An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as a member of the German bands Absolute Beginner[1] and La Boom.

In 1997, Delay founded his own record label Eimsbush together with partners from the Hamburg hip-hop scene.

The label was initiated by the German hip hop scene while it was going through a boom phase in the mid and late 90s, which led to "every Horst [jerk] being allowed to rap if only he can hold up a mic" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007).

As a result, real talent stepped back for fear of being seen as sellouts by the underground hip-hop scene.

The label was shut down in 2003 due to financial reasons and as a result of the "naive idea of just believing in talent outside the mainstream."