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RAG will always be one of those bands that
gets re-discovered by future generations.
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RAG was my favorite band - Aphroe!
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Aphroe was the voluble poet.
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With Pahel, you felt a
certain energy. Very artistic.
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Pftaster, Pftaster. (Pavement, Pavement.}
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And Galla had this
enormous emotional impact.
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Abstract and philosophical.
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Plus Mr. Wiz, one of the
best producers of his era.
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'Unter Tage' is a milestone of German rap.
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Like Wu-Tang. This
combination was utterly unique.
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Ruhrpott originals: RAG!
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♪♪ RAG - Unter Tage
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1. Vacuum
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In 1998, RAG released a German hip-hop
classic with their debut album 'Unter Tage.'
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20 years later the band is back on tour.
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Without Galla.
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Dortmund, February 2018
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PAHEL: There doesn't even have to be something going
on, really, just... psychosomatically something's up.
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I guess, I'll retrain...
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GABRIEL: All this bullshit,
what's going on, eh.
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KARSTEN: Hey Pahel, wasn't
there something about a banner?
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PAHEL: He couldn't design that, no,
didn't work out, timing-wise...
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KARSTEN: This is not working at all...
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KARSTEN: Everyone okay
with me taking the #1?
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KARSTEN: Horst, do you have another
mic stand for a DJ mic? A small one?
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GABRIEL: And another SM-58, please? What?
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KARSTEN: All gone already?
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HORST: I didn't bring
anymore, wasn't requested!
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KARSTEN: Okay, I don't get this,
because we... oh well, it's not your fault.
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GABRIEL: Nevermind, no discussion.
No discussion. No discussion.
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♪♪ (Rapping in German) “Mischen Cocktailbars auf, Bloody Marys im Kreislauf
/ heute Sekt morgen Setters (mir schmeckt's), Alter, scheiß drauf.“
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♪♪ 'Setzen auf Mundpropaganda für das erste
Exemplar Kein Kommentar, vor laufender Kamera.”
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KARSTEN: I'm still not entirely sure about my monitor
sound, maybe if someone could lend me an ear here...
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00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,536
sounds a little muffled to me.
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PAHEL: Like I said, this can still work
out... Can easily go down the drain as well.
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Welcome back on stage for the first time
in 13 years, true Ruhrpott originals: RAG!
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Up there on the third floor is where
we lived. This was my parents' first flat.
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My mother is a traditional housewife and mother. And
my father is now retired but used to be an electrician.
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He's worked on construction sites and
traveled a lot for Esso, Texaco and such.
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Just imagine how much time he spent
on the Autobahn, so much tension.
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And then you get home and there you have these... kids.
But no, he's been really cool, all things considered.
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Aged six, you slowly start to take in music and then
at nine it already started with the first rap tracks.
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That's when “New York, New York” and breakdance,
Bravo magazine, and Mr. Robot were around.
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At that time, I was allowed to go buy
my first record, in a store called Melody.
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It should have been 'Breakdance Sensation 84,' because the
commercial for it and this Mr. Robot guy had impressed me so much.
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So I went and told the record shop guy:
“| need this breakdance record.”
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He gave me 'Scratch & Break.' Some fake shit with Kajagoogoo
on there and stuff like that. I was like, “what the hell?”
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That's the first time I got
fucked over in a record store.
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| can't really say when a Ruhr area hip-hop scene first started to
form. I believe, in the beginning everyone found it in their own way.
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Personally, I discovered
hip-hop in the disco.
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Cologne didn't have any hip-hop clubs,
so we had to go to the Ruhr area.
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Bochum, actually...
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Yeah, right... what was it called again?
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Bochum had one of the most important
hip-hop clubs back then, called Logo.
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That was a classic new wave disco. You would
hear Siouxsie and the Banshees and New Order.
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One of their DJs, Ralf Odermann, was an old punk rocker who would
add LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and acid house to his rock sound.
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00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:11,840
Everyone who defined themselves
as hip-hop at that time met at this club.
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STF before they became STF, for example.
I used to see Scopemann all the time.
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And, of course, Karsten {Aphroe}.
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He was just a teenager, 16 years old, I guess... a total nerd,
total fan who just wanted to know: what's happening here?
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No matter which song was on, he was rapping
along. And I just thought “something's odd here.”
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So I told him: “Look, if you can rap along to
every track, why don't you try write your own?”
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And that was the starting point.
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About that time we started making music
ourselves. Gabriel said “Come over to my house.”
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And there, in the basement of his mother, aunt and grandmother,
he had an Ensoniq sampler, a Linn drum and other fun stuff.
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Most importantly, loads
of records from his mom.
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That's when I first understood that
you had to sample from old records.
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Without us even knowing at the time,
this was the birth of our band, Raid.
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Raid were Gabriel and I. Gabriel
could be grouped in with Torch and co.
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They all knew each other and were already down.
He basically lifted me up to a new plateau.
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I grew up pretty much everywhere. My father had a job
with the government that took him around the world.
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Thus, we were affiliated
with the diplomatic corps.
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Since 1979, after my parents had divorced,
I've been permanently in Germany.
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My mother got custody for me and took me back to
Germany. Before that, I lived in countless places.
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My aunt, my uncle, my cousins
are from the Bronx and still live there.
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Accordingly, I had a different connection and easily got my
hands on records that were hard to get over here at the time.
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Good.
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Here's where it all started. Crazy. It's
been a while, but it still looks the same.
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My family lived here for a long time,
and they refurbished the basement for me.
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I would have gotten on my family's nerves,
so they moved me into the cellar.
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It was just a cool move to jump on the train from
Herne to Oberhausen, two or three times a week.
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Just to meet here and be creative.
Man, it was so different.
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I mean, I did have my friends and we all got
attracted to rap, hip-hop and DJing early on.
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But hands down, those
were all, sorry, slackers!
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It was all about smoking and binge drinking while
listening to something you dug but barely understood.
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Developing an understanding for being part
of a culture, that first happened here.
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Like, okay: do it yourself!
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Okay, live and direct from the Freestyle couch:
we're here with Raid. How long have you been around?
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About two years now.
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That's when you started causing havoc on the
jams. Now you've dropped this thing here,
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“Stille Post” {He said, She
said}. What's it all about?
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The record deals with trying to get a foot in the
door of the scene but being met with misconceptions.
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There were people that simply didn't like us personally and felt
like they needed to talk bad behind our backs. So this is payback.
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Snakes!
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Freestyle was the first ever hip-hop show
on German TV that was done by actual heads.
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00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:07,056
The editors were music-minded people who
wrote a lot for magazines like Spex and such.
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00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:13,976
Oliver von Felbert and Dirk Scheuring. And
Storm, Torch and myself were hosting the show.
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Viva Freestyle aired from 1993 - 1995. A time, in
which, commercially, hip-hop played no role at all.
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Which is why we could do whatever we wanted. We ran
every Monday at 10pm. Who's watching TV at that time?
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I'm not even sure, if the Viva guys actually watched the
show, because we delivered some pretty anarchic stuff.
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♪♪ Raid - Stille Post
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I thought it was sick, like,
how does this guy rap so well in German?
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Aphroe was one of the first in Germany with
a sick flow. He's a trailblazer, a pioneer.
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♪♪ Raid - Stille Post
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“Stille Post” was the second ever
German rap record I held in my hands.
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It's true. I'm not trying to
suck up to them, it's just a fact.
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♪♪ Raid - Stille Post
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We had one thing in common,
namely the song title “Stille Post.”
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We talked about that the first time we met,
because naturally we had already found out.
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We immediately had good chemistry. It was apparent that Aphroe
thought about similar things that he wanted to express, too.
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♪♪ Raid - Stille Post
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At this point, I did not believe there would ever
be a substantial market for hip-hop in Germany.
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We were cool with the whole thing leading
up to a TV appearance on a niche programme.
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We'd only realize later
what came out of it.
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Shoutouts to the whole Herne Massive, the Bochum Posse.
My family, one love. And once again, and we're out.
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Do you want me to call before I get there?
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This is Doze {of Too Strong} on the phone.
- DOTZE!
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They wanna do a track with you and me...
- Yes.
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for their LP. Are you down, Galla?
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Sure I'm down.
- Galla is down... he's down.
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♪♪ Filo Joes - Low Budget
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Pahel and Galla were Filo Joes. And Aphroe and
Wiz were Raid. Those were two different bands.
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From early on, you had
a lot of graffiti in the Ruhr area.
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And when you took the train from Essen or Bochum to Dortmund,
the walls got more and more colorful, and the trains did, too.
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♪♪ Filo Joes - Low Budget
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00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:31,936
I started writing graffiti in 1988,
while I was living in Witten.
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A friend of mine lived in Dortmund-Barop and there was a train station
in Dortmund-Dorstfeld near the Hannibal, a now defunct ghetto high-rise.
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That station looked like something out of a US movie. It
was completely bombed, and all the pieces were stylish.
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1986, that's where I saw anything like it for the first time. So
I started writing myself in 1988 and I stuck with it to this day.
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I started dabbling with music
on Wattenscheid's ska scene.
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Pahel is essentially a rudeboy. He even played with
Die Kassierer for a while! He's just a little punk.
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♪♪ Die Kassierer - Mit meinem Motor
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Cigarettes...
