YOUTH TRIBES: Living the way we want

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Being a committed German soccer fan requires more than just showing up at the games. The real diehards dedicate their lives to the team.

First, I attend all the games. For years I have had a permanent pass and at home games I always stand in my regular spot. I also usually come along when St. Pauli has an out-of-town game. And when I have spare time, I pop into the fan shop and help out.

It's a meeting spot run by fans for fans. Here, the supporters write flyers and organize events such as having players from the first league stop by and cook a meal. The fan shop arranges cheap transportation to out-of-town games. In order to make the bus trip more fun, I come up with quizzes on the next opponent.

But I get a lot back. I rejoice and suffer with the club; I have made new friends through the FC St. Pauli. The club gives me a place to belong. It brings order into my life. The FC St. Pauli is like a religion for me: Faith, love, hope.

When I was six, my dad took me for the first time to the stadium. First I sat on his shoulders; later I got too heavy for him and stood next to him. Then we drove to an out-of-town game. He had the car decorated with scarves and stuff. I will never forget that.

No way. A defeat hurts, of course, and when St. Pauli has to change leagues, it is especially sad. But that does not change my love for the club. Even if they had to change to the third league, St. Pauli would remain my team. We fans have to support the players, so we will have more successes.

My girlfriend. We live in different towns and can only meet on weekends. When I have to go to an out-of-town game, I say: »Sorry, my darling. This time I only have one day to spare for you.«

Alf Burchardt

Strange clothing, crazy haircuts and singing in the school choir. Punks in Germany make up their own rules - but it doesn't mean they have to follow them.

Tanja: For me, it means to be different, to draw a line between myself and the rest and to provoke a response.

Tanja: That's actually not meant to be provoking, but the majority of people are provoked anyway. But that's not my fault.

Tanja: A life without a state and without laws.

Niko: I am not such a diehard anarchist. I would not say bring down the rule of the whole world. However, I think that German politics are not really great.

Niko: That you differ from the masses and do not participate in trends. I don't wear a pair of jeans that cost 150 Euro ($130) with holes in the knees just because everyone is doing it. Punk doesn't mean that you dress crazy and shave off your hair. Punk is an attitude for life.

Niko: I do not approve of the fact that people just do what they're told. A lot of people work all day, come home and go to bed, just to get up for work the next day. There is a song by punk band »Die Toten Hosen!« in which there is the line »because you only live once.«

Niko: One should do what one really wants, without looking to just make a lot of money. Nevertheless, I hope that we are going to get our high school diplomas.

Tanja: I do not want to graduate from high school: I do not want to go to college. To me, it's important to have fun as well. A lot of people on the street say, hey, what are you doing - simply because I do not behave like the masses. For example, when I wait for the bus and don't feel like standing, I simply lie down on the pavement. I think this is quite normal, but a lot of people get irritated.

Niko: I think it's funny what people get worked up about. I call them »people on the way to mediocracy.«

Niko: Sometimes I dress in normal clothes, and people say I'm not really a punker. But that?s not what counts: it's your attitude. I sing in the choir be cause I like music. I also play the guitar, which is why I want to pass my high-school exams, because record companies like that.

Tanja: I used to be in the choir, but I gave it up because I am bad at singing. You can be punk and still sing in the school choir. Punk means that there are no rules.

Daniel Wiese

Their black velvet clothing makes Goths instantly recognizable - and the fact that they sometimes hang out in cemeteries helps as well. The melancholy lifestyle, though, still has room for fun.

Conny: I really like the music by the Gothic band »Lacrimosa.« The song I liked best is called »Der brennende Komet« (»The burning comet«). It is melancholy and one can think about life really well while listening to it.

Isa: From time to time we sit in cemeteries because they have such a beautiful and silent atmosphere. But we are not that strange, really. We have parties and talk about boys, school or our families just like anyone else.

Conny: They should simply look nice. We like to wear velvet and soft materials with ornaments. There are a lot of Gothic stores where we go shopping.

Conny: To me, wearing black means to believe in myself, self-realization. I really do not understand psychopathic Satanists. We don't want to sacrifice anybody!

Isa: To me, they are just psychologically sick people.

Isa: In my class, there are several people who dress in black and listen to this kind of music. I am not an outsider there.

Conny: I think I am popular in my class. We all get along very well. On the street, though, we are sometimes called the »black plague.«

Isa: I've had a lot of fights with my mom. She still does not like it, but she has come to terms with it. She even bought me some books in order to make me find out more about this subculture. I read them and now I am writing an essay for school on Gothic culture.

Michael Kraske

Hipster hippies can be found in the cool quarters of most large German cities, hanging out at coffee shops and frequenting the hottest clubs. Their secret to being cool? Don't try so hard.

I grew up in Cologne, and have been hanging around the streets since I was 15, meeting cool people, going to parties. I met a lot of people while studying art in school, and when I came to Hamburg, I met a lot of DJ's at the clubs I go to.

First, I prefer the term »electro-plastic kids.« The main characteristic of my friends is that we're all open-minded. I travel a lot by myself, so I have to have an open mind.

We all do something creative. Some of us are in bands, a lot of us play music in clubs. I've done some DJ-ing, and I'm trained as a graphic artist, which I sometimes do as a job under the name »N°Aroma.« I see myself as a life artist.

I have three piercings, and I style my hair in different ways. When I was traveling around Asia and Europe, mostly in my big, comfy van, I shaved my head. It felt very light, very pure. Since I've come back, I've let it grow, and I never comb it. By now it's become dreadlocks. Every time I change continents, I want to change my hairstyle.

Most people react very nicely. I smile a lot and that helps.

It's not too »clique-y.« It's easy to fit in in this type of environment; people show up, start going to the clubs and hanging out, and we become friends. I don't see the same people all the time: I want to connect with a lot of different people. If I met the same people every week, I'd be bored.

I've always known I wanted to see the world. I work for a while and save my money and then take off. Traveling in my van is really cheap: when I was in Spain and Morocco I lived on less than 500 Euro a month, paying for gas and housing and food.

My goal in life is to be free, to have nothing really matter. If everything matters to you, life gets too serious.

Timothy J. Gibbons