Big Gee (real name Tugsjargal Munkherdene) is Mongolian hip hop/rap artist from Ulaanbaatar. He wasn’t born in Ulaanbaatar, but moved there in 1995 and grew up there. Gee started rapping in 1998, when he was just barely a teenager. He grew up in Ulaanbaatar’s sprawling Ger District. As the son of a single mother in one of the city’s poorer neighborhoods, Gee says that he needed a way to express himself. He first started writing poetry, but after acquiring a cassette tape of various rappers (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and The Sugarhill Gang), he thought he’d try and merge his poetry with beats.
Gee released his first album Боловсролгуй сэхээтний тавигдахгуй илтгэл in 2005, but it was his appearance in a 2004 song and video called Hood by well-known hip-hop group Vanquish that started turning heads. Hood showcases four rappers and their crews who each introduce themselves and rap in turn about their neighborhoods in UB. At the time, Gee was the first person to rap about the Ger District, and his pride in his neighborhood and gangsta style made him stand out among Mongolia’s rappers.