Royal bunker

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Royal Bunker was a Berlin hip-hop / rap - independent label . The label was organized by Marcus Staiger .

history

The beginnings of the labels are in the same cellar pub in the Mittenwalderstraße in Berlin - Kreuzberg , in the from 1997, several Berlin MCs for the first time to an open mic - Session met. Based on the US model of the freestyle café (well-known organizations are Project Blowed or the Crew Freestyle Fellowship ), the rappers were able to prove their skills or compete with other MCs in battle rap .

The pub had to close after a year due to rent debts from the previous owner and the artists were looking for a new platform to make their rap known. They found this at the tape label Mikrokosmos , which was founded around the same time as the Royal Bunker Sessions. However, after several releases by local artists, the label broke up in 1999 due to differences between the founding members.

After the separation in early 2000, the label work was continued for a short time under the name Monopol, which, however, was soon changed to Royal Bunker for legal reasons. Over the years, Royal Bunker has become a platform for many Berlin underground MCs to get their music out there.

In December 2007 Staiger announced that he would close the label in 2008. The KIZ album Sexismus gegen Rechts was planned as the last release, but work on it was delayed until July 10th, 2009. Like its predecessor, the album was released in cooperation with Universal Music .

Artists and Repertoire

Many of the now commercially successful rap artists from Berlin had releases on Royal Bunker at the beginning of their careers. As published inter alia Kool Savas , Kay One , Eko Fresh , KIC and Prince Pi (then known as Prince porn) The sect (then consisting of Sido , Rhymin Simon , Vokalmatador and B-tight ) on Royalbunker where "The sect" and "Kay One" later expressed displeasure about the label.

"Flagship" of the label was initially the crew MOR (Masters of Rap), who had a decisive influence on German battle rap and to which Kool Savas was originally a member. In April 2001 the first MOR album (NLP) was released, which also marked the end of the collaboration with Kool Savas. After various solo projects, MOR released the mixtape Hiphop is still OK! , which was supposed to serve as a teaser for the album Simply the Best , which was only released at the end of 2007 on the HipHopVinyl.de label .

At the beginning of 2005 the DVD documentary Gegen die Kultur was released , which gave a review of the beginnings of the Berlin battle rap scene in the Royal Bunker Cafe and the rise of the label. In the same year the label started the “street offensive”. Accompanied by a series of concerts and parties, a total of seven albums by bunker artists were to appear as a so-called street edition. H. CDs packed in slim packs for less than ten euros. This was to tie in with the tape concept from the early days of the Berlin rap scene. The claim to release a new album every two weeks, however, could not be realized, whereby the last album by the group HACK was even released almost a year late.

After the end of the street offensive, apart from the release of an album by Rhymin Simon and a mixtape by KIZ, it was very quiet, which had to do with a restructuring of the label. In 2007, however, the album Hahnenkampf , the group KIZ , was released in cooperation with Vertigo / Universal Music. With this sound carrier, the label was able to celebrate its first album top ten success.

Other artists who have published on Royal Bunker include: Fumanschu , Justus , Azra , Jack Orsen , Fuat , Martin B., Gris, Separate , S-Rok, Biztram , Beatfabrik , Smexer , Kid Kobra , Big Derill Mack , Tua , Meyah Don , Catee, DJ Zett / Boba Fettt and character assassination.

The album Sexismus gegen Rechts from KIZ was Royal Bunker's last release.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statement by Marcus Staiger on the closure of the "bunker" on www.royalbunker.de
  2. ↑ The Royal Bunker closes on December 26, 2007 on MZEE
  3. ↑ Losing is for losers in: taz on March 18, 2005

Web links