Yugoslavia’s first hip-hop breakdance electro-funk band is now on vinyl

A new vinyl is bringing back the music of 1984 Yugoslav breakdance electro-funk hip-hop group The Master Scratch Band.

Rapping in both Serbian and English, the band is considered the founder of Yugoslav and Serbian hip-hop. Their cassette, Breakwar, and 12-inch vinyl Dégout, mix synthesizers, drum machines, vocoders, and delay processors with samples of TV news bulletins on the new breakdance craze, burp noises, and screams of joy. Produced by record company Jugoton, which released some of Yugoslavia’s greatest pop and rock bands, The Master Scratch Band entered the national charts with two hits, Break war and Computer Break.

The new record contains seven tracks, some of which have never been pressed on vinyl. It’s a collaboration between the 2017-founded label Fox & His Friends, and former band member Zoran Vracevic. Other group members included Zoran Jevtic, Milutin Stoisiljevic, Jasmina Brankovic, Jasna Dimitrijevic, and Ljiljana Dimitrijevic.

The vinyl finishes with the freedom anthem, “Do What You Wanna Do”, with the lyrics: “Let nobody tell you what to do, / you gotta be your judge and your jury too.”

Get ready to boogie and grab your record here.