Germ (rapper)

Germ (real name René Moses Swain ; * 1969 in the Odenwald ) is a German rapper ( MC ).

Berlin 2001

childhood

Germ grew up in Frankfurt as the child of a German mother and an American GI. As a child he lost his father and brother in a car accident. As an Afro-German, he experienced discrimination. His role models included Sugarhill Gang , MC Shan , Vanilla Ice , MC Hammer , LL Cool J and also the poet Robert Gernhardt , who he personally knew from his time in Frankfurt . At the age of 18, Germ stood on stage for the first time as a rapper, but was booed, whereupon he spontaneously dissed the audience .

Career

After a stay in the USA in 1988, the Hessian worked under the name Zyon (initially also Zion ) with Sven Väth on his project "Mosaic". His first hip-hop record was later released under the name Al Rakhun on the Dope On Plastic label . In 1991 he worked under the name Waldvogel in the production of the first single by folk musician Florian Silbereisen . In the same year another stay in the USA followed, where Germ also got his stage name. During his training as a sound engineer, the young man from Germany is called "Germ" for short. Germ is also the acronym for Genetically Created Reincarnated Master Brain . From 1993 to 1996 Germ was back in Frankfurt and released the EP Spirit of Attitude and the album Day of Resurraction . In 1996 Germ went to New York again and was able to release his music for the first time in the USA with More & More on the American label Shadow. Further attempts to establish himself in the USA failed, however, so that he returned to Germany in 2001 and this time settled in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Since then he has regularly faced the (quote) "Challenges of less gifted opponents" in battle rap . In his further musical development he worked with the Wu-Tang Clan and the Brothers Keepers project . In addition, the former student teacher (German and history) was involved in the work of young talent: for example, as Jah Frankfurter, he introduced the two Neukölln “U12” MCs 5 Cent and Big FM in his 2005 album Skillz'n'Skullz , published on the frisch founded dubcore label. In autumn 2005 he completed a tour of Parisian clubs as Saint Germain together with the freestyler Kayzer MC . He recited a. a. in devil costume texts by Jean Genet and Charles Baudelaire , while dressed in a cassock him Kayzer MC in Latin disste . The long player Les Miserablez testifies to this collaboration . In the 2009 Bundestag election campaign, he drew attention to himself with a publication in favor of the SPD chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier .

Discography (selection)

Albums

• 1994: Day of Resuraction
• 2002: awareness

Singles

• 1993: Spirit of Attitude
• 1995: The Real Sh * t
• 2001: The hunt begins
• 2002: Classified: God

Web links

• Since Germ at Discogs (English)