Hip Hop Made in Germany

Dramaturg Script Consultant for the 4 holy NDR series:

HIPHOP - Made in Germany

D 2024 | 4x 45 min |
German TV premiere: 26.01.2024 (NDR)
German online premiere: 23.01.2024 (ARD Mediathek)

The four-part ARD series "Hiphop - Made in Germany" shows the changes the genre has undergone in Germany since the 1980s. With bands such as "Die Beginner" and "Fettes Brot", Hamburg became a hip-hop stronghold in the 90s.

The 90s were a time full of political upheaval - a decade in which Germany had to rediscover its common identity. These years saw the rise of hip hop: out of the urban underground of the 80s. Hamburg becomes a stronghold. Young rap groups such as Die Beginner and Fettes Brot make a significant contribution to this.

"Hamburg was very important," says Boris Lauterbach (King Boris) from Fettes Brot. "The hip-hop scene was naturally very strong and dominant in Hamburg. There were parties and concerts and new clubs everywhere." But Hamburg hip-hop doesn't just want to entertain: Rap is becoming the mouthpiece of a young generation.

The attack on the reception center for asylum seekers in the Rostock district of Lichtenhagen in 1992 was a historic moment for rapper Denyo from Beginner that had a strong impact on him. "It also inspired us to make even more songs and to organize ourselves even better. That also helped us. It also helped hip hop to politicize itself."

With "Fremd im eigenen Land", Advanced Chemistry hit a political nerve in 1995. The current Berlin Senator for Culture, Joe Chialo, heard the track at the time. "I thought to myself, someone is expressing thoughts that I always have, but that I don't peddle," he says in the second episode of the series. During this phase of hip hop, four funny Swabians come around the corner at the same time - the Fantastischen Vier with "Die Da!?!". "Our topics are not social fringe groups, discrimination, but our topics are the party and we are from the middle class," emphasizes rapper Smudo from the Fantastischen Vier, whose real name is Michael Bernd Schmidt.

It is the beginning of commercialization. Now it's all about selling records. An ideal platform: the newly founded music channel Viva. Hamburg's rappers become even better known thanks to King Boris from Fettes Brot. "Not everyone thought we were cool. We were a bit of a stepchild in the Hamburg hip-hop scene. We were the best known and most successful, but certainly not the most popular in the scene," he says. With the end of the 90s, the social reality changed - and with it hip-hop. Now it is the capital that sets the tone in the rap scene.

The four-part series "Hiphop - Made in Germany" spans the period from the early 80s to today, from Heidelberg to Hamburg and Berlin to Frankfurt, from Kohl to Scholz. Among others with Eko Fresh, Liz, Smudo, Eunique, Ali Bumaye, Ebow, Denyo, König Boris, Disarstar, Toni-L, Kitty Kat, T-Low, Gregor Gysi and Michel Friedman.

Dramaturg Script Consultant: Oliver Schwabe
Directors: Thorsten Ernst, Banu Kepenek, Negar Ghalamzan, Onur Kepenek

A production by Gebrüder Beetz on behalf of NDR