Norwegian hip hop

Hip hop, a cultural movement which originated in New York City in the 1970s had spread throughout Scandinavian nations, including Norway, by the early 1980s.
History
With breakdancing and graffiti art growing increasingly popular, a number of underground hip hop musicians gained fame among the genre's limited fanbase in the late 1980s. These included A-Team (later Bolt Warhead), Warlocks and Tommy Tee, who also put out the prominent hip hop magazine called Fat Cap Magasine and the radio show National Rap Show).
Recognised Artists
The far most recognised artist in Norwegian Hip Hop today is Madcon due to their considerable success abroad. In Norway there are probably two main groups at the top except for MadCon - Erik og Kriss and Karpe Diem. From early days the community around Tommy Tee and Tee productions has had a considerable effect on the Norwegian Hip Hop scene. Tommy Tees National Rapshow has been the only good Hip Hop radio broadcast on NRK from early on.
Also, a fairly solid underground of artists has been developed since the time around (and slightly before) the millennium. Recent developments have been a tendency for more music and artists from Norwegian towns excluding the capital, Oslo. Among others, Bergen has emerged with a strong scene, with artists like Tier'n & Lars, Lars Vaular and many more.
In a much smaller city; Kristiansund there has been a growth in the Hip Hop Community since 2005, when the notorious rap group Most Art was founded, this led to a continuing stream of artists like PatrikH, STDoze, Touretazz and some other groups and rappers who does not gain much attention in media, but is known throughout the underground community.
In Hønefoss there is a small but strong group of rappers.
The misunderstanding of the words Hip Hop in Norway today
Creating the hype necessary to justify all the time spent working for an artist, has been hard at times when it comes to hip-hop in Norway.
The market may seem like it is just not big enough for this category of music, in a mainstream sense.
Hip-hop is still increasing in interest and "penetration" among the target audience in Norway, however. It seems it may be an "acquired taste" that large segments of the Norwegian population has not yet been ready for, or completely understanding of.
The prejudice that hip-hop has suffered almost worldwide, as a music of glorification of gangster life, drugs, sex and other explicit content, only, and even more serious accusations (among them, racist remarks), has befallen hip-hop in Norway as well.
Even if some of those accusations may, in part, have some truth in it, it is a fact that there are much more intelligent and deeper sides to hip-hop. However these have not been enjoying the success of the gangster version of hip-hop, gangster rap, and radioplay has been likewise.

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