Turkish folk singer inspires US rappers

A song by Turkish protest musician Selda Ba?can, who celebrated the 44th anniversary of her music carrier this year, has been used in a hip hop album by famous US hip hop producer Dr. Dre An important voice in Turkish protest music, Selda Ba?can has seen her music influence an artist light years away from her musical universe for the second time in recent years. 

Her song "?nce ?nce" was recently used as a sample in hip hop producer Dr. Dre's long-awaited album "Compton" released on Aug. 7.

The 66-year-old singer did not feel the need to hide her ignorance about the rap singer when asked what she thought of Dr. Dre's latest album, which was streamed 25 million times during its first week out on Apple Music and was downloaded nearly half a million times on iTunes.

"He is not a singer that I know very well," said Ba?can. "I sing folk songs, how would I know about him? I know Madonna and Michael Jackson," she said, giggling.

Ba?can has acquired fame in Turkey with her political lyrics. A prominent figure of the 1960s in Turkey, she made several trips to jail for a total of nearly five months for either singing in Kurdish or turning banned poems by Turkish poet Naz?m Hikmet into song lyrics.

She celebrated the 44th anniversary of her music carrier this year by also releasing an album "40 Songs of 40 Years." The album, released by her own record company Major Music on June 13, currently ranks second on Turkish entertainment retailer D &R's music chart.
      
Ba?can who lives in Istanbul's Bosphorus neighborhood Tarabya with more than 20 cats in a duplex house, says Dr. Dre's team contacted her for copyright purposes: "[They] have not paid copyright yet but it is likely they will pay, we are...