Hip hop
Fettes Brot retire with “Hitstory”.
Boris Lauterbach aka “King Boris” (lr), Martin Vandreier aka “Doktor Renz” and Björn Warns aka “Björn Beton”. photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
First the best-of album “Hitstory”, in the spring we’ll go on a big farewell tour. The trio came up with something very special to say goodbye to their hometown of Hamburg.
They have their place in German pop history, as they made German rap socially acceptable in the 1990s. Now, after almost 30 years, Fettes Brot, the hip-hop trio from Hamburg that rapped their way into the hearts of the masses with songs like “Nordisch by Nature” and “On Days Like These”, is retiring.
The three musicians say goodbye with a best-of album and a “fat” farewell tour. “Hitstory” will be released on February 10 and includes the ten biggest hits of the “Brote”, as their fans lovingly call Dokter Renz (Martin Vandreier, 48), König Boris (Boris Lauterbach, 48) and Björn Beton (Björn Warns, 49). .
“Nordic by Nature” and “Jein”
For those who grew up with music, the album is a journey back in time to their youth, a memory of parties, chilling and nonchalance. However, the three hip hoppers proceeded pragmatically when selecting the titles: “We presented ourselves, we play at the largest festival in the world and only get 60 minutes. The selection has to shoot up,” says Björn Beton of the German Press Agency. “Besides, it’s the songs that have been the most successful.” The sampler naturally includes the Low German anthem “Nordisch by Nature”, which brought the breakthrough for Fettes Brot in 1995, and “Jein”, with which they were able to manifest their place in the charts a year later.
From then on things went well with the breads. And not least because their lyrics tell stories, are intelligent and funny and because Björn Beton, König Boris and Dokter Renz also divide their rap parts within individual verses, which creates a new dynamic. From time to time they got support from other musicians – for example with the thoughtful “An Days Like These”, in which Pascal Finkenauer sings the refrain and talks about how catastrophes penetrate our peaceful everyday life and what that does to us.
Of course, “Gay Girls” should not be missing from the “Hitstory” album – after all, it was the protest song that was directed against the anti-gay attitude in German rap. Björn Beton: “With “Gay Girls” I inevitably have to think about how many exciting discussions we started on the subject of sexuality and rap. In fact, every song has an important meaning in our lives.”
Sometimes this meaning comes as a surprise – for example in “Emanuela”. “When we made the song, we didn’t know exactly what kind of music it was supposed to be,” says Björn Beton. “All we knew was that this weird song had such a compelling pull that you want to hear it again. We surprised ourselves. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in 30 years of pop culture knowledge, it’s that you never can predict what will and won’t be a hit.”
Bread can’t cry – or can it?
In any case, the fans know which hits they love. And so “Bettina, please put something on”, “Da raus”, “Erdbeben”, “The Grosser” and “Echo” are other songs that can be found on the album and that can soon be sung again at the concerts . Because from April 5th to May 6th, Fettes Brot will be going on a farewell tour across Germany – with the exception of Hamburg. Because they have come up with something special for their hometown. There they celebrate a huge farewell party on the trotting track on September 1st and 2nd.
Nevertheless, there is of course something sad about such a farewell. In their farewell song “Bread doesn’t cry”, the breads announce: “But you won’t see tears. That can’t happen to us” and “What I’m hiding behind my very expensive sunglasses aren’t tears at all, I just have something in the eye. But you know, bread cannot weep.” It sounds as if the three hip hoppers are encouraging themselves for the emotional times that lie ahead. Björn Beton: “It’s courageous to stand by your feelings. We do that and we can’t cover it up with these lines. I don’t even know how it will feel when we visit a city together for the last time and go to concerts play, but I know I’m not alone in this.”