Onur İnal (born 9 August 1985), better known by his stage name Kayra, is a Turkish rapper, lyricist and English teacher, best known for his work with the hip hop group and the album Hayalet Islığı.
He was a member of the Farazi V Kayra group, which he founded with , disbanded on 31 March 2021. He was also a member of the 90BPM collective until its disbandment in 2020. He is regarded as one of the best Turkish storyteller rappers, with the stories he tells being quite realistic and relatable. Kayra makes references to everyday life, politics, football, the city of Karabük and Turkish culture in his songs. He considers himself and his songs moody and pessimistic. He finds music styles that praise the money it earns absurd and meaningless.
Career
2007–2015: Gına, Farazi V Kayra, Sarhoş Palavraları ve Bekar Evinde Kör Sinekler and Hayalet Islığı He started his career with the group Gına, which he founded with his beatmaker friend Bitap in 2003. They made a name for themselves in the underground hip hop community with the album Ars Moriendi in 2006, and the albums Doğum Lekesi and İfade Derdi in 2007, they released with the Gına group. Bitap got married and started a family so Gına was forced to disband. In 2007, he met Farazi, another beatmaker at "Freestyle King 2007" organised by Hiphoplife, and they came together under the name Farazi V Kayra.
In 2007 the duo released its first album Sarhoş Palavraları ve Nahoş Nidalar, which was the result of 4 months of work. The album was recorded at Zemin Kat Records in Karabük, and the mixing of the album was done by Bitap, who also did the scratches for the songs titled Muhterem Hayalet, Kül Yutmaz and Düş peşindeyim; Düş peşime. The cover art and application of the album was done by Emrah Çıldır. The lyrics of the songs in this album were written by Kayra and Farazi produced the songs in the album.
A year later, in 2008, Farazi V Kayra released its second album Sarhoş Palavraları ve Bekar Evinde Kör Sinekler, lyrics of the songs in this album were written by Kayra, and the tracks in the album were produced by Bitap, with there being no straches in the album. It consists of 7 songs: Makus Talihim, Şevket Hamdi Tan, Klozetin Tepesinde Hayat Muhasebesi, Horoz Dövüşlerinde Kanlı Çizmeler, Konulu Pornoda Figüran, Bir Günlük Öldürün Beni and Kuşluk Vakti Balgamı. The song Bir Günlük Öldürün Beni, contains samples of Mevsim Sonbahar by Metro, and the song Tortu, contains samples of Marianne Faithfull's There Is a Ghost. A fictional character was created for the album as well, named "Şevket Hamdi Tan" who is told to be as the editor-in-chief for the Turkish newspaper Bulvar in the song Şevket Hamdi Tan. The cover art and application of the album was done by Emrah Çıldır as well.
In 2009, the group released the single Mart, as part of the various artists themed album Hiphoplife Mixtapes Vol.1 - Nafile.
On 20 November 2010, the duo released the EP Yerel Radyo, the tracks that were prepared for a long lasting album, were brought to mixtape format due to the extension of the album release date due to Kayra's military service. The mixtape lasts about 20 minutes. The lyrics of the album are written by Kayra, infrastructures, mixing, cover art and design were done by Farazi and vocal arrangements in the album are done by Bitap. The first track (Ölmez) is not included in the tracklist because it is only a 2-3 second excerpt from Turkish drama Bizimkiler. The excerpt is taken when the character Cemil, a social alcoholic, is taken to the hospital for treatment with his free will. The words spoken by him are: "Cemil's don't die, they don't die."
On 22 July 2011, Farazi V Kayra released the single Alt Geçit, for the various artists themed compilation album . The music video for the song was shot by Bedirhan Karakurluk in Karabük, with there being many references to the city and Karabükspor in the single. The single was later remixed by Farazi in March 2017. In Kayra's track Arafta Bile on the "Kayıp Gölgeler" EP released in April 2020, he makes a reference to Alt Geçit and complains about the process of 'a little patience' still continuing, its endlessness, and defeat.
On 28 December 2011, Farazi V Kayra released the single Mertel Kasetçilik, named after a cassette shop in the Bedesten Bazaar in Karabük, in which Kayra pays his respects to Turkish rappers and rap groups he listened to and was a fan of in his youth such as , , Microphone Mafia, Silahsız Kuvvet, Fuat, Ceza, Cartel and many more. The music video for the song was shot by Bedirhan Karakurluk.
On 1 May 2012, Kayra released the EP Saray Yakan Soytarı with DJ Argub. The producer for the songs in the EP is Vinyl Obscura and the lyrics for the songs are written by Kayra. The EP consists of 5 songs.
In 2013, Kayra founded the rap group 90BPM together with Da Poet, Farazi, Savai and Sorgu 90BPM in Istanbul.
On 16 July 2013, Kayra released the single Mesela Yani. The song is inspired by and contains quotes from the 1979 film Korkusuz Korkak, in which Kemal Sunal played the character Mülayim. The producer of the song is CanBeatz. The lyrics of the single are written by Kayra.