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Do I mess up your concept, if I smoke?
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00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,936
♪♪ Die Kassierer - Mit meinem Motor
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00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:39,696
The guy who distributed our first
records in Bochum made ska music.
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00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:47,720
That's how our band got affiliated with that
scene, and Pahel somehow ended up in our band.
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00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,536
Die Kassierer had been around for a decade already. One time,
I went to their front man Wolfgang after a gig and said:
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“I could do what you guys do on stage,” to which Wolfgang
replied: “Well, in that case, you're now in the band.”
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00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:06,536
In those days, we already played songs like “Sex mit
dem Sozialarbeiter” (“Sex with the Social Worker”)
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Or “Mein Glied ist zu groß” ("My Member is Too
Big'), which are still stone-cold classics.
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00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:16,016
♪♪ Die Kassierer - Sex
mit dem Sozialarbeiter
145
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At 17, 18 I just really wanted to go wild. Die Kassierer
were maybe even a little too wild for my taste.
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00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:31,016
Butt-naked on stage for the album release and stuff
like that... I mean, the other guys were naked.
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I didn't need that kinda stuff
necessarily, so I dropped out.
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I thought it was great that he went on to find much
more success with RAG. I was really happy for him.
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00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:50,480
Rap was a little more structured, I guess. Sometimes, I
felt like what was going on in hip-hop was even too normal.
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00:17:54,480 --> 00:18:00,080
We are in Chocolate City,
USA, AKA Washington D.C.
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00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:15,680
Pahel's Home
Washington D.C.
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00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:41,600
It's not very bright in here, so we have to improvise.
Like that. It's dark in the basement, y'know.
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Here's where I record. My little
dungeon where I can still be creative.
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My mother, my fathers and my sister. My parents met in Munich,
but my sister was born in the North of Germany, before me.
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My father is Afro-Brazilian and had lived on the streets in
Rio de Janeiro. My grandma couldn't provide shelter for him.
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00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:16,296
From 13 until 19, he lived by himself on the streets,
learned English and decided to come to Europe.
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It seemed like there were opportunities for someone of a
different heritage. Which is still not the case in Brazil today.
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00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,320
Damn, one second, let me check.
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00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:42,920
That's my father. The poster is from a solo show he did with
Michael Leye, who still runs the Pantheon theatre in Hamburg.
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00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,560
The show toured all across
the country in the 70s.
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Yeah that's papa... like father,
like son, right? A rolling stone...
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00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:05,120
My father studied acting in the 1970s,
from 75-79, under Peter Zadek.
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That's why we moved to Bochum from Hamburg.
164
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:18,496
Otherwise I would've probably been
a member of Absolute Beginners.
165
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:25,736
Here, this is in front of Bochumer Schauspielhaus, when he was working under
Zadek. This might have been a piece with Herbert Grönemeyer on the ensemble.
166
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:33,760
Here's Lee Strasberg, the inventor of method acting. He was the
teacher of Marilyn Monroe and Robert DeNiro, and also taught my father.
167
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My parents split up in 1986 and my father went
back to Brazil, to Sao Paulo, to be exact.
168
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:53,920
He died in 2010, in Cuiabá, Brazil.
169
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:09,160
Like me, Galla did not start out with rap. He
was a freestyle skateboarder and also tagged.
170
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We've met through other b-boys in Bochum. Our first forays into
German rap were in the early 90s. That's when we started Filo Joes.
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Galla and I met through the skate scene and all the
freaks affiliated with that. He was one of them.
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A long-haired dude who ran his mouth. So funny,
we almost got into a fight the first time we met.
173
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It was just stupid, I went clubbing with my friends from
Herne, he came with his Bochum posse and then shit went down.
174
00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:06,360
And next time we saw each other in the club,
we had a beer and it was all back to normal.
175
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:17,720
On the surface, Galla was something else.
He was in a good mood 99% of the time.
176
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Wherever you went, you had fun with him.
A very positive person.
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Very different from his lyrics,
which were always very deep.
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He {Galla} always was a very funny person. That's
what attracted me to him, I just like humorous people.
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Somehow he always needed a co-pilot.
That's what he called it, co-pilot.
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Me and Galla, we were a team and did
everything together. We lived together, too.
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He was very catholic.
He loved religious imagery.
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Pictures of the Virgin Mary and things
like that. He also had these rose tattoos.
183
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We made fun of that, but it was
another really beautiful side of him.
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He had faith. It gave him strength.
185
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The death of his parents led him
to seek a higher purpose in religion.
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Raid already had official gigs with bands from other
parts of Germany. We {Filo Joes} were more underground.
187
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One day, we went to the Magic Records store in Dortmund
and Gabriel and Aphroe came in. That's how we first met.
188
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I was really into the guys, because I realized that
they provided content that I can't deliver myself.
189
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We were a perfect match because
their approach was so different.
190
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While I was always trying to put
style first and then tell a story,
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they were big on social criticism.
It was great and very different.
192
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,560
We all talked about what would happen
if these guys team up... like Wu-Tang
193
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:40,640
each member of RAG had mastered a different flow, a
different discipline. Everyone excelled at something else.
194
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:53,496
The next big step came when they were all living together in Witten.
That's where they wrote most of the lyrics to their first record.
195
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:59,616
We lived as the “MC WG” {MC roommates}
on Steinstraße in Witten.
196
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,976
Such an exciting time for us in Witten.
There was a tangible upward movement.
197
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,616
Now we all made hip-hop in Witten and in the Ruhr
area and we could create something dope together.
198
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,216
Our crew was the Bunkerwelt, Dike was around,
Phillip {Flipstar} and I freestyled together.
199
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:17,656
And since we've always been local patriots and the
whole Ruhr area mentality was a huge part of our music,
200
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,456
we thought: “Cool, something's happening.”
You always want things to move forward.
201
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,880
And now even Karsten lives in Witten,
RAG share a flat in Witten, wow!
202
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:33,840
At that point they started to write together,
and correct and inspire one another.
203
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:42,056
I've often taken the lead on these
sessions, which wasn't always the best idea.
204
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:47,920
It was just due to my understanding of
perfectionism, how it needs to be done...
205
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:56,120
That's when the tracks to
'Unter Tage' were created.
206
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:04,160
♪♪ RAG - Kreuzwortfeuer
207
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:10,096
2. Pavement
208
00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:18,120
Each city had its own sound and flavour. Broadly
speaking, Hamburg rap was humourous, ironic.
209
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:29,520
Stuttgart had the more serious and political rappers.
And the Ruhr area, we perceived as “the realness."
210
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:36,296
When guys from the Ruhr area
came to jams, they came with a crowd.
211
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:44,320
I remember when Too Strong took us along to Viva
Freestyle. They were the first ones to show up with a mob.
212
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,376
We've got the Dortmund posse in the house
- Or at least parts of the Dortmund posse.
213
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,736
Actually we just expected New Attempt and Too
Strong, but ended up with a few more people.
214
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,656
Shark, Mason, the whole
Dortmund posse is here, Silo Nation.
215
00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:03,336
Mentality-wise, there were similarities
to the early Berlin graffiti mindstate.
216
00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:07,736
Back in the jam days, I definitely partied
with those guys and not with Torch.
217
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:15,760
♪♪ 100 Strong - Dortmund Silo
218
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:25,216
A bit of a rough attitude, they liked to drink
as well... and their sound reflected that.
219
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:30,616
To me, Too Strong always provided a proletarian
element in hip-hop. A working class thing.
220
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:36,096
The connection with Too Strong
came through me, mostly.
221
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:42,376
Der Lange was from Herdecke and, when we started making
music, he was already a world-famous graffiti writer.
222
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,016
Just because he pulled
off the most insane stunts.
223
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:51,616
♪♪ 100 Strong - Dortmund Silo
224
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:58,856
One day, we were partying at the bunker
in Dortmund, had a few drinks, some BBQ.
225
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:06,880
Karsten came with his car, so! told him
to play our raw demo of 'Unter Tage.'
226
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:13,616
He had a couple of songs on tape, “Westwinde,” for
example. He put it in and they went: “Dude, what IS that?”
227
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:21,640
♪♪ RAG - Westwinde
228
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:48,280
One time, we played a La Familia show. When we
came into the room, Wiz was doing soundcheck.
229
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:58,400
He started to play beats,
and it completely knocked me over.
230
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:05,776
I totally lost it. I went up to
him and went “what is that?”
231
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:13,576
“That's our record, Pahel, Galla and Aphroe are making
an album together as RAG, Ruhrpott Aktionsgemeinschaft.”
232
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:21,600
♪♪ RAG - Westwinde
233
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,896
They proceeded to perform those songs, all
three MCs on stage, and those flows and all...
234
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:32,976
dude, that night was devastating for me!
235
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:38,376
Abstract and philosophical. They knew
how to abstract and play with words.
236
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,136
While we were always a bit more daft,
they were on a new level, verbally.
237
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:50,160
Listening to the first four, five songs of 'Unter
Tage' for the first time was crazy... crazy!
238
00:30:53,360 --> 00:31:01,360
Was that that night? I might confuse the two... there
was the legendary night of our first RAG performance.
239
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:11,280
We were so nervous because the STF guys came along
and we hoped to put out our record with them.
