„The ground was shaking, the ears were booming when I lost my young heart to a fat sound“ – Berlin, also called ‘Dickes B’ by the local group Seeed, has been an inspiration for all kinds of music and subcultures for many years. From one corner in Spandau to the other end in Marzahn, one would think that Berlin has more than enough filthy prefabricated-slab buildings to produce some beats that would put those of Hamburg’s bigwig kids and Frankfurt’s spoiled ones in their shadows. Well indeed – although our at the same time hated and beloved moloch provides a nutrient for authentic gangster rap, Berlin became one of the – no, probably THE – most relevant hub of the German hip hop scene in recent times.
If you want to experience and get to know more about how the separate neighbourhoods sound to the new rap generations and what old (rap) friends made out of it, then take about 16 minutes of your time and go to the bars of these acts.
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by Guest Author | Music
photos: LeidenSchafft
The Berlin underground scene is one of the most diverse in the world. Makes sense – where there is a large society, there is also an underground, an anti-pole to the mainstream. If you look around the Hip Hop scene nowadays, a lot of things have changed. The subcultural character of Hip Hop seemingly vanished and slowly but steadily German Rap became mainstream. But still, Hip Hop is the voice of the unheard, an organ for the youth and a space for resistance.
Young filmmaker and and photographer Mirza Odabaşı took it upon himself to go back in time, to the origins of Berlin and German Rap culture and met up with a wide range of artists and personalities from the scene. In his documentary LeidenSchafft, a pun from the words “passion”, “misery” and “creation”, Odabaşı goes into the deep meanings of the local Rap culture, talks about identity and finding and defining yourself in and outside of the music. He met up with many icons of the scene, ranging from well-known artists like Marteria, Chefket, Eko Fresh and many more to rather Oldschool trailblazers such as Killa Hakan, Marcus Staiger or Spaiche.
In 43 minutes Odabaşı manages to get into topics such as experiences of social exclusion, some of the possible reasons to why Hip Hop is so popular amongst the alleged socially disadvantaged adolscents and portrays the people shaping the German Hip Hop scene in beautiful images in Berlin.
In that way, “LeidenSchafft” is a look back and an appraisal at the same time, bringing light to the underground. And human emotions.
See some impressions of the film and a teaser after the jump.
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by Yasmin | Movies, TV, Videos
When I checked out the new video by Sir Serch that a colleague had sent to me I was sitting in the subway surrounded by people. I had to laugh out load at one part of the video and felt a little embarressed about my little public outburst, but the part is just so good. Here you have Berlin-based rapper Sir Serch doing his thing and walking into this vintage store somewhere in Kreuzberg or Neukölln to meet his gang. But his gang has changed, you could say they have been gentrified by hipsterism. And their exchange about it is quite hilarious and to be honest there is quite some truth in it, of course immensely exaggerated. But actor Tom Radisch is really just to good in his role of a total douchebag. If you like German rap or not doesn’t matter, you will certainly enjoy this video. And remember, if you don’t have a beard, you don’t belong here! 😉
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by Frank | Music, Videos
