Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt
Encyclopedia
The Rödelheim Hartreim Project ("Rödelheim Hard-Rhyme Project"), for short RHP, was a mid-nineties
German rap
group from Rödelheim
, a part of Frankfurt
. The group comprised two members, Moses P. (Moses Pelham) and Thomas H. (Thomas Hofmann). They were among the first groups to garner commercial success by rapping in German
, while stylistically leaning more towards American
gangsta rap
.
single Twilight Zone in 1989, before hitting a brick wall in his attempts to market his self-produced second album. In 1993 he teamed up with his old friend Thomas Hofmann, whom he had met on a basketball
court, to form the Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt. They recorded their album that year with producers Martin Haas, who had worked on Moses's unreleased second album, and Robert Sattler and supported by future stars Xavier Naidoo
and Sabrina Setlur
. The album, entitled Direkt aus Rödelheim ("Straight out of Rödelheim", an allusion to NWA's Straight Outta Compton
), surprisingly sold an impressive 160,000 copies in 1994. In 1995, when Schwester S. (aka Sabrina Setlur) released her debut album, RHP collaborated with her on the single Ja Klar ("Yeah, right") which entered the Top 10 of the German
Media Control charts.
In 1996 the group released their second and last album, Zurück nach Rödelheim ("Back to Rödelheim"), which entered the charts at 3rd position and sold 180,000 copies. The first single extracted from the album, Höha, Schnella, Weita ("Higha, Fasta, Furtha") received a lot of airplay and was also fairly successful. It was this year that Moses split with the group's former label, Universal Music, for his own new label, Pelham Power Productions (3p). From around then on, RHP factually ceased to exist, while Moses Pelham now concentrated on marketing his label's artists and on his own solo career.
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
German rap
German hip hop
German Hip Hop refers to hip hop music produced in Germany. Elements of American hip hop culture, such as graffiti art and breakdancing, diffused into Western Europe in the early 1980s.-1980–1990:...
group from Rödelheim
Rödelheim (Frankfurt am Main)
Rödelheim is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Mitte-West, and is subdivided into the Stadtbezirke Rödelheim-Ost and Rödelheim-West....
, a part of Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. The group comprised two members, Moses P. (Moses Pelham) and Thomas H. (Thomas Hofmann). They were among the first groups to garner commercial success by rapping in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, while stylistically leaning more towards American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gangsta rap
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
.
Band history
Moses Pelham had already had moderate success as a teenager with his first English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
single Twilight Zone in 1989, before hitting a brick wall in his attempts to market his self-produced second album. In 1993 he teamed up with his old friend Thomas Hofmann, whom he had met on a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
court, to form the Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt. They recorded their album that year with producers Martin Haas, who had worked on Moses's unreleased second album, and Robert Sattler and supported by future stars Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. Born and raised in Mannheim, Naidoo worked in several jobs in the gastronomy and the musical industry before relocating to the United States in the early 1990s, where he released his first full-length English...
and Sabrina Setlur
Sabrina Setlur
Sabrina Setlur , formerly known as Schwester S., is a German rapper, songwriter, Hebbar Iyengar and occasional actress...
. The album, entitled Direkt aus Rödelheim ("Straight out of Rödelheim", an allusion to NWA's Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton
The lyrics on the album were mainly written by Ice Cube and MC Ren. Critics of the album expressed their view that the record glamorized Black-on-Black crime, but the emcees stated that the group was simply showing the reality of living in the areas of Compton, California, and South Central Los...
), surprisingly sold an impressive 160,000 copies in 1994. In 1995, when Schwester S. (aka Sabrina Setlur) released her debut album, RHP collaborated with her on the single Ja Klar ("Yeah, right") which entered the Top 10 of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Media Control charts.
In 1996 the group released their second and last album, Zurück nach Rödelheim ("Back to Rödelheim"), which entered the charts at 3rd position and sold 180,000 copies. The first single extracted from the album, Höha, Schnella, Weita ("Higha, Fasta, Furtha") received a lot of airplay and was also fairly successful. It was this year that Moses split with the group's former label, Universal Music, for his own new label, Pelham Power Productions (3p). From around then on, RHP factually ceased to exist, while Moses Pelham now concentrated on marketing his label's artists and on his own solo career.
Discography
- Direkt aus Rödelheim (1994)
- Live aus Rödelheim (1995)
- Zurück nach Rödelheim (1996)