240
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:18,976
At first, there was a bit of miscommunication. I
went, “I would like to release your new stuff...”
241
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,936
And they were like Hey, you're Peter,
right? We have this album almost done.”
242
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:29,536
Well, okay, so... let's do this then.
243
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:34,600
I remember well, when
Fast Forward started his label.
244
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,296
My label was called Put
Da Needle To Da Records.
245
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:46,880
Put Da Needle To Da Records.
I thought the title was pretty goofy.
246
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,776
I ran the label out of my student flat. At
some point, I had to find an office space,
247
00:31:53,800 --> 00:32:01,800
just because there were records and boxes in every
corner and I couldn't handle it at home anymore.
248
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:12,720
Put Da Needle was a platform that didn't care so
much about the next big thing and guaranteed sales.
249
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:21,400
We felt like there were people behind it, whose approach
is purely cultural and music-minded, not strictly business.
250
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:30,136
Peter had studied in Aachen
and was signed to MZEE as an artist.
251
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:36,896
He's a bit older, so for us hip-hop kids
in Aachen, having him in town was super.
252
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:44,920
Put Da Needle was the first label that started completely
underground and suddenly released records, that became successful.
253
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:51,736
Ruhrpott AG, Der Klan, Kool Savas, STF...
254
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:53,656
Creutzfeld & Jakob
255
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:58,096
You could already feel the
explosion that was about to hit.
256
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:04,960
A new level had been reached on which listening to
German rap was totally fine, and no longer embarrassing.
257
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:10,696
Tell me something about the LP, what was
important to you, when you put it together?
258
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:18,720
Mostly, we wanted to make no compromises. It's a 10-track record
and it didn't matter if there was a hit single on it or not.
259
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:27,616
We teamed-up with Peter, Fast Forward, Put
Da Needle To Da Records... it's like that!
260
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:35,640
♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster
261
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:48,800
Scopemann let the video play on Viva once and MTV called
the next day, like “what was it that you played last night?”
262
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:57,120
♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster
263
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:03,416
We ran around for a whole week, saying “Pf taster. Pf
taster. Pf taster.” {Pavement, Pavement, Pavement.}
264
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:11,440
♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster
265
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:20,536
To me, this was more than music. When 'Unter Tage' dropped,
it became clear to me that German rap could actually be cool.
266
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,376
There was a vibe to it.
267
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,296
That was pure flavour.
268
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:30,016
I liked this album a lot and it had a major impact on
me. Aphroe was always my favorite rapper in Germany.
269
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:37,360
I felt sucked into it, like I'm driving on the train
through Dortmund, listening to this album on my headphones.
270
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:45,400
♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster
271
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,616
We quickly sold out the first batch.
272
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:11,456
20,000 units, which was
a notable effort in those days.
273
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,976
To me, RAG were always underground.
I had no idea they sold so many records.
274
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,496
None of us expected it to
go through the roof like that.
275
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:27,056
It catapulted us right out of our
daily routine. Nothing was the same.
276
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:31,080
It's a milestone. 'Unter Tage' is a
milestone for German hip-hop.
277
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:39,120
It was very grown up. The themes, death and such, but
also the general attitude was rather calm, not so loud.
278
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:51,200
This melancholic element, not to say depressive,
was something I hadn't heard in German rap before.
279
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:59,520
Just take what Galla wrote in “Requiem,” so sick, if you think
about it. And such a self-fulfilling prophecy in hindsight.
280
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:06,016
♪♪ RAG - Requiem
281
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:06,057
♪♪ RAG - Requiem Angels cry, screaming silently over graveyards
through tears I see silhouettes that lay my parents to rest
282
00:36:06,081 --> 00:36:11,616
Angels cry, screaming silently over graveyards through
tears I see silhouettes that lay my parents to rest
283
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:17,600
Looking back through weary eyes that water dead acres
use the pains of yesterday to better my tomorrow.
284
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:25,640
Crazy. Someone who was hit with something
so terrible since his early childhood...
285
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:31,920
and addressed it so brilliantly,
with such a heavy burden on his shoulders.
286
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:38,896
If scriptures are to be trusted, then why would we
grieve? Stories of disciples, written for the transition
287
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:44,280
Don't think about how you died, think
about your lives and your shared times.
288
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,896
We did not realize that at the time...
It was like... heavy stuff.
289
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:56,920
Think about our life and your time together Think
about your teachings and a life spent together
290
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:30,176
Galla, my dear. Rest in poetry, forever.
291
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:35,200
Thanks so much for
everything you left us with...
292
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:40,520
it's more than most of
us will ever leave behind.
293
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:51,040
Thank you, thank you. Thanks a lot.
294
00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:03,760
From then on, it all went really fast. And 'Unter Tage' was
incredibly important to build the foundation for the label.
295
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:11,120
In the beginning, I barely noticed the changes. It started,
when we didn't have to borrow a car from our friends,
296
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,696
but got a rental instead.
When we had proper hotel rooms.
297
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:20,816
And when our opening acts were Curse and Kool
Savas, and not some kids from the suburbs.
298
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:27,896
All of a sudden, we were on jams with 1,500 - 2,000
people in the audience. We'd never imagined that.
299
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:35,920
Of course, I noticed how people wanted to talk to us,
or when kids at the gas station approached us to chat.
300
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:45,856
They got hip to us through the media,
magazines, Viva and yada yada.
301
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:53,880
As usual in the music industry, big companies discover this
subculture and think, “oh, we want some of that profit.”
302
00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:02,216
For me personally, making money and hip-hop didn't go together at
all. I didn't understand that you could even make money with hip-hop.
303
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:09,656
I think German rap has left the underground and entered the
public consciousness with {Absolute Beginners's} 'Bambule..'
304
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:17,176
'Bambule' was the first hip-hop album that was
commercially successful, but also, musically, really good.
305
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,296
Suddenly, this is working.
306
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:24,936
Literally everything hit the charts in those
days. And then the major business kicked off.
307
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:31,216
We also met with Edel Records, and
with Peter Cadera, and Peter Burz, and EMI.
308
00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:36,776
With Moses {Pelham}, too.
They all told us: “Guys, we're a bank.”
309
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:42,496
Okay, what does a bank do? They give
you money and they want a return for that.
310
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:48,416
That's the most basic economic principle.
We want to make profit,
311
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:53,056
and we define the rate of return before we
start. And yet, they gave out huge advances...
312
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,536
this was insane money for young people.
313
00:39:55,560 --> 00:40:03,176
First time I ever met with an A&R, we sat in a cafe
in Kreuzberg and he said he'd give me 80,000, 100,000.
314
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:08,536
I couldn't believe it, this must be a mistake...
I couldn't wrap my head around these numbers.
315
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:12,096
Samy {Deluxe} received four
times the advance that I got.
316
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:18,296
EMI went all in, right from the
start, with 200,000 Deutschmark...
317
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:26,320
Eventually, we found the best deal for us in a joint
venture of Motor Music/Universal, us and Put Da Needle.
318
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:33,016
We had a few offers and they won the race.
Tim Renner won the race.
319
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:40,456
I can understand why underground groups like
RAG received huge advances at that time.
320
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:48,256
I think it's because people in the music industry back
then didn't understand what they were actually buying.
321
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:52,896
We were scared even before we ever
received any money in our account.
322
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:58,616
Like, if we agree to this
deal, what will happen next?
323
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:06,640
What's going to happen, when these guys that used to travel from
jam to jam, for the love of music alone, start having success?
324
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:12,136
How will they deal with the
success, the fame, and the money?
325
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:16,736
How will they act once they're
part of the music industry?
326
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:20,816
In 1999 RAG decide to
cooperate with a major label.
327
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:27,760
For their second album they
sign with Motor Music /Universal.
328
00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:39,240
I guess, I did see this as a serious perspective for my
life. I was a bit delusional and in love with a girl...
329
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:45,416
so I thought, this is my thing, I'm
gonna make rap music for a living.
330
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:53,440
My dad used to roll his eyes but my mom
was like “if you think it's right, do you.”
331
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:04,256
They came to a few gigs and, of
course, they were proud. Papa, too.
332
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:11,896
Gigs like Bochum Total, with half a million
people running through the city.
333
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:19,920
It feels like they just came for you.
Naturally, my parents enjoyed that.
334
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:41,336
The internet didn't have today's reach,
so you needed certain structures.
335
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:45,560
It wasn't as easy to
make stuff independent.
336
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:54,240
Who do you want to to blame if the industry starts
waving their bucks and buying out half of the scene?
337
00:42:54,440 --> 00:43:02,440
That was very exciting. You know, reading my name
between Eric Clapton, Elton John and Barbie Girl,
338
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:12,360
or whatever that shit was called. I felt
like, sick, I'm making official shit now.
339
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:21,936
We've reached a new dimension now and
everyone is eager to make something happen.
340
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:29,960
We have more budget at our disposal for advertising, more
money for videos. We felt like this is really good for us.
341
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:36,136
Major labels were so attractive
because they were a goal to reach.
342
00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:40,896
But no one seemed to consider, what it
actually meant to sign with them.
343
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,656
It's a different form of pressure, having to deliver certain
sales numbers, and to do a special kind of promotion.
