Gökbakar grew up in Turkey's capital, Ankara, attending the primary school and high school attached to the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ). After completing high school in 1997, he went on to study music and visual arts at Bilkent University's Faculty of Fine Arts in Ankara. He graduated in 2002, with a GPA that ranked him fourth out of a total class of 350. Gökbakar's early life was overshadowed by the death of his father in a traffic accident when he was eight years old.