View source for German hip-hop

===1990–1995===
In 1991, the German music label Bombastic released the record ''[[Krauts with Attitude|Krauts with Attitude: German Hip Hop Vol. 1]]''. The album featured fifteen songs – three in German, eleven in English, and one in French. The album was produced by DJ Michael Reinboth, a popular hip-hop DJ at that time. Michael Reinboth moved to [[Munich]] in 1982 and was the first DJ to introduce [[Garage House]] and [[Old school hip-hop]] music to the Munich [[club scene]].<ref>[http://www.compost-rec.com/sections/labels/cpt_arti/reinboth.htm Compost Records: Michael Reinboth<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705082952/http://www.compost-rec.com/sections/labels/cpt_arti/reinboth.htm |date=5 July 2008 }}</ref> His compilation ''Krauts with Attitude'' is considered one of the first German hip-hop albums, as it features [[Die Fantastischen Vier]]. The title refers to [[N.W.A]] (Niggaz with Attitude), one of the most controversial hip-hop groups of the time in the United States.<ref name="autogenerated9" /> ''Krauts with Attitude'' was the first album to [[nationalize]] German hip-hop, and its album packaging reflected this. "The cover was designed in the colours of the national flag (black, red and yellow), and the [[liner notes]] read as follows: 'Now is the time to oppose somehow the self-confidence of the English and the American.'" <ref name="autogenerated9" />

In the early 1990s, hip-hop established itself in the [[Mainstream media|mainstream]], and many new rappers emerged on the scene. One such band was [[Die Fantastischen Vier]], four rappers from [[Stuttgart]], whose [[optimistic]] sound and lighthearted lyrics have brought them fame both in Germany and abroad. Apparently, original crew members [[Smudo]] and [[Son_Goku_(band)#Thomas_D|Thomas D]] were inspired to begin rapping in German following a six-month visit to the United States. It became apparent that they had nothing in common with U.S. rappers and their essentially middle-class upbringing was foreign to that of the [[cultural environment]] of [[US hip-hop|U.S. hip-hop]]. "The group subsequently decided to concentrate on issues they saw around them, using their own language, rather than aping American styles."<ref>Pennay, Mark. "Rap in Germany: The Birth of a Genre." In ''Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA'', 121. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.</ref>

Although [[Die Fantastischen Vier]] achieved commercial success and helped to pioneer hip-hop music in Germany, they were criticized for sounding "too American."<ref name="BrownTimothy" /> The group's lack of [[socially conscious]] topics and [[simplistic]] delivery and material informed the ways in which they were viewed as a trite pop group.<ref name="BrownTimothy" />

During 1992–93 many acts of protest occurred in the wake of rising [[anti-immigration]] sentiment in Germany.<ref name="BrownTimothy" /> Amongst the angst of this period, the content of German hip-hop started to become more [[politicized]]. Additionally, the language of the music started to reflect a more local voice. The group [[Advanced Chemistry]] has been noted as one of the first to incorporate social critiques of growing prejudice and [[racism in Germany]]. "…the newly emerging hip-hop movement took a clear stance for the minorities and against the [[marginalisation]] of immigrants who, as the song said, might be German on paper, but not in real life"<ref>[http://leaveyournineathome.wordpress.com/2007/10/13/german-hip-hop-1-advanced-chemistry/ German Hip-Hop 1: Advanced Chemistry « Leave Your Nine At Home<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1992 the group released the single "[[Fremd im eigenen Land (Advanced Chemistry song)|Fremd im eigenen Land]]". The song dealt with the widespread racism that [[non-white]] German citizens faced. In the same year, another [[Rap rock|rock-hip-hop collaboration]] emerged. The [[punk rock]] band [[Die Goldenen Zitronen]], together with the [[US-American]] rapper Eric IQ Gray and the hip-hop group ''Easy Business'', released the [[maxi-single]] "80 000 000 Hooligans", which includes a rap version of their song "80 Million Hooligans".<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/de/release/775512-Die-Goldenen-Zitronen-Easy-Business-IQ-80000000-Hooligans ''Die Goldenen Zitronen & Easy Business & IQ – 80.000.000 Hooligans''] at [[Discogs]]</ref><ref>Stefan Johannesberg: [https://www.laut.de/Various-Artists/Alben/20-Jahre-Hip-Hop-in-Deutschland-1980-2000-3196 Das Album zum Buch mit Klassikern aus der Anfangsphase des deutschen Hip Hop. laut.de-Kritik], [[laut.de]], 22 February 2002 (German)</ref> The song addressed the nationalism and hatred against foreigners that emerged in Germany after the [[German reunification|reunification]].