On 24 May 2014, Farazi V Kayra released the single Natuk Baytan, which contains the names of the films made by legendary Yeşilçam director , especially in the late 70s and 80s.
On 29 November 2014, Kayra released the EP Gitmedim Ama İçinden Geçtim which consists of 5 tracks, along with Sorgu. The songs in the EP are produced by Badmixday, Beatific Vision, Can Kazaz, Farazi and Yüce Ceylanlı and the lyrics of the songs in the EP are written by Kamufle, Kayra, Kodes Kahra, Da Poet and Sorgu. It was released under the Deadly Habits Music music label. The line "I read this beat to the vivid memories, I wish I could make her listen to it (this) like she always wanted" written by Sorgu in the song Tereddüt in this EP is in reference to his mother, who had died.
In October 2014, 90bpm started the Aydabir project in which they would release a song every month, the project ended in January 2015 with only 4 being singles released; Rahat Bırak Beni, Gafil, Tutmayan Kuponlarım Var 2.0 and Zürafa Tekmesi.
On 14 May 2015, Kayra released his first solo album, the Mucizeye Bir Hafta EP. The album is about Karabükspor's relegation battle from the 1. Lig in the 1993-94 season. Consisting of five tracks, the album depicts the excitement of the fans and the disappointment they experienced after the result of the relegation battle. The "miracle" in the album's title refers to Karabükspor's unexpected defeat in the last minutes of the season's last match, resulting in their unexpected relegation from the league. The tracks were used in the documentary "15mayıs94: The day when the city fell into silence". The tracks in the album were produced by Farazi, Da Poet and Vinyl Obscura.
On 29 March 2015, Farazi V Kayra released the single Tutmayan Kuponlarım Var. The single has samples of Queen Esther Marrow's Peaceful Man and contains an excerpt from Sadri Alışık's film, Serseri. On 24 July 2015, 90BPM released the album Kötülük Bizim İşimiz (English: Evil Is Our Business). The songs in the album are produced by Badmixday, Group Ses Beats, Da Poet, Farazi, Savai and Sami Baha. The lyrics of the songs in the album were written by 9 Canlı, , Allame, Ezhel, Kamufle, Kayra, Da Poet, Sahtiyan and Sorgu. 90BPM were accompanied by 9 Canlı, Ağaçkakan, Allame, Badmixday, Ezhel, Grup Ses Beats, Kamufle, Sahtiyan & Sami Baha in the album. The cover of the album is a picture of Savai's car, a Renault 12. According to Da Poet, the car symbolizes a journey in a metaphorical sense. Kayra defines the name of the album with these words:This album's name comes from a drawing of my neighbour's child sitting by himself one summer day. The humorous part or the part of the work that attracted us is that this child we are talking about is very independent, does not even choose food, does not obey his parents. Although he is a good child in every aspect of life, he draws something so strange and writes ‘Evil is Our Business’ under it. We were impressed by this. This attracted us a lot. Actually, there is nothing very evil. We were attracted by this thought of a child who thinks that he only does evil things, who perceives those little things as evil in his own way. When we got into the studio, it seemed like an evil in our own way that we were completely detached from the outside world, our own world, our own place where we belonged, feeling very free. But there is no evil.
Hayalet Islığı On 13 September 2013, Farazi V Kayra released its fourth and most notable album Hayalet Islığı, consisting of 15 tracks; Dokunmayarayaparsın, Cenaze I: Ölüler Konuşamaz, Cenaze II: Kolonya, Cenaze III: Merhumun Çalıntı Gölgesi, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar I: Fotoğraflarda Ölümü Görüyorum, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar II: Ayaz Meyhanesi, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar III: (Bir) Fotoğrafın Rüyası, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar IV: Bir Eve Hangi Gün Gidilmez, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar V: Unutulanlar, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar VI: Kar, Vakitsiz, Yangın I: Sakin, Yangın II: Sandığımdan Herkes Babam Gibi Gülecek, Yangın III: 15 Eylül 1966 and Dobro Vecer. Farazi and Kayra were accompanied by Karaçalı, Da Poet, Sorgu, Ağaçkakan and Type Wheel on vocals and Vinyl Obscura on scratches. The backgrounds of two tracks on the album; Merhumun Çalıntı Gölgesi and Ayaz Meyhanesi were prepared jointly by Farazi and Savai. The tracks Kolonya and (Bir) Fotoğrafın Rüyası were mixed by Kupa-A and the rest of the tracks were mixed by Sorgu. The album is divided into three sections: Cenaze, Mevsim Olmayan Mekanlar and Yangın. In the album, Kayra tells the story of someone who has lost a close friend due to a fire.
The Cenaze (lit. funeral in Turkish) section of the album, which is the first section is divided into 3 main songs, is centred on this death, but this death is also seen at intervals throughout the album. In this part of the album, the state of denial that someone who has lost a loved one faces is addressed. This could be understood by Kayra's line, "What are these halvahs for?", which shows between the lines that he does not accept death, referring to the tradition of distributing halvah at funerals.