Emkej

Emkej, born Marko Kocjan, is a Slovenian rapper from Maribor and the founder of the Maribor label Wudisban Records. He is also a member of the hip hop group Tekochee Kru and one of the best-known names in Slovenian hip hop. The stage name is simply the Slovenian spelling of how his initials, M and K, sound in English.

He started out in a local group called B-Squad, formed with his friend Sniki and his neighbour Kato, who produced the group. They recorded mostly at home and played local hip hop shows. In 2005 Emkej and Sniki joined Tekochee Kru, one of Maribor's best-known hip hop crews, whose members had known each other since childhood. Among its seven rappers he quickly became the most prolific, and he is the most prominent voice on the crew's studio debut, Adijo stari, kaki scenarij (2007). The crew released Sabljasti tiger in 2014.

His solo debut, Šmorn, came out in 2010. He toured the country and released Znajdi se in 2012, and Probaj razumet followed at the end of 2017, with songs such as "Prava mera", built on a Bob Marley sample, and "Rdeče oči". Alongside his solo work he made Božja gamad (2013) with Velebor, a Maribor and Velenje group he formed with Mrigo, Ghet and Mito, and Cifre (2013) with DJ Splif.

On 10 February 2021, his father's birthday, he released Veš kaj bi ti mogo, a 14-track album produced by David Erak, with "Airplane Mode", "Fokus" and "Mogo bi", and presented it with an online concert from Kino Šiška in Ljubljana. In 2022 his song "Ljujezen" won the audience award at Frišno, the showcase of the Slovenian Music Day.

Emkej is also a co-founder of Beseda - Zaveza, the association behind Wudisban, which sets out to promote new forms of cultural expression and the use of Slovene and its dialects in music. His newer videos include "Okoli Pohorja", "Marleybor", "Glavo gor", "Petek" and "Hladn", a song with Oto Pestner.