It’s been a long time since Torch, Toni L (individually and collectively as Advanced Chemistry) and the Stieber Twins, some of the birth attendants of German hip hop, were stars. From today’s perspective, not too long after that, Torch may have already seen the future. What they helped to start in Heidelberg in the late 80s and early 90s had already grown much bigger than themselves by 2000. In the meantime, it was even so big that on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, the Conference of Ministers of Education in Bonn called the “Heidelberg hip-hop culture and their networking in Germany” in the list of Germany’s intangible cultural heritage.
Torch is at least indirectly involved in this. In 2020, he donated 5,000 objects from his private archive to the city of Heidelberg for the foundation of the “Heidelberger Hip-Hop Archive”. It is part of the official city archive, whose team submitted the application to the German UNESCO Commission in 2022. Supported by Bryan Vit, linguistics assistant in the city’s cultural department and co-author of the anthology “HipHop in the 21st Century”, the art historian Prof. Dr. Henry Keazor from Heidelberg University and journalist Joshua Modeller. The official list of Heidelberg’s modern literary heritage also includes the first Advanced Chemistry album FREMD IM EIGENEN LAND, released in 1992 and created in 2014 on the occasion of the city’s nomination as a “UNESCO City of Literature”.
Early (Heidelberg) hip-hop culture
The consequences of the US imports that began, which were carried out in the former royal Palatinate residence city, among other things, now extend to the supermarket shelves of discounters. Hip hop has long since become a mass culture that sometimes produces moments of extreme shame.
These consequences of the pioneering work were only to be foreseen to a very limited extent: at that time, jams with mediocre sound quality were performed almost all over Germany, but hardly paid. It was unclear whether one should rap in German or English, one tried conscious rap, combining the four elements of breakdance, DJing, graffiti and above all rap. Heidelberg was the national hub of a still small world.
Intangible German cultural heritage
The list of German intangible cultural heritage has been maintained since 2013 and now has 144 entries. In addition to Heidelberg HipHop, the Bad Dürrenberger Brunnenfest, the construction and use of the Spreewald barge, the Englmarisuche from Lower Bavaria and the circus were included as separate art forms this year. For the entry relevant here, those responsible draw a line from the Bronx in the 70s directly to the Neckarwiesen and write the shapely sentences:
“Learning rap or beatboxing and other hip-hop elements not only involves reflecting on the respective medium, but also learning related fields of knowledge such as art or literature, as well as social and communicative skills. This includes writing lyrics, singing, performing in front of an audience and debating. The various elements are mostly learned in an autodidactic and informal manner, in that knowledge and skills about the cultural form are passed on in exchange with other practitioners.”