Where German HipHop Moves

Guettamania update:
Without You from the album Nothing But The Beat can increase its single downloads and cracks the Top 10. It is the 6th track of David Guetta cracking the top 10 this year alone. He is now not only the one with most Top 10 hits this year but this (still young) decade also. Vocal artist USHER counts his 7th Top 10 hit of his whole career -– the second this year. More went to number 7 in March/April this year.

Within the most loved German productions there is a slight change going on. Tim Bendzko still leads the survey with Nur noch kurz die Welt retten (Just Have To Save The World), runners up is still Jupiter Jones and their ballad Still though hard on their heels lands Lena and her take on What A Man (see last commentary)

Next new entry is superstar second Sarah Engels with her new single Only For You. It is a very soft and romantic pop song produced to attract a younger audience. As the third single from her album Heartbeat and without big TV promotion on casting shows or similar events the single lacks the big interest she had a few months ago. It lands at number 33 and very certainly will fall outside the Top 50 very soon.



Besides such clean produced sound this week German Hiphop again strikes back. German rapper FLER is announcing his seventh album Im Bus ganz hinten (Very Back In The Bus – meaning Being The Looser) which is in stores right now (16th September 2011). It is already the second album this year – so FLER right now appears as one of the most productive artists in Germany. First single of the new – presumed to be autobiographical -–disc is Spiegelbild – a track in typical gangster rap style telling the story of the big rap star who loves to diss all behind and under him. He is proud of his new life and enjoying girls, drugs and luxury. Within the refrain FLER tells you how to behave when you’re famous – is it really all a matter of style. The whole story is underlayed with an alarming noise. Could be a very cool clubas well as the sirenes of police cars …



Usually tracks by FLER only spend two or three weeks inside the charts. This one might have a longer chart run cause there is a remix by Die Atzen available which can be purchased as standalone track.


Second German rap star offering new material is Eko Fresh. His new album Ekrem released at Seven Days Music storms the album charts and lands at number 5 – the first time he ever cracked the album Top 10. Simultanously the single Jenseits von Eden (Out Of Eden) is available as download single. It is a cover of the huge hit from 1983 that occupied the Number 1 position for 7 weeks in Germany. Europe wide the English version Guardian Angel by Masquerade (Drafi Deutscher) is probably more known. Eko Fresh now takes the German version and collaborates with the artist who made it popular: Nino de Angelo. Jenseits von Eden was his breakthrough as a popstar and his most successfull hit.

The English original

The German version from 1983


28 years later the song is even more greasy. Perhaps it is cause of the attitude the tough rap star shows. Nino de Angelo in 1983 was crying and lamenting ‚bout the bad world – he did it by singing a real tearjerker. Eko Fresh never did so – he is the strong guy, the man who knows the world. Hearing him asking why the world is so bad and cold sounds quite strange. Is he doing the Sido way – from an aggressive testosterone machine to an settled teacher guy? – On the other hand it seems really hip duetting with former Schlager stars in German HipHop. Three years ago Bushido started collaborating with Karel Gott and covering the 80s hit Forever young / Für immer jung. Last year it was Sido performing with Stephan Remmler ... now Eko Fresh tries to impress the audience. Well – the formula is a little nagged, the surprise not really appears. Number 64 is low even more if you consider the duo performed at The Dome aired on September 3rd.




Further new German productions
Rockband LUXUSLÄRM (Luxury Noise) still is kind of an independent act. They are going to release their fourth album named Carousel – last one from 2010 So laut ich kann (As Loud As I Could had a 10 weeks chart performance climbing to number 13. Four singles were released, three of them reached the sales charts. Most successfull was Nichts ist zu spät (Nothing Too Late) that had a four weeks run peaking at position 58.

The track announcing their new album is Atemlos (Breathless). It is a more calmed down track talking about the strength and power that gives a strong love. It is a love song – yes. To me it is LUXUSLÄRM’s most mass appealing track – in terms of hits it did not catch fire. The single is entering at 63 on download sales only.



A new digital single is available by Herbert Grönemeyer too. The third track lifted from his album Schiffsverkehr (Ship Traffic) is Zu Dir (To you) and it is a very heartful rock ballad … a love song too. It is one of the real strong tracks of the album – but most of the people already have the album. So Zu dir will stall at a low number 76 for sure. It is by the way the 35th single that can appear in the German Top 100.



A completely new act is BOY. Opposite to the name it contains of two females from Switzerland and Germany. Little Numbers is a bubbling pop song that makes curious about the album Mutual Friends released same day as the single.


By the way: Swiss acts seem very beloved these days. Mike Candys & Evelyn are joining DJ Antoine at the very top of the list. Latter one right now can launch a tiny follow up in the German chart: Ma Chériewas a hit in Switzerland already in summer 2010. Now with the huge success of Welcoome To St. Tropez some dance floor lovers also catch up the predecessor. Certainly the track never will have that big chart fortune here.




Last week TV show Die ultimative Chartshow launched three three re-appearing hits in the charts. Topic of the show were most successfull piano hits. This week the episode counting the most successfull pop hymns was aired and again there are re-entries due that broadcasting. Winner of the list first shown in January 2010 is Miguel Rios with A Song Of Joy. The audience of 2011 chose Faithless and Insomnia as the most catchy pop hymn. The track re-enters at number 62 and actually we stopped counting how often the track re-entered due to a place in the Ultimative Chartshow. Last time we saw it sneaking in March through the list reaching Number 41. It is now the 54th chart week the track can collect under his belt.
Hit number two was listed at the TV show at a low number 22: Metallica with ist epic Nothing Else Matters. Like Insomnia it is a track that appears again and again inside the charts. Last time that happened in February that year. Nothing Else Matters re-enters this week at 72 – the highest position since January last year when it had an 8 weeks chart run due to it’s airing at ... Die ultimative Chartshow.
Finally also KRYPTERIA can re-enter the charts after performing their hit Liberatio at the show and gaining position 28.