Origins – Will Garnett

Origins of European Hip-Hop: Deutscher Hip-Hop

October 1, 2020April 22, 2021Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Advanced Chemistry, American, Beat Street, Berlin, Berlin Wall, Bombastic Records, British, Cartel, Da Crime Posse, Deutscher Hip-Hop, Die Fantastischen Vier, Erci E, European Hip-Hop, Feature, France, French, FRG, G.L.S United, GDR, German Hip-Hop, Germany, hip-hop, Italy, Journalism, Karaken, Krauts with Attitude, Music, Music Feature, Music Journalism, Origins, Origins of European Hip-Hop, Pioneers, Pioneers of German Hip-Hop, Rap, Rappers Duetsch, Second World War, Soviet Union, Turkey, Turkish Hip-Hop, Wild Style3 Comments

Next up in my series ‘Origins of European Hip-Hop’, I’ll take a look at a fragmented and divided hip-hop scene in Germany. Whilst in both France and Italy artists had ideological differences, and both scenes had significant political impacts, no scene in Europe had the kind of political backdrop and contrast of musicians than that in Germany. From Nationalist movements to Turkish rebellion, this post will piece together the development of hip-hop in a country still feeling the effects of the Second World War.

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Origins of European Hip-Hop: Francophone Rap

July 13, 2020August 17, 2020Posted in Features, JournalismTagged Africa Bambaataa, Alternative, Assasin, Boogie Down Productions, Bouge De La, Caroline, Chacun Fait (C'Qui Lui Plait), Chagrin d'Amour, De La Planete Mars, Dissertation, European Hip Hop, France, Francophone Rap, Hip Hop, IAM, Introduction, Italy, Jazz Rap, Je Danse Le Mia, Journalism, Kurtis Blow, La Haine, L’ecole du micro d’argent, Marseilles, Mathieu Kassovitzin, MC Solaar, Music, NTM, Ombre Est Lumiere, Origins, Paris, Prose Combat, Qui Sème le Vent Récolte le Tempo, University, USA1 Comment

After looking through some of my old work, I stumbled across the disseration that I wrote for my final project at university back in 2016, and decided to give it another read. Lockdown boredom may have reached new heights, and brought me to an educational read which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Perhaps as it brought back the memories of writing it, which with the benefit of time and rose-tinted glasses seemed great, but the sleepless nights and Red Bull driven researching weren’t. Whilst I’ve ditched the Red Bull, and seem to be sleeping fine, going back down memory lane and the same rabbit holes as I orginally had, seem like the perfect distraction to another stressful time, as we are in now. As you may have ascertained from the title of this post, my disseration was about European hip-hop, in particular the development and impact of the genre in France, Italy and Germany during the 1980s and 1990s. In that, I waffled on about Globalisation, Americanisation and the history of hip-hop, but I’ll save you from the academic jargon, and dive right into the various scenes themselves.

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