At the end of November 2005, a month after Osmić premiered his video for the single Mater Vam Jebem on MTV Adria, HTV and Nova TV refused to air that video spot based on the name of the song and some theorized because the song's lyrics were critical of the countries leaders and the media.^[29]

Studio albums

• Slušaj mater (2002)
• No sikiriki (2004)
• Stig'o ćumur (2006)
• Balkansko a naše (2008)
• Štrajk mozga (2012)
• Put u plus (2018)
• Moćno (2022)

Compilation albums

• Spomen ploča 2002-2009 (2010)

Singles

• Znaš me (2001)
• Jesmo'l sami (2002)
• Prikaze (2003)
• Zlatna dolina (2003)
• No sikiriki (2004)
• Pržiiiii (2004)
• Obećana riječ (2005)
• Ne-mo-žeš (2005)
• Mater vam jebem (2005)
• To mora da je ljubav (2006)
• Bomba (2006)
• To što se traži (2006)
• Rek'o sam joj (2007)
• Gansi (2008)
• Svi su ošli na more (2008)
• Sve prolazi (2008)
• Ove godine (2010)
• Fotelja (2011)
• Imaš li ti šta para (2011)
• Panika (2011)
• Džigera beat (2012)
• Facebook (2012)
• Ojojoj (2014)
• Ne mogu disat (2017)
• Bolje je Bolje (2018)
• Kreator (2020)
• I like to dance (2021)
• Moćno (2022)
• Zlatni koker (2022)
• Svaki čovjek (2022)
• Letimo iznad (2022)

Documentaries

Several documentaries were made on Osmić's life and career. Croatian Radiotelevision's documentary Edo Maajka - Sevdah o Rodama premiered 27 July 2007 at the Motovun Film Festival.

Movies