344
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:52,680
They have their template, and whatever works for Captain Jack
has to work for Karsten, too? Doesn't always work that way.
345
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:59,896
This discrepancy caused, I think,
the biggest problems of that era.
346
00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:07,920
Artists and music business people were suddenly in the
same boat, while their interests were completely different.
347
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:16,936
The assumption, the major labels had destroyed
the scene, completely negates the fact,
348
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:24,960
that these musicians were all adults with a mind
of their own. No one forced them to do anything.
349
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:32,496
The scene itself made a huge mistake when
we didn't help and educate one another.
350
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:38,176
We could've made so much more money independently,
had we realized that all we needed was a distributor.
351
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:40,416
We could have even
distributed our own stuff, too.
352
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:47,960
That's why I think, the major labels only
illuminated how broken this scene had already been.
353
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:08,656
Bochum City, August 9th, 2000.
354
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:13,296
We're still not flying, although
in the year 2000 we should be flying.
355
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:19,360
But we're moving, as always,
with a VW Passat from 1987.
356
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:31,520
Hi... just go on...
357
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:39,056
In those days, the second RAG
album was recorded here in Bochum.
358
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:42,296
You could feel the pressure
that was building up.
359
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,976
PAHEL: Woaaaah, I thought, wooooah.
360
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,256
KARSTEN: Eh, eh!
361
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,496
GALLA: Pssht, for fuck's sake.
362
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:56,520
KARSTEN: Yes, okay I will call
him and then... I will call you again.
363
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:08,656
In these premises it all went down.
Not on the ground floor but upstairs.
364
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:12,856
That's where we lived and
made a whole lot of music.
365
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:20,280
There was my bedroom, a small kitchen.
And the booth was in the back.
366
00:46:22,240 --> 00:46:25,280
So nice. It's been beautiful here.
367
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:30,936
GALLA: Act like no one's watching.
368
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:32,560
PAHEL: Acting natural.
369
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:44,560
GALLA: Completely natural,
guys. As if nothing's going on.
370
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:54,256
My behaviour was not much different
from when we recorded our first album.
371
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:55,536
PAHEL: Galla, do you wanna smoke?
372
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:56,536
No, no, no!
373
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:57,257
PAHEL: Wanna smoke Galla?
374
00:46:57,281 --> 00:46:58,816
No, no, no!
375
00:46:58,840 --> 00:46:59,416
No!
376
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:00,057
PAHEL: You do.
377
00:47:00,081 --> 00:47:01,976
-Yes!
378
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:03,056
No, no, no, no, no!
379
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:04,520
PAHEL: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
380
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:07,520
Mr. Wiz on the cut.
381
00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:11,816
He can scratch, I'm telling you...
382
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:18,496
The issue has been brought up that I act
exactly the same as when we did the first one.
383
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:21,056
Despite being signed to a major label
for the second album.
384
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:24,696
But I also didn't want to play-act
like I was someone else.
385
00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:32,536
To me, this had become a job-like thing. I wanted
to envision, where we wanna go with this record.
386
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:35,616
What are our options, what could be done?
387
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:43,136
Money changes everything. Where
there's big money, the turf battles start.
388
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:46,880
I remember, they had their
difficulties with 'Pottential.'
389
00:47:55,400 --> 00:48:00,816
The production phase was very exhausting.
We had a very rough time.
390
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:08,320
It was easier to live together and finish 'Unter Tage,
' than working on 'Pottential' together in this space.
391
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:17,920
It messed up our whole work flow. It
was difficult for every single one of us.
392
00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:24,616
The main problem of any second
album is always, that you overthink it.
393
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:28,376
Just because there's pressure for the sophomore
record to make more waves than the debut.
394
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:33,416
On the second album, a lot of things were discussed so
much, that more important things might have fallen behind.
395
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:41,440
Even when it came to song titles, we had these
endless discussions just to name one track.
396
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:48,616
It really made you wonder, if
we're still right in the head...
397
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:53,216
Just like you could ponder over
the right snare sound for weeks...
398
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:59,520
everyone is waiting to be creative
and all you heard was “kch, kch, kch, kch.”
399
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:07,016
There were moments where you
felt like it's not easy being in a band.
400
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:15,040
One goes all in, three fool around.
Everyone felt like that at some point.
401
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:25,936
I came to the studio from the
gym, or the other way around.
402
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,536
Karsten was like, “dude, can you please
stay here so we can finally get this done?”
403
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:32,216
But I had three or four things
simultaneously, that I wanted to work on.
404
00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:37,216
Karsten said he was sweating bullets to get
the guys motivated. Gabriel didn't function.
405
00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:42,736
And they knew they had to deliver. Imagine
you'd have to squeeze a record out of that.
406
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:47,816
We have received this money, but we haven't
earned it yet. It's an advance, folks!
407
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:55,480
Not for work that has been done already, not for the last
three albums, but for the one we're making right now.
408
00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:01,096
And that's when I started to be
a monkey wrench in the works.
409
00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:04,896
I had a hard time staying
focused and developing as an MC.
410
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:11,640
That annoyed the hell out of Gabriel and
Karsten. Galla wasn't much different from me.
411
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:29,416
Not getting an external management
involved at some point was an epic fail.
412
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:37,440
We were not ready to handle
and organize everything ourselves.
413
00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:42,856
KARSTEN: and be
creative at the same time.
414
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:45,920
That was a huge task.
415
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:54,696
We even met with {German pop star} Herbert Grönemeyer.
He had already caught wind of what we were doing.
416
00:50:54,720 --> 00:51:02,720
But how can we involve Herbert so that he's
into it, but without making it a pop song?
417
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:10,160
Oh well, we sent him two loop-based
sketches. Totally bananas, in hindsight.
418
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:18,920
What did we expect, that he'd come
back with a chorus idea, or what?
419
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:25,600
I don't know.
420
00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:30,816
In 2001 the second RAG
album 'Pottential' drops.
421
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:38,840
♪♪ RAG - Ragtime
422
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:12,416
The second RAG album, 'Pottential, '
is, for me, the better RAG album.
423
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:20,136
In all honesty. It's more concise.
It's hip-hop on its highest level.
424
00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:28,160
I thought 'Pottential' was beyond awesome, but
it didn't have the same element of surprise.
425
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:33,616
'Pottential' was maybe
too complex for my taste.
426
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:38,496
It obviously didn't have what a
major album needed at that time.
427
00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:45,096
Namely, a big, commercial song that promotes
the album beyond your core audience.
428
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:52,976
I have never properly listened to the second
RAG album. Which doesn't mean, it wasn't good.
429
00:52:53,000 --> 00:53:00,760
I obviously can't be the judge here. But my interest
in the German rap scene at that time was non-existent.
430
00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:08,536
From an industry perspective,
it definitely flopped.
431
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:16,560
We made two expensive videos and sold less than we
did from our debut, which we made independently.
432
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:24,216
So, it had to be a flop.
433
00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:28,000
I mean, the label didn't
call anymore either.
434
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:32,200
Well, yes, it could have happened.
435
00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:36,520
It did not, I guess.
436
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:48,656
2001 was the end of an
era in German hip-hop.
437
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:55,976
That's when it all changed, followed by a period
where everyone was trying to find the next big thing.
438
00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,080
But, for a year or two,
it was nowhere to he found.
439
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:07,280
Most importantly, everyone who rocked a snapback
got signed! So much garbage music came out...
440
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:10,376
It felt like a self-cleansing to me.
441
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:14,016
Only logical, seeing that someone
like Nina MC got 250,000, 300,000,
442
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:19,656
400,000 in advance, just based on speculations
she might deliver another “Bon Voyage”
443
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:22,040
so everyone can cash in again...
444
00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:29,256
It was insane. And that's how it all killed
itself, by making it completely uninteresting.
445
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:37,216
That didn't change until Berlin and Aggro {Berlin}
came in with a new impulse for a new generation.
446
00:54:37,240 --> 00:54:39,936
I thought, the drought was a good thing.
447
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:43,600
It felt right, because, to me, everything
sounded wack, at this point.
448
00:54:47,720 --> 00:54:52,136
2002, the first Savas album came out,
followed by Bushido in 2003.
449
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:55,336
2004, Sido released 'Maske'
and everything was different.
450
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:57,736
This means, in 2001, two
developments started to overlap.
451
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:05,760
The commercial development went down while
the underground was bubbling up again.
452
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:11,160
The commercial development went down while the underground was
bubbling up again. And RAG somehow fell between the cracks.
453
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:18,016
How much potential for self-destruction
does a so-called sub culture,
454
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:22,776
that is wholly based on the idea
of letting your ego roam freely, have?
455
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:28,576
That explains why a band like RAG
didn't continue to move forward.
456
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:35,560
Due to their own impetus, or the lack thereof. It's not like
anyone told them: “you're no longer allowed to take part.”
457
00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:44,776
Even during recording it was clear,
458
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:48,240
that we wouldn't work
together again once it's done.
459
00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:57,040
It became apparent that our momentum
was good for one or two albums.
460
00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:06,560
But it was necessary that
we'd go our separate ways.
461
00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:15,296
The four of us together
is always difficult.
462
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:18,600
Three is okay.
Two of us is fine!
463
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:28,576
We never lost touch.
