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One of THE breaking news of 2016 in German popular music was the comeback of Jan Philipp Eißfeldt (alias Jan Delay), Dennis Lisk (alias Denyo) and Guido Weiß (alias DJ Mad) as “Beginner”. After 13 years on solo paths, the two rappers and the DJ from Hamburg revived their old band. Their song “Es war einmal” (Once upon a time…) showcases their own history since the beginning of the 1990s – a success story, which is presented here by prominent representatives from all over German television. A new chapter of German rap begins…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqYfC1eV568
Beginner – Once upon a time
Well, I’d say the story goes “Once upon a time”
Little Jan, Little Dennis and a basketball
Fourteen years of age and a hair on the balls
But the biggest mouths of the whole city
Edding in their bag, always tagging
Yo! MTV-Raps on VHS-tapes
Germany was grey and the charts were rubbish
But N.W.A and P.E were gods
We met Mardin at a party
He rapped Eazy-E and binged Campari
The chemistry was right, we formed a band
With a tapedeck, pen and paper and talent
Rough beats and lines with a message
The flow was bad, but the shows were outstanding
All we needed was a car and someone who scratched
Along came DJ Mad and everything was perfect
You witnessed how a small
bunch of cool little chicken
Striking out from the coast
Rising to the top in sneakers
As the foxes from the Elbe
wanted to escape the cold
Didn’t have a goal, but started anyway
The big beats, small studios
You’re right, homie, back then as nobody knew
We seized the opportunity and the Schanze
The first demos sounded like the first demonstrations
and the red-flora district, it burned
Hip-Hop and Rap, weren’t trendy words
rather foreign words, even for readers of Spex
Because back then there was no Juice
Only a couple of Crews with heavy samplers on their luggage racks
And we biked from rehearsal space to rehearsal space
No big studio, rather a big dream
The grades got worse but the lines got better
Awesome, mum, I’m becoming a rapper!
And so we drove a few hours
to the jams from Braunschweig to Munich
No artist fee to fool away
Rather selling maxi discs from the trunk
You witnessed how a small
bunch of cool little chicken
Striking out from the coast
Rising to the top in sneakers
As the foxes from the Elbe
wanted to escape the cold
Didn’t have a goal, but started anyway
The big beats, small studios
No clue how to make a record
The first LP was a general store
Dub, Crossover, P-Funk, Bossanova
Written, recorded and mixed within a month
Too much tootling, we wanted Rapshit again
Hurrying back to the three mics and the two Technics
Because in the whole country so many things happened at that time
The language learned to roll and the beats got tight
And we were in the midst of it with a deal with Universal
Only Marding, he left, as it got too much for him
No college, we counted on Rap
Built a phat soundtrack for our generation
And as it came out, man, things went crazy
MTV, VIVA, radios, a poster in Bravo magazine
Not up for being popstars
That’s why we went to The Dome without being there
You witnessed how a small
bunch of cool little chicken
Striking out from the coast
Rising to the top in sneakers
As the foxes from the Elbe
wanted to escape the cold
Didn’t have a goal, but started anyway
The big beats, small studios
That’s how it was back then, but everything comes to an end – where should I start?
The hip-hop fever started to feel sickening
Nope, no flash from ‘99 holds on forever
In a golden cage with golden records
Don’t care about talent or style
every little narcissist got a record deal
And on top a star producer
Financed with Jamba-subscribers
And the climate got colder
That’s why Jan went to Jamaica for vacation
But after a couple of company foundations and failures
we were hooked like Doherty, Peter
Thanks to Just Blaze and the Neptunes
She, the toughest of all rap crews, came back as well
And the Hamburg-City-Blues-Brothers are reunited
writing German rap music’s first number one
You witnessed how a small
bunch of cool little chicken
Striking out from the coast
Rising to the top in sneakers
As the foxes from the Elbe
wanted to escape the cold
Didn’t have a goal, but started anyway
The big beats, small studios
„25 years and that’s quite a group anniversary!”
„In Hamburg, all the very best, see you soon.”
Translated by Thomas.