During the inception of hip-hop into Germany, most popular hip-hop artists have come from [[West Germany]].<ref name="autogenerated9" /> This could be because of the large immigrant population there at the time. "By 1994, the number of immigrants living in Germany had reached 6.9 million. 97 per cent of all immigrants were resident in the western part of the country, which meant that in the former [[Federal Republic of Germany]] and in [[West Berlin]] every tenth citizen was a foreigner."<ref>Elflein</ref> Of those 97% of immigrants in the Western part of Germany over 1.5&nbsp;million of them originated from a European country. For example, the community with the largest number of immigrants (roughly 1.9&nbsp;million people) was the [[Turks in Germany|Turkish community]]. Within the Turkish community, only 5% of its people were of age 60 or older. Such statistics give justification for why hip-hop may have flourished in Germany; many of the people were young. Furthermore, German hip-hop, much like many other countries, was heavily influenced by the Western world. During that time, a rise in anti-immigrant feelings resulted in acts of arson and murder against the Turkish [[asylum seeker]]s. In May 1993, 5 Turkish people were killed and many injured when someone attacked the home of a Turkish family with a [[Molotov cocktail|firebomb]].<ref name="BrownTimothy" /> In 1993 German hip-hop "[[globalized]]" with the emergence of ''[[VIVA (German TV channel)|Viva]]'s Freestyle''; the equivalent to the American [[Yo! MTV Raps]] show. ''Viva's freestyle'' consisted of hip-hop songs from the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.<ref name="autogenerated2" /><ref name="autogenerated4">https://moodle.brandeis.edu/file.php/3404/pdfs/elflein-krauts-turks-attitude.pdf{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The influx of immigrants into Germany caused an adverse effect on employment and wages. It was found that immigrants and native Germans were imperfect substitutes for each other, while old and new immigrants were interchangeable, exposing an inelastic labor market.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=D'Amuri |first1=Francesco |last2=Ottaviano |first2=Gianmarco I. P. |last3=Peri |first3=Giovanni |year=2010 |title=The Labor Market Impact of Immigration in Western Germany in the 1990s |journal=[[European Economic Review]] |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=550–570 |doi=10.1016/j.euroecorev.2009.10.002 |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/15014/ |type=Submitted manuscript |hdl=10419/40672 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, German hip-hop was growing. [[John R. Clarke (historian)|John Clarke]] used the term '[[recontextualization]]' to describe the process of borrowing cultural ideas and integrating them into a new society. German hip-hop did just this as it took US hip-hop and gave it a new meaning and identity in [[German culture]]. [[Black American]] [[gangsta rap]], however, is not the only type of rap that has developed in Germany. Some of the most innovative rap music in Germany is made by Germans or by [[Underground hip-hop|underground crews]] dedicated to rap for both political and artistic reasons. Rap has been able to succeed in Germany not just due to a different national culture from the U.S., but also because people are responding to other racial and [[ethnic culture]]s.<ref name="autogenerated1">https://moodle.brandeis.edu/file.php/3404/pdfs/brown-hip-hop-germany.pdf{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
At this time, in the mid-1990s, the ratio of imports and [[Domestication|domestic]] rap was 70% import to 30% domestic, but domestic rap was increasing rapidly. CDs had practically taken over the market in Germany, and cassettes were almost out and were just used for [[Copyright infringement|black copies]]. German hip-hop was yet to have a specific identity as different styles occurred due to [[Ethnic background|ethnic]] and musical background.<ref name="autogenerated2" />