HIP HOP GDR Music
4. Hip Hop
The roots of Hip Hop are closely linked to the history of slavery. Hip Hop emerged as an independent part of youth culture in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York. It was mainly lived by the Afro-American minority. For more than ten years Hip Hop remained a street culture largely ignored by the rest of the world.
As a generic term Hip hop includes graffiti, breakdance and music (Rap). Its idiosyncratic clothes style such as the obligatory baseball cap, is worn as a cult fashion statement.
Within the context of their American and British idols, German Hip Hop needed a long time to find its own identity. Continous progress was totally dependent on itself. Thus, since its "import" to Germany, Hip Hop has gradually been transformed into something new and unique. In particular this relates to its language, lyrical content and the artist's social background. A very interesting Hip Hop scene emerged in Germany during 1984 and 1992. Especially the underground produced many new styles and subgenres which remained largely ignored by the public. Eventually the song "Die da!?!" from Die Fantastischen Vier brought Hip Hop closer to a whole generation of listeners. Today, Hip Hop is one of the most successful music genres in Germany.
Die Fantastischen Vier
Band members:
Dee Jot Hausmarke (Michael Beck)
Thomas D. (Thomas Dürr)
S.m.u.d.o. (Michael B. Schmidt)
Andy Ypsilon (Andreas Rieke)
© Die Fantastischen Vier
In 1988, the Stuttgart band called itself The Terminal Team. The lyrics were in English and the first public Rap-attempts were performed at local school parties. The first public appearance as Die Fantastischen Vier followed in 1989. From then on, the band sang in German which marked an important move in finding their own identity, independent from their American and British idols.
"At some stage we just realised that we did not want to write English texts anymore. Because that was simply not us. We just began to say all that stuff in German that we used to say in English before, like: I'm the greatest, I'm the best. And I believe this never sounded forced or artificial - because it was just natural to us."
The step from the Hip Hop underground scene into the limelight was quick. After signing the first record contract, the album "Und jetzt geht's ab" was being recorded. Success soon followed. The band members achieved hero status and even The Guardian wrote: "It's Hip Hop and it's German."
Jazzkantine © Rockbuch Verlag
Compared with American Hip Hop, Die Fantastischen Vier stood out for their playful, rather than aggressive, attitude towards language. Because of their witty, playful and sometimes simply silly lyrics the band were not regarded as real Hip Hoppers for a long time. With the years that changed. Each of the four has become an independent songwriter and their lyrics deal critically with issues like their sudden popularity, love and drugs. They also repeatedly point out each individual's responsibility within society.
Meanwhile, the Fantas (called so by their German fans) have established themselves as one of the most important German bands. However, they have never lost contact with the musical underground and they continue to bridge between commerce and independent music.
As solo artists the four members are involved in numerous projects. For the album "Welweit", DJ Hausmarke worked with Wycleef from the Fugees. S.m.u.d.o. is part of the Jazzkantine project which combines Hip Hop with Jazz and Funk. At the U2 Pop tour in 1997, Die Fantastischen Vier played as support band.
Z-FU wie Zentrifugal
Band members:
Bastian Böttcher
(MC Bastian Böttcher)
Loris Negro
(DJ Loris Negro)
© Zentrifugal www.zentrifugal.de
The Rap poetry of Zentrifugal is closely connected to American Slam-Poetry. The genres use distinct pictures, "drawn" with words.
The first poetry slams took place in the late 1980s in American bars, cafes and clubs. One of them was the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York where young American poets organised literary competitions that they called "Slams". At the beginning of the 1990s, first slam competitions were organised in Germany which soon developed a slam scene of its own.
Poetry slams are far removed from literary readings. They represent a literary experiment with a high entertainment factor for the listeners as these also function as the jury.
Zentrifugal is a two men band: Bastian Böttcher is in charge of the "lyrics" and their recital, Loris Negro supplies the musical background. The band's first musical attempts took place in a telephone booth. While beating the rhythm against the glas they rapped.
One year after their foundation the band won a Hip Hop talent competition. The prize was a recording deal. As a logical consequence Zentrifugal released their first album "Poesiealbum" with an edition of 1000 copies and hand copied covers in 1996. The release was accompanied by a tour through Germany and Switzerland.
The second album "Tat oder Wahrheit" was released in 1999. Whilst the album was more diverse and atmospheric, it was also more experimental, A consequence of numerous guest appearances by other rap musicians. However, one aspect had not changed: the lyrics still resembled more poetry than pure Hip Hop.
Bastian Böttcher has gained reputation as an outstanding text poet. He has won numerous slam competitions and was crowned the "Poetry Slam King" at the 1st German National Poetry Slam competition in Berlin in 1997. In cooperation with the Bremer Literaturkontor he ran the first German rhyme school: "Hip Hop Word Shop - The High Art of Rap". He was also invited by the Goethe-Institute to give guest lectures on Rap-Poetry.
Today, Zentrifugal are one of the most outstanding Hip Hop formations in Germany. Since they have started to perform they have repeatedly proved that mass appeal can include high standards. American schools use some Zentrifugal texts in German language classes. Similar to Die Fantastischen Vier their lyrics portray the wit and rhythm found in the German language.
You can find more on that topic at:
www.kulturszene.de/slam
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