Berlin Calling

1) What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

Drugs to Ickarus in the film were his release. The drugs were what he went to in order to get away from his life when he was overwhelmed or when he wanted to let loose. When the stress got too great with the pressure to make new hip music or when his home life wasn't the best he would take whatever he could get his hands on to numb himself and he usually knew his limits but in the film it showed him over dosing and his body taking the consequences.

2) Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

The film would show Ickarus's fans and fans of his type of music taking their drug of choice before or during the performance of the music. They would usually be taking lines of cocaine but they also would pop pills to get their high. The reason they did this was to connect to the music better and they were able lose themselves in the "trance" like beats and they were able to connect with the beats and different pitches easier.

3) While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus belongs to focus on drugs?

The use of drugs in Ickarus's work is very common. It is so intertwined with the culture he belongs to in the scene that is life is with partying and performing. The techno like music that he performs attracts those who use those drugs and techno and drugs seem to just go hand in hand. Even though Ickarus crashes badly and realizes he needs a change it is almost impossible for him to escape the culture and when he wants to escape his addiction and getting back into his music makes him relapse.

4) Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

The main differences that I would say are the regularity of drug use in Germany. I feel like the drugs used are very hard core in Germany and the film depicted the accessibility of these drugs was simple and it is easy to get your hands on these drugs. I guess comparing Berlin to Minneapolis I could see some similarities with drug use but with the film it showed the use of drugs during the night and day and whenever. In Minneapolis if people were to do these drugs in public I feel it would be more of a night event. Basically just the regularity of the use of these hard drugs in Germany was shocking to me and is definitely more prevent and in the open in Berlin compared to Minneapolis.

5) Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

Of course there is the chance to change the industry with different generations going their different ways. However, I feel that this is more of a youth thing and the use of drugs there and most people shape up. Many people don't ever escape the grasp of the drugs but people can change and Ickarus showed how he was able to take this addiction and make it into a positive and made the best of it and ultimately created a great album.

6) Which similar "cult movies" of U.S. origin have you seen, if any?

I haven't seen any similar cult movies of U.S. origin that compare to Berlin Calling.

Personal Reaction to Berlin Calling

I feel this film was very depictive of a certain subculture in Berlin, Germany. At times I couldn't relate to the film but that is what made it beneficial. Even though we in Minnesota can't really connect to that lifestyle we were able to really see it with the music, the drugs and the entire lifestyle of someone in that industry. It was an eye opening film for myself to see that this is probably what the youth scene really is like in Berlin with the constant partying and the use of drugs. Personally I enjoyed the film and was glad we could see the progress and the relapse that Ickarus made and the story that showed this for us the viewers and those who don't live that lifestyle.

Picture Citation

http://www.berlin-calling.de/en/downloads

German Music: Hip-Hop in the 21st Century

Die Fantastischen Vier:

 



Nickname: The Fantastic Four
Members: Michael Beck, Thomas Durr, Michael B. Schmidt and Andreas Rieke
Origins: Stuttgart, Germany
Genres: German hip-hop, Pop, and Rap
Years active: 1986 (1989) – present
Labels: Four Music, Sony BMG
To this day they have released 15 albums.
Die Fantastischen Vier were among the first groups to ever rap in the German language. With success and growing popularity the group had a brief stint in Los Angeles but having no connection to "American Gangster" scene they chose to focus their hip-hop on a more serious and philosophical style of hip-hop/rap.

Deichkind: 

 

Members: Philipp, Ferris MC, DJ Phono and Porky

Origin: Hamburg, Germany

Genres: Hip-Hop, Electro

Years active: 1999 – Present

Labels: Showdown (parent label: WEA Records), Island Records

To this day they have released 5 albums.

The groups lyrics mainly consist of themes of irony and humor, but in their recent appearances display this change noted by fast, electronic rhythms. The band describes their new sound as TechRap, a mixture of techno and rap. Deichkind is very well known for its crazy and wild live shows including rubbish bag-outfits, trampolines, vodka, and pillow fights among other things.

The death of producer and friend Sebi Hackert on 21 February 2009 caused a major shock to the band.

Begin Clip.

2000 to present

Today, the German hip hop scene is a reflection of the many dimensions that Germany has come to represent in a unified image of Europe. Everything from "migrant hip hop," which is known as hip hop from the large Turkish immigrant population that is mostly centered in Kreuzberg, to the more humor-based groups paint a portrait of a vibrant and diverse hip-hop community in Germany.

Despite common notions of the Old School German hip hop’s emulation of US hip hop styles and the New School’s attempt to rap about crime and violence, some “Old Schoolers” feel that the New School has, in fact, forgotten about its roots. Old School supporters and Scholars disagree on the nature of the recent transformation in German hip hop. Scholars have argued that the Old School German hip hop “scene was musically and vocally oriented to American role models. Rhymes were written in English; funk and soul samples dominated musical structures”. However, Old Schoolers themselves contend that it is the New School German rap artists who have been “Americanized,” and therefore lack the authenticity of the struggle of the ghetto in West Germany. The German old school acknowledged that there were many the differences between the situation in the United States and the situation in Germany, and aimed at expressing the concept of “realness,” meaning to “be true to oneself”. Different from the US hip hop’s equating “realness” with “street credibility,” many raps that came out of the old school German hip hop “address this issue and reject unreflected imitation of US hip hop as clichés and as the betrayal of the concept of realness”. Furthermore, the Old School of German hip hop may have been seen as representing “a critique of White America” because of its modeling after US hip hop; however, Old schoolers dispute that hip hop in Germany was about the oppression of people in Germany. One Old School artist, DJ Cutfaster lamented that, “Most people have forgotten that hip hop functions as a mouthpiece against violence and oppression and ultimately against the ghetto, which has become the metaphor for the deplorable state of our world”. Contrary to the New School hip hop’s attempts to crossover into the mainstream popular culture, the Old School “envisioned and propagated hip hop as an underground community that needed to keep its distance from and to create resistance to mainstream culture in order to avoid co-optation”. End Clip.

Die Fantastischen Vier Hits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1yEIaoRNhE&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAnQnZpq5zg

Deichkind Hits: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn_paxkL_tU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOH7E4DrLWA

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_hip_hop 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deichkind

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Fantastischen_Vier

 

http://www.rme-audio.de/artists.php?page=content/artists/deichkind

 

http://www.musikladen.at/Konzerte/Deichkind/Deichkind.html

 

http://www.eventim.de/obj/media/DE-eventim/galery/kuenstler/f/die-fantastischen-vier-2010-02-005.jpg

Presentation Review:

• The task our group had was to present information on Hip-Hop in the Germany in the 21st Century.
• My group consisted of myself, Talimatou (Tyler) Peniata and many other individuals.
• The way we completed this task was by everyone working on their own and researching and posting their information to the blog. Then in class we took turns presenting from our own blogs.
• Suggestions? Perhaps make this assignment a 2 week assignment so that groups can meet together and the presenting will go smoother and the information will be clearer to the audience.