Fettes Brot's longevity has meant that they are sometimes referred to as "Hamburg's hip hop dinosaurs" by the group members.

The single remained in the German charts for a full month, but the band was determined not to let this initial commercial success become a one-hit wonder.

A year later Fettes Brot released their second biggest commercial hit and quasi-anthem "Jein" (a blend of Ja and Nein, meaning both "Yes" and "No").

After their initial success, the group began to experiment with a softer sound and released the single "Können diese Augen lügen?"

Many purists voiced criticism as the band explored new paths and no longer focused on a pure hip hop music style.

Beginner, and Smudo of Die Fantastischen Vier, as well as Der Tobi & Das Bo made personal contributions to this anthology.

Additionally they released a collaboration with Skunk Funk (German), a pure hip hop single called "Fast 30" ("Almost 30").

Only a year later, in early 2002, they released their greatest hits compilation Amnesie ("Amnesia") and a DVD of the same name with extra short films.

In 2003, they released the Rio Reiser cover "Ich bin müde" ("I'm Tired"), which received extensive exposure on television.

The album was titled Am Wasser gebaut (literally "Built by the water", but is also a term describing a very emotional person who cries easily).

On 22 December 2005, Fettes Brot gave the largest concert of their career at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg in front of over 13,000 people.

In 2006, Fettes Brot released a single named "Fussball ist immer noch wichtig" ("Football is still important") for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

They also released "Falsche Entscheidung" in 2006 for the World Cup, with a video featuring the retired footballers Boris Amadeus and Stefan Bach.

The song is about the German model Bettie Ballhaus, who at the time hosted a late-night quiz show in which, for every question answered correctly, she took some of her clothes off.

The album's name alludes to an 18th-century epoch of German art and literature, called Sturm und Drang.

In that game, when his pirate ship suffered a mutiny, an announcement came up starting with the English words "Shipmaster Warns: ...".

The German language does not have a direct equivalent for "Shipmaster" ("Kapitän" is used instead, as per the English "Captain"), but when Warns translated it he made up the word "Schiffmeister".