We just didn't gather as a group,
464
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:32,920
knowing all too well,
what that would lead to.
465
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,256
And then everything drifted apart.
466
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:41,960
No one ever officially said,
RAG is dead. It just slowly petered out.
467
00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:52,976
Karsten once said that we don't have
to kill the cow, if we can still milk it.
468
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:58,360
You know, not burning any bridges.
But it's been a real test at times.
469
00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:04,680
For example, in Leer,
Karsten and Galla had an altercation.
470
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:13,000
That's one thing, I really
didn't mean to speak about.
471
00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:25,280
The idea was to play a revival gig.
We don't really make new music but,
472
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:29,976
hey, maybe we can record
something, try some stuff out.
473
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:34,360
And then that day turned
out to be just so fucked up.
474
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:42,896
We were all so moody
and played a really sloppy show.
475
00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:47,520
Not how we're supposed to perform.
476
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:53,256
And I've been telling Galla all night don't
do this, don't do that, fuck, fuck, fuck.
477
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:57,720
It was too much for him.
478
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:01,856
At one point he just had
enough and came for me.
479
00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:04,976
“You don't get to tell
me what to do anymore!”
480
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,976
There was some back and forth,
I was like, “what's wrong with you?”
481
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:11,696
Gabriel held back Karsten,
I was holding back Galla.
482
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:19,200
Pahel tried to intervene
and basically caught a hook for me.
483
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:27,240
Galla just started swinging and Pahel went:
“Did you... did you just punch me?!”
484
00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:33,800
We all knew, this is it for a while.
485
00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:42,320
In the early 2000s RAG go separate ways.
486
00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,536
PAHEL: So, Gabriel is still here...
487
00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:58,016
GABRIEL: And tomorrow and next week.
488
00:58:58,040 --> 00:59:04,720
PAHEL: Sure, but since you're not here tomorrow
we gotta go to the Lincoln Memorial right now.
489
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:12,976
When I went to Brazil for the first time,
I felt much more at home than in Germany.
490
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:21,000
I'm much more German, than Brazilian. But
emotionally, I felt much more welcome in Brazil.
491
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:31,376
In Wattenscheid, I couldn't walk for five
minutes up to school before someone yelled,
492
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:35,896
“there goes the negro!”
Straight up!
493
00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:38,056
Totally normal, when we grew up.
494
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:41,296
Exactly. That's one of my
main reasons for being here now.
495
00:59:41,320 --> 00:59:46,880
When my daughter was about to be born, I didn't
want her to have to go through the same things.
496
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:53,680
When I was 14, there was no black
life in Germany. Not that I recall.
497
00:59:54,560 --> 01:00:01,816
When I started to go to a regular school,
everyone started grabbing my hair all the time.
498
01:00:01,840 --> 01:00:07,176
Excuse me, I'm no zoo animal. I'd like
to be asked before someone touches me.
499
01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:11,656
Then there was a lice outbreak in my
school, and guess who they sent home: me!
500
01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:17,160
Funny enough, because they sent me home,
I was the only one who didn't catch lice.
501
01:00:25,080 --> 01:00:28,720
Wow, it's packed here today.
502
01:00:41,360 --> 01:00:46,640
We're here in the South Bronx. My family
lives here, which means I'm here a lot, too.
503
01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:51,136
It's a bit of an annual trip.
504
01:00:51,160 --> 01:00:53,536
New York City, Bronx. South Bronx.
505
01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:56,480
Best bagel round here.
Yes.
506
01:01:02,280 --> 01:01:06,816
This is your boy almighty Gawdflow, I'm with
the one and only monumental Beat Sampraz,
507
01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:11,720
representing Germany, all the way in the South
Bronx. Promoting that vibe and spreading positivity.
508
01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:18,640
It always feels like coming
home, when I'm here.
509
01:01:23,240 --> 01:01:26,936
On my father's side,
we're American-Liberians.
510
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:31,736
I have to hack up a little: Liberia is a state
in Africa that was founded by former US slaves.
511
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:37,096
The plan was repatriation and freedom,
512
01:01:37,120 --> 01:01:45,120
But then they suppressed the population
over there with all-too-familiar methods.
513
01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:55,056
At one point, my family went back to the
US. My father's brothers all ended up here.
514
01:01:55,080 --> 01:02:02,480
My family has a Liberian history,
but our life is clearly African-American.
515
01:02:04,800 --> 01:02:06,040
Have a prosperous day.
516
01:02:15,920 --> 01:02:20,976
We decided to leave Bochum pretty early on.
517
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:29,000
When I came here for the first time in 2001 to see
how my future wife lived and to meet her parents.
518
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:36,136
We weren't married
then, didn't have any kids.
519
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:44,160
This is where we sat. It was a relaxed October
evening and I thought, you could live here.
520
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:55,480
Another beautiful city. Amsterdam
is beautiful, Bremen is beautiful...
521
01:02:55,520 --> 01:02:58,816
Saarbrücken... But you
might as well live in D.C.
522
01:02:58,840 --> 01:03:02,800
And now I've been here for 13 years.
Crazy.
523
01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:24,336
When I moved to the US,
I had trouble with the tax office.
524
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:26,120
I came here with very little money.
525
01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:30,416
Just enough to get settled.
526
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:36,816
I worked on construction sites as a
heavy equipment operator for six years.
527
01:03:36,840 --> 01:03:40,760
Just to have a steady income, because I
didn't make any money from music.
528
01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:51,136
That was difficult. It went from
doing one show for a few hundred,
529
01:03:51,160 --> 01:03:58,416
or a few thousand Euros, to working a
whole month for 2000, 3000 Dollars.
530
01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:00,280
It's a big difference.
531
01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:16,456
I didn't really make any money from
music in the past years.
532
01:04:16,480 --> 01:04:18,560
At one point, I released
an album in Germany.
533
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:27,256
But I make my own money.
I do whatever it takes for my children.
534
01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:34,576
I'm fortunate enough that the mother of my children
is a doctor and can provide for our lifestyle.
535
01:04:34,600 --> 01:04:38,936
It's more than what I could provide.
536
01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:46,960
Which is why I think my children should rather go
into a field, where the income is more secured.
537
01:04:53,880 --> 01:04:57,816
Now that I'm here, it's not
all smooth sailing either.
538
01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:04,376
Things get stressful in every
relationship and every marriage.
539
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:11,056
Two years ago, when I was planning
to move permanently to Brazil,
540
01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:14,456
I found a letter from my
father, written in 1986.
541
01:05:14,480 --> 01:05:20,536
“I shouldn't have left you.
We could have figured it out somehow.”
542
01:05:20,560 --> 01:05:23,656
It felt like a message from the past.
543
01:05:23,680 --> 01:05:28,656
“Don't make the same mistakes.
Stay with your family, pull through.”
544
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:36,680
It was almost a bit eerie. So I thought, okay,
I won't be a coward and I won't just piss off.
545
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:41,976
It was quite rough for
some time. Now it's a bit more calm.
546
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:48,320
But it's never easy, living between worlds.
547
01:06:09,760 --> 01:06:17,760
Oh, the tower house, an utterly ugly building.
Frequently used for suicide attempts, too.
548
01:06:25,040 --> 01:06:33,040
I never had a traditional 9 to 5 job.
I've always worked part-time or freelance.
549
01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:43,480
At one point I was working for a streetwear
distribution. I drove to fairs and sold their stuff.
550
01:06:50,840 --> 01:06:57,856
But that was all just temporary. I knew I'd
have some gigs again soon,
551
01:06:57,880 --> 01:07:00,520
so I wouldn't need to do this forever.
552
01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:14,960
I didn't actually have
a plan after 'Pottential.'
553
01:07:16,920 --> 01:07:24,920
For Galla and Pahel, it seemed much more important to
release their own albums and show what they're capable of.
554
01:07:26,480 --> 01:07:33,816
But in my case, with a lot of people asking for
a solo album, I didn't really have that plan.
555
01:07:33,840 --> 01:07:40,456
He's one of the reasons why I even started rapping.
I even got accepted into drama school with lyrics
556
01:07:40,480 --> 01:07:42,736
by the rapper who now stands beside me.
557
01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:47,560
RAG was my favorite band. Aphroe!
558
01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:55,936
There's a song on Roey Marquis's
'Ming' album, it's called “Eiszeit.”
559
01:07:55,960 --> 01:08:01,656
And the verse that Aphroe rapped on
“Eiszeit,” I wrote it down,
560
01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:06,696
learned it by heart and got accepted
into acting school reciting it.
561
01:08:06,720 --> 01:08:10,160
So please give it up for, Aphroe!
562
01:08:15,840 --> 01:08:21,176
Aphroe is one of the most gifted
MCs Germany has ever seen.
563
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:25,496
Everyone who really engaged
with hip-hop knew that.
564
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:29,056
So it's no surprise that
after the band split up
565
01:08:29,080 --> 01:08:34,920
people wanted to hear an Aphroe solo
record. You just wanted to hear more of him.
566
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:42,496
He hadn't released any solo material at
this point. He was basically gone for years.
567
01:08:42,520 --> 01:08:49,920
But he still had a special reputation:
this is Aphroe from RAG. A very special MC.
568
01:08:52,520 --> 01:08:57,536
Pahel and Galla did release some music,
it just didn't get a huge response.
