What do know about German Hip Hop? Since the early 90s, Hip Hop made its way from the street through inner city youth centers and civil parlors to end on the mainstream- which is also a ’street’, literally spoken. German Hip Hop was born from cities like Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and, of course, Berlin. Few people knew Cologne to hatch one of the most skilled and versatile MCs of the nation. No surprise this MCs is female- some of the best Rappers are. Think of Apani B. Fly, Ursula Rucker, Lauryn Hill or Lady Sovereign. She-MC Fleur Earth a.k.a. Forsch comes off as a mixture between the last two, fusing a lot of Soul with an idea of delicate gutter Rap and enough self-confidence to sing about Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia, the federal state where Cologne is located). Cool.
Fleur Earth made her first appearance on the wonderful Colonius Monk Collective-sampler at Ideology. Right next to outstanding Rappers like Gringo Starr, Lunte (of Sichtbeton) and LAH, Fleur proves herself as a tight singer and Rapper. Her voice is pretty rough, a little to high to call it especially sexy, but that’s fine. You should have heard ‘In Liebe, Fleur‘ and the funny interlude ‘Mein Tisch‘ featuring Gringo Starr of the Broke Gringos-crew. Dunno why I didn’t grap her EP immediately after the release…
Her Zirkulation EP starts with the Electric Boogie of ‘Was Will Ich‘. Between medium Grime and poppy hooklines, Fleur rocks the crowd. Can you imagine the kids in the first row raise their hands? Whew! ‘Hab Sie Voll‘ ist the following tracks. The song is quite simple and works as a good fill-in. Song number three is far better. ‘Mag Dich Wirklich Sehr‘ is a smooth love song with a funky-relaxed groove and a strong R&B-melody. The sparse instrumentation gives Fleur Earth the room to let her vocals grow around the track like branches.
‘Schicksalskreis‘ has a more up front-vibe, Fleur raps over a dark synth-motive and dirty beats. With ‘Augenblick‘, she drops a track more experimental, with influences from modern R&B (Neptunes-style), Dancehall and Cologne Minimal that condense in a brut breakdance-track. Hot & sizzzling. Last but not least, ‘Schöne Zeit‘ calls out for a last dance. Pure Jazz-beauty, rewind guitars and Fleur’s astonishing voice make this song one of the most beautiful Netaudio-tracks EVER heard. Word: “Gringo Starr macht den Beat der dich hochbringt/ Fleur Earth kickt den Text der so dope klingt”
Get the record here: Zirkular EP
Direct download: No zip-file provided :(
August 7, 2007 at 7:51 pm |
[...] Fleur Earth “MAG DICH WIRKLICH SEHR” Taken from “Zirkular EP” [...]
October 19, 2007 at 4:09 am |
[...] with MC SEL and Reechad at the decks. Last but not least: the girl Fleur Earth. Once I wrote a review about her “Zirkular EP” at Ideology, and I liked these tunes better than the performance she [...]