Marin Ivanović Stoka was born on 1981 in Zagreb. He was a huge rap fan since he was a teenager. Together with Marko Lasić Nered he formed a duo called Stoka & Nered and they made their first album on 1997 which was a huge hit.
As his career was rising, the other process was happening in the background. Stoka started experimenting with drugs and his addiction got out of control. It took him almost 10 years to realize that he has a problem. In year 2007 he checked in to the community in his attempt to heal himself. Since then, he went in and out of community for several times and finally in 2017 he declared that he is finally won the battle against addiction with the help of good people in community and God.
After successful rehabilitation he has completely changed his life. He is producing more and more very successful songs and he has managed to regain his old audience and acquire more fans, mostly teenagers. In addition to his musical career, he is making a big effort to warn young people and their parents about danger of drug abuse. And he is doing more than songs.
He has created a monodrama called “The Crack Old School – From Darkness into the Light”. In this monodrama he talks about his life, mistakes he made, drugs he used and people he double-crossed and robbed. Unlike other famous people who admitted they had a problem and did nothing else, Stoka is really making an effort to influence young people not to do mistakes he did and to be smarter than he was. He is honest to the bone and hides nothing. His home theater is Vidra in Zagreb, but he also travels throughout country and by doing this he became a real influencer and deserves all the support that he can get.
Written by Maja Govorčinović
Sources: