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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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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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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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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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The editors were music-minded people who
wrote a lot for magazines like Spex and such.

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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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<i>♪♪ Filo Joes - Low Budget</i>

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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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<i>♪♪ Filo Joes - Low Budget</i>

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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.

133
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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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♪♪ Die Kassierer - Mit meinem Motor

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The guy who distributed our first
records in Bochum made ska music.

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That's how our band got affiliated with that
scene, and Pahel somehow ended up in our band.

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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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In those days, we already played songs like “Sex mit
dem Sozialarbeiter” (“Sex with the Social Worker”)

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<i>Or “Mein Glied ist zu groß” ("My Member is Too
Big'), which are still stone-cold classics.</i>

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♪♪ 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.

146
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Butt-naked on stage for the album release and stuff
like that... I mean, the other guys were naked.

147
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I didn't need that kinda stuff
necessarily, so I dropped out.

148
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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.

149
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Rap was a little more structured, I guess. Sometimes, I
felt like what was going on in hip-hop was even too normal.

150
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We are in Chocolate City,
USA, AKA Washington D.C.

151
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Pahel's Home
Washington D.C.

152
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It's not very bright in here, so we have to improvise.
Like that. It's dark in the basement, y'know.

153
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Here's where I record. My little
dungeon where I can still be creative.

154
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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.

155
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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.

156
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From 13 until 19, he lived by himself on the streets,
learned English and decided to come to Europe.

157
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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.

158
00:19:27.800 --> 00:19:32.320
Damn, one second, let me check.

159
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.

160
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The show toured all across
the country in the 70s.

161
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Yeah that's papa... like father,
like son, right? A rolling stone...

162
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My father studied acting in the 1970s,
from 75-79, under Peter Zadek.

163
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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
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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
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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
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He died in 2010, in Cuiabá, Brazil.

169
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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.

171
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Galla and I met through the skate scene and all the
freaks affiliated with that. He was one of them.

172
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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
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And next time we saw each other in the club,
we had a beer and it was all back to normal.

175
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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.

177
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Very different from his lyrics,
which were always very deep.

178
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He {Galla} always was a very funny person. That's
what attracted me to him, I just like humorous people.

179
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Somehow he always needed a co-pilot.
That's what he called it, co-pilot.

180
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Me and Galla, we were a team and did
everything together. We lived together, too.

181
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He was very catholic.
He loved religious imagery.

182
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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.

184
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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.

186
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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,

191
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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
<i>♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster</i>

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
<i>♪♪ RAG - Kopf Stein Pf taster</i>

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
<i>For their second album they
sign with Motor Music /Universal.</i>

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
<i>♪♪ RAG - Ragtime</i>

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
<i>People are excited, Facebook gets visited, WPM and
Groove Attack get their pre-orders in... it's moving.</i>

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
<i>“Kavaliersdelikt? my album, it's coming.
The Aphroe solo album. I'm doing it."</i>

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
<i>♪♪ Unter Tage live</i>

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
<i>Here's the lost copy of the never-released
Raid album 'Syntaxterror.</i>

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
<i>But instead of “Kavaliersdelikt,
the subject line says '90.</i>

645
01:16:50.400 --> 01:16:56.456
<i>Naturally, we think, oh man,
What's up with 'Kavaliersdelikt.</i>

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!