Sing Polish

Image by Anja Wedberg, taken at a hip hop exhibition in Katowice

When I started learning Polish, I thought it was a brilliant idea to listen to hip hop. I found tons of great music this way, even though the lyrics were way too difficult for me.

Funnily enough, I really enjoyed it anyway. The Polish rap I came across seemed to have its own, laid-back character.

One of the first rap acts I came across was Kaliber 44 and they’re awesome.

Random but useful phrases

Let’s pick out a few random but useful phrases from “Normalnie o tej porze”, a wonderful piece from Kaliber 44’s third album 3:44. What’s the track about? Well, about cruising around by car at night when anything or nothing can happen:

Normalnie o tej porze wożę się po mieście – literally “normally around this time, I drive around the city”

Normalnie o tej porze raz lepiej, raz gorzej – “normally around this time, sometimes better, sometimes worse”. “Raz” means “once” but as you can see, the usage goes beyond that – learn more about “raz” in this post.

Niedługo będę w domu – soon, I’ll be home

Mówię, “pa” – I say “bye”

Nie palę dziś – I’m not smoking today

Są przyjaciele – there are friends

That’s enough for today! Now go enjoy the track:

About Kaliber 44

Back in 1994, brothers Abradab (Marcin Marten) and Joka (Michał Marten), teamed up with Magik (Piotr Łuszcz) in Katowice to create rap. The result was full of eerie beats and soul-searching lyrics, and they gave it the suitable name psychorap.

They released their debut album Księga Tajemnicza. Prolog (“The Mysterious Book: Prologue”) in 1996. A second album W 63 minuty dookoła świata (Around the world in 63 minutes) followed in 1998.

Shortly after the release of the second album, Magik left the group and formed Paktofonia (another great Polish hip hop act) with Fokus and Rahim.

Kaliber 44 continued as a duo, releasing their third album 3:44 in 2000. Tragically, that same year, Magik took his own life at the age of 22, just days before Paktofonika’s debut album was released 😥

After 3:44, Kaliber 44 went quiet although they returned briefly in 2016 with the album Ułamek tarcia.

Abradab has released several brilliant albums as a solo artist, and Joka has collaborated with lots of other acts, including this gem with Mioush:

RIP Joka 😥

While writing this post, I found out Joka passed away last month. I’m so sorry to hear that. You can hear more about it in this YouTube video (in Polish) or read this short article (in English).

More Polish hip hop

You’ll find tracks by Kaliber 44, Abradab, Mioush, Paktofonia and others in the Sing Polish playlists on Spotify and YouTube.