Microphones, record players, spray cans and a few acrobatic dance routines were the connection to the world for countless young people on the streets of New York in the 1970s. At a time when the city was bankrupt and crime, neglect and poverty were the order of the day, especially in the Bronx, kids and young adults used their creative capital to create not only a new form of togetherness, but also a new culture: hip hop.
More than 50 years have passed since the official Birth of hip-hop, in August 1973has passed. With “Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious”, the Fotografiska in Berlin is now presenting a new exhibition that aims to document this journey from the former subculture to today’s pop culture.
If you walk through the exhibition chronologically, you will discover the rise of hip-hop culture in the first of the approximately 200 photographs by over 50 artists such as Martha Cooper, Jesse Frohman and Jannette Beckman. If others don’t do it, you do it yourself – that is one of the basic principles of hip-hop, which is visible in many of the photographs.
People built their own record players, listened to their music on ghetto blasters in run-down places, or started to dress more colorfully – especially with sneakers and caps. The photos show impressively that the protagonists of hip-hop culture have always wanted to draw attention to grievances and initiate change.
The other exhibits, put together by co-curators Sacha Jenkins (former Chief Creative Officer of “Mass Appeal”) and Sally Berman, include Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, who made hip-hop accessible to a wider audience in the 80s, as well as important pioneers of the 90s and 2000s such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious BIG, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott, Outkast, Pharrell Williams and Kendrick Lamar.
The younger hip-hop generation can also be traced. The award-winning Lil Nas X is in a row with Megan Thee Stallion, Tyler, The Creator or already deceased rappers like Mac Miller or XXXTentacion.
While this part of the show has already been exhibited at Fotografiska in New York and Stockholm, it is getting an exclusive extension in Berlin with “Hip-Hop in Germany”, which was co-curated by Yolandé Gouws, Davide Bortot, Miriam Davoudvandi and Ron Schindler, among others, and for which photos by Katja Kuhl and Philipp Gladsome were used, for example.
Lots of space for Sido
The curators give the most space to the first phase of German hip hop in the 90s. You can see the Heidelberg rap duo Stieber Twins eating yeast dumplings, Kool Savas writing lyrics on paper, or the Hamburg rapper Dendemann together with Eminem on the cover of the music magazine “Spex”.
© Henry Chalfan
While rappers like Sido are generously depicted in the “street” era, other pioneering artists from this time are missing. A photo by Bushidoprobably the most famous German rapper, is not hanging on the wall. You will also look in vain for his former protégé Shindy.
The two are only present in the children’s room, an interactive element of the show. On the covers of their respective biographies and of long-discontinued hip-hop magazines. At least.
Even though the show features artists such as Apache207, Luciano or Shirin David portrayed, UFO361 on the cover of “GQ” and Badmómzjay on “Vogue” and the influence of Nina Chuba on hip-hop can even be seen in moving images, the examination of the more recent past is not as profound as the other phases of German hip-hop history.
With RAF Camora, the most streamed German-speaking artist of all time, another influential rapper is missing, and chart-topper Ski Aggu is only pictured once as a mini-Polaroid in the middle of a photo wall with many artists.
Anyone who wants to understand the beginnings of hip hop and the developments it sparked will get a profound insight at Fotografiska. The importance of hip hop as today’s pop culture in all business models outside of music, including some of its representative cultural creators, could certainly be made clearer.
