Rapper Yuksel ‘Yukkie B’ Ozince attended the festive premiere in Tuschinski last fall of a VPRO documentary about hip-hop in the Netherlands. He had been told that he was in it and so he had gone, “with my sick head,” wrote the seriously ill hip-hop pioneer from East Amsterdam on his Facebook. He had not seen himself on the silver screen and would have preferred to stay at home with all his pain, he shared in a post that was fierce and poignant but also humorous.
With rappers such as Extince and Def Rhymz, who died in 2024, Yukkie B was part of a group of rappers who, in the second half of the 1990s, with releases on the record label Top Notch, laid the foundation for the commercial hit success of Dutch-language rap, and the company that is now called Top Notch/Noah’s Ark.
Yukkie B presented himself as a duo with his friend DJ Sergio, with whom he was previously also in various other groups. He had been active as a break dancer and rapper since the 1980s and was part of the hip-hop scene around well-known hotspots such as Amsterdam nightlife venue Akhnaton. During the period that he signed his recording contract, he was one of the eye-catchers in the capital’s scene who switched from rapping in English to Dutch. With his fresh, catchy and funny debut single ‘Wat Nou?!?’ – “Attract attention like a Turk and eat yourself like a pickle” – he was one of the first to reach the commercial mainstream. In 1999 he also topped the charts as a guest rapper on the popular Sweet Raid from labelmate Extince.
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Yukkie B was proud to be the first Dutch artist to win the prize for best rap act at the TMF Awards. That was a milestone for him and his scene, who had constantly been told that there was no room for this music on radio and TV. Rap would be too niche and underground for homegrown hit singles. Winning the prize for a young, commercial target group felt like an important breakthrough.
The bold Amsterdam rap chorus of ‘What Nou?!?’ – “What now! What now! What now! What now! What did you have then? What did you have then?” – became a popular expression in the late 90s. Yukkie B released various versions of the song and has also posted freestyles and covers of rap classics online in recent years. His family recently raised money for his funeral. Last Friday there was a text on Facebook in which Yukkie B shared his gratitude and said: “I leave no heaviness behind. I leave a positive sound. Love. Connection. Gratitude. That is my message.” Two days later, his family announced that he died at home from kidney cancer. He was 56 years old.
