In 2016, album WOP! by Lil' Kleine was the first hip-hop album to reach number 1 on the Album Top 100. [9] [10] In the same year, Ali B's third album, Een klein beetje geluk ("A Little Bit of Happiness"), proved his best yet, reaching number 7.

In 1999 The Postmen released their rap/ reggae mix De Bom ("The Bom"), a top three hit-single. They were active across Europe from 1998–2003.In the same year, rapper Typhoon, also from Zwolle, and inspired by aforementioned peer Blaxtar, released his philosophical debut album Tussen Licht en Lucht ("Between Light and Air"). The successes of the Zwolle rappers crop boosted other Dutch artists' confidence and inspired them to be proud of their origins – whether local, foreign, or mixed. Rapper Typhoon pointed out, that band names of trailblazers like 'Osdorp Posse' and 'Opgezwolle' refer to their origins (Amsterdam Osdorp and Zwolle) for an important reason, and tied this to the shift from rapping in English to Dutch, making it more relatable and resonant with the audience. [3] Instead of hard and angry, some 2000s releases stood out fragile and sensitive, for instance the single Je moest waarschijnlijk gaan ("I Guess You Had to Go"; 2001) by Brainpower, mourned the loss of his best friend; and the raps of Typhoon are called some of the most poetic. [2] A famous Dutch rapper outside the Netherlands is Salah Edin. His album Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie (Biggest Nightmare of the Netherlands) won Best Album Award in 2007 and was fully produced by Dr. Dre's right-hand man Focus... He also shot three of the most expensive music videos in the history of Dutch Hip Hop, and through a management deal with Cilvaringz, performed in 34 countries worldwide. Since 2014, rappers Broederliefde released no less than seven albums, with the "worst one" topping at 13 in the charts — their debut reached nr. 3, and their last five albums were consecutive top-2s, with three of them topping the chart. Their third album, Hard Work Pays Off (II) (2016), broke an all-time record by staying at nr. 1 for 14 weeks, beating a 2003 12-week record, held by Dutch A-list singer Frans Bauer. [8] Nine of their singles also charted in the singles Top 40. Urban Dance Squad's biggest hit was Deeper Shade of Soul, peaking at 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991. 1990s [ edit ] Rapper Extince, in 1995, took Dutch-language Nederhop to a new commercial level and audience. With two of his singles: Spraakwater and Kaal of Kammen becoming major hits in the mid-1990s, Extince was the first Dutch-language rapper to make the mainstream pop charts in the country. Spraakwater marked nothing short of a watershed, being not only the first Dutch rap to break in to the main Dutch Top 40 at all, but also making it into the top-10 – for mainstream radio listeners practically out of nowhere. [6]

After rapper Def Rhymz achieved the first Dutch main chart top-1 hits with Doekoe ( Sranan Tongo for 'money'; 1999), and Schudden ("Shake (it)"/"Shaking"; 2001), Dutch language hip hop has grown into a staple of mainstream pop music in the Netherlands and Flanders in the 21st century.Dutch gangsta hip hop is currently a large scene together with underground hip-hop. Among the most notable groups are THC, Heinek'n, Keizer, Kempi, Steen, Hef, Crooks, Adonis and Negativ. The rhythms are influenced by the American rap scene, and the lyrics are often about crime, drugs, money, women and other criminal things. In 2021, Netherlands music streaming charts are dominated by Dutch rap music artists like Boef, Josylvio, Broederliefde, Lil' Kleine, Snelle, and Sevn Alias. [3] History [ edit ] 1980s [ edit ] Def Rhymz, of the 1st generation to rap in Dutch, switching in 1986, was the first to achieve number-1 hit singles in the Netherlands main charts with Dutch language hip hop. Dutch gangsta hip hop mostly comes from the five largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven. In 2015, a self-titled "New Wave" generation of ' social media' (em)powered artists broke through with their eponymous New Wave album, as a temporary collaboration, including Bokoesam, D-Double, Jonna Fraser, Lil' Kleine, Ronnie Flex, and SFB. [3] Sevn Alias The Dutch oldskool exists out of three primary artists, LTH, Osdorp Posse, Extince, Sugacane and Duvelduvel. Osdorp Posse make to what they themselves call hardcore rap and use beats that have much in common with N.W.A. Their lyrics are about racism, prostitution (not always negatively), police and other social subjects. Extince uses very different, more funky kind of beats than Osdorp Posse and uses a completely different rapstyle. Duvelduvel is known as a conceptual hip hop group.