569
01:08:57,560 --> 01:09:01,216
Which was a shame. In terms of quality,
there was some good stuff in there.
570
01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:04,320
It just didn't fit the times anymore.
571
01:09:08,000 --> 01:09:14,776
Around 2010, contact between
Karsten and me intensified again.
572
01:09:14,800 --> 01:09:21,560
He wrote me that he had new music and wanted
to release it somewhere. “Are you down?”
573
01:09:28,720 --> 01:09:33,296
I believe, this was the first
ever Aphroe solo release.
574
01:09:33,320 --> 01:09:38,456
BEN: How have you found the response to
your gig at Splash! today and, of course,
575
01:09:38,480 --> 01:09:44,856
to the announcement
of your album and single?
576
01:09:44,880 --> 01:09:50,576
It's still a bit reserved,
which is to be expected
577
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:53,816
when there's nothing but radio silence
from my end for ages.
578
01:09:53,840 --> 01:09:57,096
But the feedback we have had
is overwhelmingly positive.
579
01:09:57,120 --> 01:10:05,120
People are excited, Facebook gets visited, WPM and
Groove Attack get their pre-orders in... it's moving.
580
01:10:05,920 --> 01:10:13,920
When we started to link up, this sword of Damocles-type
'Kavaliersdelikt' album title already hung over his head.
581
01:10:16,560 --> 01:10:19,176
For years, he had made announcements:
582
01:10:19,200 --> 01:10:25,736
“Kavaliersdelikt? my album, it's coming.
The Aphroe solo album. I'm doing it."
583
01:10:25,760 --> 01:10:32,016
In certain circles, everyone was losing it: the
Aphroe solo album, the Aphroe solo album, it's coming.
584
01:10:32,040 --> 01:10:35,336
BEN: So we'll see you in
2011 with the full record.
585
01:10:35,360 --> 01:10:38,456
Exactly, that's the
plan. We're working on it.
586
01:10:38,480 --> 01:10:44,600
Thereby, he raised the bar for himself and, at the
same time, put a heavy burden on his shoulders.
587
01:10:49,640 --> 01:10:57,000
In the context of the new Aphroe releases, he also played
a main stage show with a live band at Splash! Festival.
588
01:10:57,960 --> 01:11:02,760
That gig was somewhat ill-fated.
589
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:10,296
If that was psychosomatic, I don't know...
I totally lost my voice.
590
01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:17,176
The day before the gig I had rehearsed
with the band and Rheza in Dortmund.
591
01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:21,016
Maybe that was the root of the problem.
592
01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:24,400
The next day, I'm
driving to pick up Rheza...
593
01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:28,096
I couldn't utter a sound.
594
01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:33,320
That's your mind playing tricks on you.
I have no idea, what was going on that day.
595
01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:41,136
The slot was at 6 in the afternoon and it
wasn't too crowded in front of the stage.
596
01:11:41,160 --> 01:11:48,856
It was apparent that a lot of them were rather bored
and waiting for {German rapper} Casper to begin.
597
01:11:48,880 --> 01:11:53,336
That's when you have
to go, “okay... whatever.”
598
01:11:53,360 --> 01:12:01,360
♪♪ Unter Tage live
599
01:12:04,040 --> 01:12:10,496
It felt like there's Karsten
and then there's a live band,
600
01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:18,520
but they never seemed to form a union.
601
01:12:18,840 --> 01:12:22,216
♪♪ Kopf Stein Pf taster - live
602
01:12:22,240 --> 01:12:27,336
It didn't do justice to what
he represented as an MC.
603
01:12:27,360 --> 01:12:32,800
It was an attempt to deflect from himself.
604
01:12:42,840 --> 01:12:48,336
RHEZA: Splash!, are you enjoying
yourselves? Are you down with Aphroe?
605
01:12:48,360 --> 01:12:50,576
What's up with your album?
606
01:12:50,600 --> 01:12:52,200
It's coming!
607
01:12:54,000 --> 01:12:57,696
Just a little teaser upfront.
A tiny teaser after 18 years...
608
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,416
what am I supposed to do...
609
01:13:00,440 --> 01:13:05,056
It's not like I only announced it once.
I've even announced Raid albums in the past,
610
01:13:05,080 --> 01:13:07,920
it's a recurring theme with me.
611
01:13:07,960 --> 01:13:14,000
I've thrown Raid titles like 'Syntaxterror'
and 'Jackpott' out there.
612
01:13:14,200 --> 01:13:20,920
Here's the lost copy of the never-released
Raid album 'Syntaxterror.
613
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:33,600
Goosebumps.
614
01:13:40,040 --> 01:13:43,520
I think, on this song he explains,
why he calls himself Aphroe.
615
01:13:47,240 --> 01:13:49,240
That's “Stille Post.”
616
01:14:04,960 --> 01:14:08,976
Working on a solo record, you have to
defeat your inner demons
617
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:14,336
that tell you, it's not good enough. That
you have to get back to the drawing board.
618
01:14:14,360 --> 01:14:20,976
That the lines are not perfect. And, that
you don't wanna be on stage by yourself
619
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:24,960
but with your friends, your safety net.
620
01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:32,016
Aphroe puts so much
into his music and his craft.
621
01:14:32,040 --> 01:14:35,016
And, I think, he also
has those dark phases.
622
01:14:35,040 --> 01:14:37,096
So when you, at the same time,
insist that your album is coming
623
01:14:37,120 --> 01:14:40,216
-no really, it's coming -
and you have such a devoted fanbase,
624
01:14:40,240 --> 01:14:42,080
then there's a lot of pressure building up.
625
01:14:43,400 --> 01:14:51,376
I heard a ton of tracks that Karsten has
made. I made a bunch of them myself.
626
01:14:51,400 --> 01:14:58,080
However, none of them got finished.
627
01:15:00,120 --> 01:15:05,496
Sometimes you get too little,
sometimes you get too much.
628
01:15:05,520 --> 01:15:13,520
The problem is somewhere in here. I couldn't
point a finger at it, like, this is the problem.
629
01:15:14,120 --> 01:15:18,216
Every artist suffers from
their own perfectionism.
630
01:15:18,240 --> 01:15:22,056
You're always blocking your own way.
Who's in your way, really?
631
01:15:22,080 --> 01:15:25,480
Well he and he is... stop it.
It's always yourself.
632
01:15:30,560 --> 01:15:38,560
Eventually, I didn't come up with anything I wanted
to get out there, like it would change anything.
633
01:15:39,480 --> 01:15:43,056
Until I stumbled over
a stupid idea like '90.'
634
01:15:43,080 --> 01:15:51,080
♪♪ Aphroe - Wer halt das Wort?
635
01:15:55,640 --> 01:16:01,216
I remember, when he came with the idea:
he wanted to pick his favourite 90s cuts
636
01:16:01,240 --> 01:16:09,240
and add his own lyrics in the style of the
original. My initial thought was “well, okay...”
637
01:16:10,800 --> 01:16:17,096
♪♪ Aphroe - Wer hält das Wort?
638
01:16:17,120 --> 01:16:23,176
But I was happy that he found something
that enabled him to he creative.
639
01:16:23,200 --> 01:16:27,256
And when he sent over the
first results, they were dope!
640
01:16:27,280 --> 01:16:34,496
♪♪ Aphroe - Zeit ist knapp
641
01:16:34,520 --> 01:16:36,576
He re-built the flows as well.
642
01:16:36,600 --> 01:16:40,576
That's an incredible feat, there's just
little appreciation for such an effort.
643
01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:45,856
NIKO BACKSPIN: We're sitting in our office and
suddenly we hear there's a new Aphroe album.
644
01:16:45,880 --> 01:16:50,376
But instead of “Kavaliersdelikt,
the subject line says '90.
645
01:16:50,400 --> 01:16:56,456
Naturally, we think, oh man,
What's up with 'Kavaliersdelikt.
646
01:16:56,480 --> 01:16:59,520
Is that your personal 'Detox?'
647
01:17:05,560 --> 01:17:13,560
To him, '90' was an exciting challenge, and, of course,
a tribute to the kind of hip-hop that informed his style.
648
01:17:14,840 --> 01:17:18,320
But, to me, it felt like another sidestep.
649
01:17:27,120 --> 01:17:31,136
However, it was and still is
a great record, a fun record.
650
01:17:31,160 --> 01:17:36,136
It wasn't 'Kavaliersdelikt, '
but '90' was an Aphroe solo album
651
01:17:36,160 --> 01:17:40,760
and I'm still thankful that it exists.
652
01:17:45,880 --> 01:17:53,216
He remains to be RAG's MC legend,
no one can take that from him.
653
01:17:53,240 --> 01:17:58,040
And we're still patiently waiting
on the big solo album.
654
01:18:03,440 --> 01:18:08,976
As a fan, I'll forever wait
for the Aphroe album to drop.
655
01:18:09,000 --> 01:18:12,680
And I'll love it, when it's out. Period.
656
01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:38,616
We're not far from where I was born,
just down the street, actually.
657
01:18:38,640 --> 01:18:46,056
A few years back, there was an arts
and graffiti event called Infusion
658
01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:53,376
for which the writers had a bit of a
memory lane theme.
