Gramatik

Gramatik is a Slovenian electronic and electro hip-hop artist from Piran/Pirano, born in 1984. His work spans boom bap, hip hop, instrumental hip hop, electronica, glitch hop, chillout and related electronic styles. He is associated with the labels Lowtemp and Pretty Lights Music, and he is also connected with 5. Element.

Early music background

He begins listening closely to funk and rhythm and blues as a small child, and he starts piano lessons in elementary music school in second grade. He leaves formal classical training after two years, then continues with private lessons that focus on material he wants to play, including the Beatles and rhythm and blues.

While still in fourth grade, he forms a band with classmates and becomes part of the youngest band in his elementary school, performing at school events. In seventh grade he discovers hip-hop, becomes strongly drawn to rap, leaves the band, starts writing, and begins working as an MC. At that time there are no other hip-hop artists in his hometown apart from him and a classmate, and they form a duo called Bow Down. The pair also organise the first hip-hop party in the town’s history.

Production and early releases

In 1998 he first encounters audio sequencing software on a classmate’s family computer and starts experimenting with it whenever he can. Two years later his parents buy him a computer, and he immediately installs the same software and starts making beats. Sampling becomes central to his approach, particularly chopping together old funk, soul, blues and jazz recordings.

In 2006 he and two friends, all MCs, release a debut hip-hop album as 5th Element. The record is widely regarded in Slovenia as one of the country’s strongest hip-hop albums.

Broadening style and international recognition

After that album, he moves beyond hip-hop and begins making house, techno, breakbeat, electro and drum and bass, alongside other styles rooted in blues, jazz, soul and funk. He treats genre boundaries loosely and focuses on the musical elements that interest him.

His first track on Beatport appears in 2008: an electro house remix of DJ Vitamin D’s Motherfuckers Know Whos The Best. It reaches number 24 on the Electro House Top 100. He also places on the House Top 100 with Letz Get Ill, and his Dreams About Her EP spends three weeks at number one on the Chill Out Top 100.

Street Bangerz and later work

He releases material on several labels owned by DJ Vitamin D before being encouraged to issue a set of hip-hop instrumentals as an album. That record, Street Bangerz Vol. 1, appears in 2008 on Cold Busted and becomes a major success, reaching number one on the Chill Out chart and remaining at the top of the category. It sells more than 50,000 tracks worldwide in less than six months on Beatport alone.

Gramatik continues to work on different projects while maintaining the Street Bangerz series as a recurring release. His catalogue reflects an approach shaped by early funk and R&B listening, hip-hop MC work, and later production across electronic and sample-based styles.