Elements of American hip hop culture, such as graffiti art and breakdancing, diffused into Western Europe in the early 1980s.
It was not until the early 1990s that German hip hop entered the mainstream as groups like Die Fantastischen Vier and the Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt gained popularity.
German hip hop was heavily influenced by films, leading to a strong emphasis on visual and cultural elements such as graffiti and breakdancing beyond the music itself.
[2] While the group (consisting of three radio DJs including the later comedian and TV host Thomas Gottschalk) was formed explicitly for the one song, and the song was intended primarily as a parody of Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, it was none-the-less the first German hip hop group and first German-language hip hop track.
Using this language in their music, some academics have argued, enables them to levy criticism and protest aspects of society and politics that they perceive as having disadvantaged them and their communities.
They sought to appropriate hip hop from its foreign framework, and use it to bring a voice to historical and contemporary problems in Germany.
[17] Advanced Chemistry exploded onto the German hip hop scene in November 1992 with their first mixed single entitled Fremd im eigenen Land (Foreign in Your Own Country).
Thus social approval is acquired by actually defending one's honour or by exhibiting abilities such as the willingness to face physical encounter, talkativeness and humour...
[20] 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.
"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.'"
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 Thomas D, were inspired to begin rapping in German following a six-month visit to the United States.
"[21] Although Die Fantastischen Vier achieved commercial success and helped to pioneer hip hop music in Germany, they were contested for sounding "too American.
"…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"[22] In 1992 the group released the single Fremd im eigenen Land.
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.
During that time, a rises of anti-immigrant feelings resulted in the acts of arson and murder against the Turkish asylum seekers.
German hip hop was yet to have a specific identity as different styles occurred due to ethnic and musical background.
This year, they released the first-ever Turkish language rap track in, named "Bir Yabancının Hayatı" (Life of a Foreigner).
Shortly, the success of Karakan spread beyond the borders of Germany and the group started to get well known within the European hip hop scene.
[6] In October 2006, what is thought to be the first US-released commercial compilation of German hip hop (and reggae), "Big Up Berlin," was released in the US.
[31] Today, the German hip hop scene is a reflection of the many dimensions that Germany has come to represent in a unified image of Europe.
Scholars have argued that the Old School German hip hop "scene was musically and vocally oriented to American role models.
[33] However, Old Schoolers themselves contend that it is the New School German rap artists who have been "Americanized,"[32] and therefore lack the authenticity of the struggle of the ghetto in West Germany.
One Old School artist, DJ Cutfaster lamented that, "Most people have forgotten that hip hop functions as a mouthpiece against violence and oppression and ultimately against the ghetto, which has become the metaphor for the deplorable state of our world".