659
01:18:53,400 --> 01:18:59,680
These pieces are paying tribute
to dudes who have passed away.
660
01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:13,160
That's how the piece for Galla came to be.
661
01:19:17,760 --> 01:19:25,200
Some hum crossed the piece.
We'll soon make sure it looks nice again.
662
01:19:36,480 --> 01:19:41,416
Galla had moved to Berlin at an early
point. Mostly, because he was in love.
663
01:19:41,440 --> 01:19:46,216
But he also needed this for
his personal development.
664
01:19:46,240 --> 01:19:49,576
It was about time for him to let go.
665
01:19:49,600 --> 01:19:57,600
Our encounter came at the right time for him. Everything was
brand new for me as well, so we discovered Berlin together.
666
01:20:01,960 --> 01:20:09,960
I remember, on his first ever Labour Day {May 1}, Berlin
was full of police and helicopters. A gripping atmosphere.
667
01:20:11,760 --> 01:20:19,760
Suddenly, two hooded guys ran up to him and yelled
“Kopf Stein Pf taster” {Pavement}! He was very happy.
668
01:20:23,120 --> 01:20:27,536
2004 he opened up his store in Kreuzberg.
I went there a few times.
669
01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:30,256
My company installed the ad banners
at the front of his store.
670
01:20:30,280 --> 01:20:33,520
Me and Pahel went to the opening.
Back then, Galla was still doing fine.
671
01:20:34,120 --> 01:20:42,120
The Köpenickerstraße 1. He really believed in his idea - and
he was generally good at convincing people, including me.
672
01:20:50,040 --> 01:20:54,216
His idea was to open up
a hip-hop fashion store.
673
01:20:54,240 --> 01:20:59,480
That doesn't sound outrageous from today's
perspective but, at the time, this was rather unique.
674
01:20:59,720 --> 01:21:03,896
He wanted it to be a store
with real emphasis on style,
675
01:21:03,920 --> 01:21:07,360
which is why he called it
Hoodlum Street Boutique.
676
01:21:08,320 --> 01:21:12,936
Around that time I was working at {German
rap label} Royal Bunker with Marcus Staiger.
677
01:21:12,960 --> 01:21:19,600
I did PR for Fumanshu of {Berlin rap crew}
MOR. We regularly hung out with Kool Savas.
678
01:21:20,240 --> 01:21:23,176
Liked Galla a lot.
We saw each other every now and then.
679
01:21:23,200 --> 01:21:27,000
I lived nearby on Wrangelstraße,
which wasn't a good area at all back then.
680
01:21:27,920 --> 01:21:31,856
That was Kreuzberg. And not like today,
where it feels like a fairground.
681
01:21:31,880 --> 01:21:35,056
My tour manager Adnan
used to live with Galla.
682
01:21:35,080 --> 01:21:41,656
From RAG, Galla is by far the one I had
the closest and warmest relationship with.
683
01:21:41,680 --> 01:21:46,496
He continued to make music here.
'Swing Kid, ' the Galla solo album...
684
01:21:46,520 --> 01:21:52,296
I saw him flourish, with his new
relationship and the solo record.
685
01:21:52,320 --> 01:21:56,680
I was very proud of my guy. Man, dope.
686
01:21:56,720 --> 01:22:04,720
Initially, I didn't believe he would
make it in Berlin. I was proven wrong.
687
01:22:05,680 --> 01:22:09,456
Galla was always open and accessible.
688
01:22:09,480 --> 01:22:13,536
I think he wanted the
shop to be a hangout spot,
689
01:22:13,560 --> 01:22:18,880
simply because the hip-hop scene and
community had given him a lot of stability.
690
01:22:18,920 --> 01:22:21,616
We had a lot of visitors and people
loved hanging out at our store.
691
01:22:21,640 --> 01:22:27,960
However, they didn't buy anything. Very
few did. It was more of a meeting point.
692
01:22:34,080 --> 01:22:38,496
Of course, he met people that he
connected with and that accepted him.
693
01:22:38,520 --> 01:22:44,416
But at the same time, he encountered
difficulties that he didn't expect.
694
01:22:44,440 --> 01:22:50,216
The Ruhr area is by no means a soft environment,
but Berlin is always a bit different.
695
01:22:50,240 --> 01:22:53,480
No one in Berlin cares
about your fame elsewhere.
696
01:22:56,240 --> 01:23:00,760
If you're the shit in Dortmund,
that means nothing in Berlin.
697
01:23:03,560 --> 01:23:07,056
He was a rapper that a
few people in Berlin knew and liked,
698
01:23:07,080 --> 01:23:11,936
but some of the street guys also wanted to fuck
him over. Some of them tried to do just that.
699
01:23:11,960 --> 01:23:16,376
He didn't expect it, and
it really threw him off.
700
01:23:16,400 --> 01:23:22,456
He was 10 years too early with an idea
that could be successful there today.
701
01:23:22,480 --> 01:23:24,840
But he wasn't
business-minded enough, either.
702
01:23:24,880 --> 01:23:27,320
Neither of us were professional enough.
703
01:23:28,640 --> 01:23:31,400
That was the main problem.
704
01:23:32,560 --> 01:23:35,160
We didn't think it through.
705
01:23:36,640 --> 01:23:42,360
The shop went out of business two
years later. I heard it went bankrupt.
706
01:23:42,400 --> 01:23:49,120
It was very tough for us. And that
was the end of our relationship.
707
01:23:54,880 --> 01:23:57,456
You don't plan a separation,
these things just happen.
708
01:23:57,480 --> 01:24:02,360
I simply reached a point
where I couldn't take it anymore.
709
01:24:06,600 --> 01:24:09,600
That's when we started
to lose track of him...
710
01:24:29,760 --> 01:24:34,896
In 2008, I was stuck in Germany
with an expired Green Card.
711
01:24:34,920 --> 01:24:42,760
I saw Galla a few times back then
and he was planning to go back to Bochum.
712
01:24:47,040 --> 01:24:50,960
He knew that if he stayed
in Berlin, he'd go under.
713
01:24:57,520 --> 01:25:03,216
His relationship falling apart might
have pushed him over the edge.
714
01:25:03,240 --> 01:25:10,560
Even before that, he'd dropped most of
the people who'd been there for him.
715
01:25:14,520 --> 01:25:16,536
One evening, I hear someone
knocking on my window.
716
01:25:16,560 --> 01:25:20,536
My friends know, if the doorbell rings, I'm
not opening up. Who knows, who's at the door.
717
01:25:20,560 --> 01:25:23,096
But everyone who knocks is very welcome.
718
01:25:23,120 --> 01:25:27,800
I opened the door and there was Galla,
holding an Aldi bag: “Sven, I'm back.”
719
01:25:33,080 --> 01:25:38,536
And then he crashed in my
living room for three weeks.
720
01:25:38,560 --> 01:25:43,976
I went to work, Galla slept a bit longer.
Watched cartoons on TV.
721
01:25:44,000 --> 01:25:48,320
That was all he needed.
It was a very good time.
722
01:25:54,120 --> 01:25:56,360
It was a fresh start for him.
723
01:25:59,040 --> 01:26:01,800
I know that he enjoyed
being back in Bochum.
724
01:26:04,400 --> 01:26:06,976
He kept me company
when I went writing graffiti.
725
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:10,536
We went to gigs, he
even did a few solo shows.
726
01:26:10,560 --> 01:26:13,456
Nothing fancy, just so he had some money.
727
01:26:13,480 --> 01:26:16,176
We took care that he always
had a place to sleep for a while.
728
01:26:16,200 --> 01:26:21,160
After a month, I had to part ways with
him. Sadly it just wasn't working out.
729
01:26:22,320 --> 01:26:26,136
We always made sure he had a few jobs.
We painted apartments together.
730
01:26:26,160 --> 01:26:32,936
I helped him earn his own money. Worst case,
I gave him some... but that didn't help.
731
01:26:32,960 --> 01:26:36,000
And then it all went downhill very fast.
732
01:26:42,680 --> 01:26:45,680
I have to say, 10, 15 friends
733
01:26:45,720 --> 01:26:47,880
supported him with all they had.
734
01:26:49,960 --> 01:26:55,040
We told him, you can't stay in
bed until noon every day. Get a grip.
735
01:26:55,520 --> 01:26:58,776
You gotta keep things moving,
we're all here for you.
736
01:26:58,800 --> 01:27:00,760
He never complained.
737
01:27:02,320 --> 01:27:03,920
Never asked for help.
738
01:27:07,280 --> 01:27:09,136
No one left him hanging.
739
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:11,816
But I can't ask him to please do
something for the 50th time,
740
01:27:11,840 --> 01:27:13,976
and get disappointed for the 50th time.
741
01:27:14,000 --> 01:27:17,336
At one point, I had to tell him, Michael, I'm
sorry, I'll happily go to the shops with you
742
01:27:17,360 --> 01:27:22,440
but I won't give you any more money.
Because you'll just go to the pub.
743
01:27:24,800 --> 01:27:29,200
We tried everything to shake him up.
But it was futile.
744
01:27:30,640 --> 01:27:35,696
A friend of ours always kept an eye on him,
like an older sister, basically.
745
01:27:35,720 --> 01:27:38,440
One day she told us, “I don't really
see him that much anymore.”
