YOUTH TRIBES: Living the way we want

Philipp Würdiger, 19, Günter Schöll, 19, Stefan Lauf, 21, and Martin Schrank, 19, from Stuttgart© Isabel Pacini und Valeska Achenbach

Looking for the perfect Beat

German hip-hoppers embrace the music that sprang from the African-American community. Rapping away in their mother tongue, these homies have created a life-style of their own.

Why do hip-hoppers need trousers that dangle between their knees?

Martin: They are simply the most comfortable type of trousers in existence.

Günter: I was wearing the big trousers first and then started listening to hip-hop.

How does it feel to be hip and hop at the same time?

Günter: You're an outsider. You?re not part of the masses.

Philipp: Hip-hop music does not generally end up in the charts.

Günter: The approach to life in hip-hop is about getting done what is in your mind instead of being influenced by others. The beats and the lyrics - you have to do it all by yourself.

Stefan: Exactly; one has to develop a personal style.

Do you also make music?

Philipp: We do a bit of DJ-ing.

Martin: When you spin discs, you control what is going on and can watch people go wild.

Philipp: I just want to do good scratches like the great DJs.

There are not a lot of hip-hop-girls, are there?

Stefan: Girls are not so straight about pulling through their stuff. And when they are at it, their music gets a lot more mainstream. But we can tolerate that.

Günter: Women are more into commercial beats.

Philipp: And the lyrics of some rappers are not exactly women-friendly.

What do you mean by »mainstream«?

Philipp: Music topping the charts. Commercial television crap.

Stefan: Buffalo-shoes with baggy pants. That just doesn?t have any style. Kids today just buy anything they have seen advertised on MTV.

Günter: I am not interested in fashion and mainstream. I only wear stuff by Ecko, because I want to support the label. The designer is from the scene himself.

Stefan: A label tells you a lot about someone's attitude.

Hip-hop outfits seem to be rather expensive. How much do you pay for your baggy pants?

Stefan: Between 75 and 100 Euro.

Martin: However, there's also no-name gear.

Philipp: But some kind of label should be on it.

Kathrin Wesely