Toni Zen

Toni Zen is a Macedonian rapper, songwriter and producer, born Toni Petkovski on 21 July 1983 in Skopje. He has been making records since 2002 and has released six studio albums, from Stihovna agenda in 2005 to Od izvorot na izborot in 2019.

Inspired by American hip-hop, he started rapping at the end of the 1990s under the name Toni Montana. His first group, 105, recorded demos that were played only on the hip-hop programme of the Skopje radio station Kanal 103. In 2002 he formed the group Urbana Dimenzija with DJ Čvare, took the name Toni Zen and turned professional. They played at events all over Macedonia, among them the hip-hop night of the Taksirat festival in 2005, and opened for Jeru the Damaja, Afu Ra, Guru and Edo Maajka.

His solo albums Stihovna agenda (2005), Slušaj (2007) and Vo moj stil (2009) brought singles such as "Zen master", "Skopje moj grad", "Vo poln efekt" and "Mi casa e su casa" with Slatkaristika. Alone and with Urbana Dimenzija he worked with Edinstvena Opcija, Martin Srbinovski, the duo Gemini, Tamara Todevska, Robert Bilbilov and Jovan Jovanov.

The years 2009 and 2010 are counted as the most successful of his career. On 31 March 2010 he opened for 50 Cent at the Boris Trajkovski hall in Skopje, and on 23 July 2010 he gave his first solo concert, at the Ancient Theatre in Ohrid, in front of about 4,000 people, with Toksikologija and Slatkaristika as guests. That autumn he was a contestant on the reality show Survivor Srbija VIP: Philippines and finished as runner-up.

Superzen followed in 2011 and MikroSkopski organizam in 2013, with videos for "Super Zen", "Nadvor", "Setila", "Svetot e tvoj" and "Pod kontrola". In 2014 he released the duet "Jas i ti" with Tamara Todevska, and in 2016 the single "Prljavo na Balkan". His sixth album, Od izvorot na izborot (2019), brought "SUM" and "Tišina". Beside the music he has run Tony's Soul Wear, a hip-hop clothing shop in Skopje's city shopping centre.

He has kept releasing new songs on his own channel: "Planot" and "Prvata nota" with Nino Vaskov in 2022, "El Padrino" in 2023, "Žimi sè" with Slatkaristika in 2024, "Legendata" with Bobo in 2025, and "Od Aerodrom so ljubov" and "Vremeto" in 2026.