The UK newspaper’s selection with the 10 best global albums of 2025 includes Mavri Ellada (Black Greece), the latest album by Negros Tou Moria also known as Black Morris, marking a notable international recognition for the Greek rap scene.
“Athenian rapper Negros Tou Moria has made his name over the past decade for coining the genre ‘trabetiko’ – a blend of the Greek working-class folk music of rebetiko with trap,” the Guardian writes in its feature.
The publication goes on to add: “On Mavri Ellada, he supplants folk melodies for a more raw, hard-hitting sound, rolling through the sub-bass and baritone verses of Samatas to the Afrobeats groove of An Einai Dinaton, the bouzouki motifs of the title track and pumping dancefloor synths of PragmatiKotita. Armed with a dextrous flow, an open ear for unusual production and fierce lyrics on his country’s response to immigration, NTM establishes himself as a rap talent moving far beyond the Greek scene.”
Negros Tou Moria (NTM) is regarded as one of the most influential Greek rappers to emerge in recent years. Born in the economically challenged Athenian district of Ampelokipoi and raised in and around the Kypseli neighborhood, he often raps about his experience as a second-generation Greek born to Ghanaian parents.