746
01:27:38,640 --> 01:27:42,856
Truth is, for some time,
we had no clue where he was.
747
01:27:42,880 --> 01:27:44,856
We didn't hear anything, no sign of life.
748
01:27:44,880 --> 01:27:51,120
That's when you understand what
it means to feel helpless.
749
01:27:52,920 --> 01:27:54,816
We lost touch with each another
for about six months.
750
01:27:54,840 --> 01:27:58,096
At the time, my company
opened up a clothing store in Bochum.
751
01:27:58,120 --> 01:28:00,880
That's where Galla and I
met again, after a long time.
752
01:28:01,440 --> 01:28:05,616
I lend him some money and
learned that he was homeless.
753
01:28:05,640 --> 01:28:11,480
He never told me that before,
he always said he was going to his sister.
754
01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:15,920
I honestly did not know that he had
developed such an alcohol and drug habit.
755
01:28:23,920 --> 01:28:28,456
Next thing I know, I received a call
from the cops asking if I knew a Mr. Galla.
756
01:28:28,480 --> 01:28:34,880
They found my number in his most
recent calls. That was a punch in the face.
757
01:28:39,160 --> 01:28:44,016
I was asked yesterday,
if he'd died from cancer.
758
01:28:44,040 --> 01:28:46,536
I've heard that before.
He didn't die from cancer.
759
01:28:46,560 --> 01:28:51,000
No, I think his body was just done with it.
760
01:28:53,080 --> 01:28:56,816
He simply died overnight in his sleep.
761
01:28:56,840 --> 01:29:01,256
It wasn't inevitable.
The night when it happened,
762
01:29:01,280 --> 01:29:04,136
he was alone in a hotel room.
763
01:29:04,160 --> 01:29:10,120
Hadn't he been alone, he might have
just ended up in a hospital for a while.
764
01:29:10,160 --> 01:29:14,160
But when he needed it most, he was alone.
765
01:29:20,280 --> 01:29:22,840
It's difficult, because...
766
01:29:26,280 --> 01:29:27,960
it happened, y'know.
767
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:29,760
There's nothing you...
768
01:29:30,880 --> 01:29:36,936
we couldn't influence him,
Galla lived his own life
769
01:29:36,960 --> 01:29:39,736
and didn't take anyone's advice.
770
01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:44,256
He listened, but he still made his
own decisions that led to this.
771
01:29:44,280 --> 01:29:49,656
There's no one to blame.
None of us, not his family.
772
01:29:49,680 --> 01:29:56,280
These are individual decisions.
773
01:30:25,040 --> 01:30:31,176
We're all still coping with
the grief, to be honest.
774
01:30:31,200 --> 01:30:35,080
Which is... very exhausting.
775
01:30:35,640 --> 01:30:39,160
It's just surreal to think,
we're still here and he's gone.
776
01:30:39,560 --> 01:30:43,656
And everyone has this one moment
that is particularly terrible.
777
01:30:43,680 --> 01:30:48,016
I remember, I DJed in Dortmund
when Galla was back in Bochum.
778
01:30:48,040 --> 01:30:56,040
And then the whole crew got on the
train I took from Cologne to Dortmund.
779
01:30:56,280 --> 01:31:01,320
Michael and I were talking and...
780
01:31:01,360 --> 01:31:06,960
the whole conversation subtly felt
like saying goodbyes.
781
01:31:10,440 --> 01:31:13,400
Just awful...
782
01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:15,600
Fuck.
783
01:31:22,800 --> 01:31:27,520
This is a really terrible moment for me.
It still is.
784
01:31:47,960 --> 01:31:52,616
Galla was religious. So we knew
we didn't want the welfare office
785
01:31:52,640 --> 01:31:55,680
to pay for a standard funeral.
We didn't want that.
786
01:31:56,920 --> 01:32:02,456
Instead, they organized a jam to gather
enough money to finance the funeral.
787
01:32:02,480 --> 01:32:08,056
My company rented out the location,
the Rotunde in Bochum.
788
01:32:08,080 --> 01:32:13,176
Pahel, Karsten and Gabriel got in touch with
everyone. It mostly just took one email.
789
01:32:13,200 --> 01:32:16,136
They all came and performed for free.
790
01:32:16,160 --> 01:32:22,496
Everyone we asked to come, whether it's
Curse, Stieber Twins, Torch, Cora E.,
791
01:32:22,520 --> 01:32:27,256
everyone went, “of course, I'm there
for Michael.” Awesome.
792
01:32:27,280 --> 01:32:29,816
It was our goal to throw a party that Galla
793
01:32:29,840 --> 01:32:36,416
would have absolutely loved,
had he been there.
794
01:32:36,440 --> 01:32:37,656
This was so hip-hop.
795
01:32:37,680 --> 01:32:40,616
I mean, everything you ever believed in,
796
01:32:40,640 --> 01:32:44,496
the whole community aspect that
Galla missed so much in Berlin.
797
01:32:44,520 --> 01:32:47,000
My man, if you could have seen this.
798
01:32:49,200 --> 01:32:55,360
Everything that you
missed, it was not gone.
799
01:32:58,360 --> 01:33:04,056
I have friends that I'm closer with
in person or in my day-to-day.
800
01:33:04,080 --> 01:33:08,336
But it's a bit like a school class;
as if we really formed a generation.
801
01:33:08,360 --> 01:33:11,736
Something in those days
connected us in ways that
802
01:33:11,760 --> 01:33:16,816
I... I'm getting goosebumps
just thinking of that moment.
803
01:33:16,840 --> 01:33:24,840
♪♪ Kopf Stein Pftaster - live
804
01:33:30,200 --> 01:33:32,640
IMMO: A few words?
805
01:33:32,680 --> 01:33:34,120
RAG, the best.
806
01:33:36,000 --> 01:33:40,520
This was the dopest thing I ever
experienced. Rest in peace, Galla.
807
01:33:44,600 --> 01:33:49,656
Since Galla's death in 2011,
RAG have not performed live.
808
01:33:49,680 --> 01:33:55,960
In 2018, 20 years after their debut,
Pahel, Wiz and Aphroe go on tour.
809
01:33:57,520 --> 01:34:01,440
December 2018
Final tour stop, Dusseldorf
810
01:34:04,160 --> 01:34:06,480
A lot has happened since.
811
01:34:08,120 --> 01:34:10,296
We went back on stage together.
812
01:34:10,320 --> 01:34:13,920
We did a 'Unter Tage'
20th anniversary tour.
813
01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:21,256
It was awesome.
Whether it was 200 people or 1000 people,
814
01:34:21,280 --> 01:34:27,336
it was sold out everywhere.
Nothing but love.
815
01:34:27,360 --> 01:34:31,416
We were a real unit, the three of us.
816
01:34:31,440 --> 01:34:37,920
We never even wanted to imagine
that it could work, or that it should work.
817
01:34:43,520 --> 01:34:46,016
I almost felt beamed back in time.
818
01:34:46,040 --> 01:34:49,016
Standing in a venue with so many people...
819
01:34:49,040 --> 01:34:53,520
do you really want that?
820
01:34:54,440 --> 01:34:56,720
I hadn't really made up my mind.
821
01:34:57,880 --> 01:35:01,496
I was just happy being able to
perform the songs again.
822
01:35:01,520 --> 01:35:03,336
Because I know we can perform.
823
01:35:03,360 --> 01:35:07,080
The fact that we have to
do it as a trio now... it's shit.
824
01:35:08,120 --> 01:35:16,120
But it's incredibly beautiful, that we have created
something that really means something to people.
825
01:35:17,000 --> 01:35:20,216
It feels like we can be
proud of what we've done.
826
01:35:20,240 --> 01:35:24,640
And that we sometimes put our foot down and
didn't comply with every kind of bullshit.
827
01:35:25,720 --> 01:35:31,336
It's not like now the band is back together
and tomorrow we're recording the new album.
828
01:35:31,360 --> 01:35:34,000
That won't happen, of course.
829
01:35:36,600 --> 01:35:43,976
It's a real relationship. We're
working on it, we're talking things out.
830
01:35:44,000 --> 01:35:46,600
That's a clear win, it's always a win.
831
01:35:48,120 --> 01:35:52,920
As a child, all I ever
wanted was to be heard.
832
01:35:54,400 --> 01:35:59,360
And I achieved that.
So it's all good.
833
01:36:00,520 --> 01:36:02,200
No problem.
834
01:36:04,440 --> 01:36:08,120
It's hard to explain,
but we're real friends.
835
01:36:10,320 --> 01:36:18,320
This is something that will last. I don't
think we'll ever lose track of one another.
836
01:36:22,440 --> 01:36:25,096
We had so much fun together
837
01:36:25,120 --> 01:36:29,840
and really, really, really laughed a lot.
838
01:36:31,920 --> 01:36:34,240
I love these guys.
839
01:36:36,400 --> 01:36:42,496
I went away for three years.
I simply needed to find myself.
840
01:36:42,520 --> 01:36:48,376
I left the city. It's been nice,
working up there in Berlin.
841
01:36:48,400 --> 01:36:53,496
But peace of mind can only be found here,
in the 'Pott' {the Ruhr Area}.
842
01:36:53,520 --> 01:36:58,120
The heart stays here. God in heaven!