German hip hop
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German hip hop is the German manifestation of hip hop music. After the United States and France, Germany is the third-biggest hip hop nation, sales-wise.
Hip hop spread across Europe in the early 1980s. Graffiti art and breakdancing were already well-known by the time the first recordings were released later in the decade. Die Fantastischen Vier was the first hip hop crew to achieve commercial success, and they helped to popularize the field beginning in about 1992.
According to the European Music Office's report on Music in Europe, the first major rap crew, Die Fantastischen Vier, appealed originally to young, mainstream audiences. They responded by evolving a harder sound. There remain two kinds of German hip hop: underground and commercial. Underground performers include Walking Large and Fettes Brot; labels include Groove Attack, Yo Mama and Mzee [1] (http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/MIE/Part2_chapter08.html).
See also: list of German hip hop musicians
References
- Sascha Verlan, Hannes Loh: 20 Jahre HipHop in Deutschland. Hannibal Verlag, 2000