Die Fantastischen Vier fanˌtastɪʃən ˈfiːɐ̯ also known as Fanta 4 is a German hip hop group from Stuttgart, Germany. The members are Michael Bernd Schmidt alias Smudo, Andreas Rieke alias And.Ypsilon, Thomas Dürr alias Hausmeister (janitor) Thomas D and Michael 'Michi' Beck alias Dee Jot Hausmarke. They were among the first German rap groups to rap in the German language. Brown, Timothy S. “‘Keeping it Real' in a Different ‘Hood: (African-) Americanization and Hip-hop in Germany.” In The Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 137-50. London
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Die Fantastischen Vier fanˌtastɪʃən ˈfiːɐ̯ also known as Fanta 4 is a German hip hop group from Stuttgart, Germany. The members are Michael Bernd Schmidt alias Smudo, Andreas Rieke alias And.Ypsilon, Thomas Dürr alias Hausmeister (janitor) Thomas D and Michael 'Michi' Beck alias Dee Jot Hausmarke. They were among the first German rap groups to rap in the German language. Brown, Timothy S. “‘Keeping it Real' in a Different ‘Hood: (African-) Americanization and Hip-hop in Germany.” In The Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 137-50. London
History
Towards the end of the 1980s, Rieke and Schmidt formed the "Terminal Team", Dürr and Beck joined in 1989. Under the new name Die Fantastischen Vier (The Fantastic Four), they made German hip hop, or Deutschen Sprechgesang (German spoken-song) as they called it, popular in Germany. Although there were artists who concerned themselves with German hip hop prior to them, for example Advanced Chemistry from Heidelberg, it was Die Fantastischen Vier who registered the first chart hit with their 1992 single "Die da?!" from the album 4 Gewinnt, hitting #2 in Germany and #1 in Austria and Switzerland.
After traveling to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, the group realized the lack of connection between the struggles of "the poor Blacks in the U.S. and middle-class Whites in Germany," and made a conscious effort to move away from the typical and cliché American gangster rap. The group never got involved with US-American gangsta rap clichés, reacting sharply to verbal attacks of alleged German gangsta rappers. In the albums following 4 Gewinnt, the band matured and progressed to a more serious and philosophic style.
The band was extremely successful in the 1990s, when they released their hit single Die Da?! (Her?! The One Over There?!) in 1992. It was arguably the first German hip hop hit and also the breakthrough for the Fanta4.
In addition to the group's works, Thomas D, Hausmarke and And.Ypsilon also produced successful solo albums and the four had their own weekly show Die 4. Dimension, named after their third album, which aired on the German pay TV channel Premiere in 1993/1994.
At the 1996 Popkomm in Cologne, Die Fantastischen Vier announced the establishment of their label, Four Music. Headquarters were in Stuttgart, but were later moved to Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Three years later, the group's 7th album 4:99 was released on their own label, with 4 singles from the album following. After the #2 hit "MfG", three singles were released at the same time, a first in German music business. Each one can be associated with one of the rappers: "Le Smou" (The Smou; Smudo), "Michi Beck in Hell" (Michi Beck) and "Buenos Dias Messias" (Good day, Messiah; Thomas D).
