Advanced Chemistry - Market Conditions For Rap

Market Conditions For Rap

One of the first issues that confronts us when we move outside the English-speaking market for recorded music is to establish whether or not the discrete musical genres we know from that market are fully congruent with similar divisions in other pop worlds. This is important in two ways. First, although no single country comes close to matching the amounts spent on recorded music in the United States, these markets are nonetheless economically significant. Germany, for instance, is the largest single market in western Europe, with estimated annual sales of U.S. $3.74 billion in 1996. This represents around 30 percent of reported U.S. sales and makes Germany the third biggest music market in the world.

Advanced Chemistry frequently rapped about their lives and experiences as children of immigrants, exposing the marginalization experienced by most ethnic minorities in Germany, and the feelings of frustration and resentment that being denied a German identity can cause. The song "Fremd im eigenem Land" (Foreign in your own nation) was released by Advanced Chemistry in November 1992. The single became a staple in the German hip hop scene. It made a strong statement about the status of immigrants throughout Germany, as the group was composed of multi-national and multi-racial members. The video shows several members brandishing their German passports as a demonstration of their German citizenship to skeptical and unaccepting 'ethnic' Germans.

This idea of national identity is important, as many rap artists in Germany have been of foreign origin. These so-called Gastarbeiter (guest workers) children saw breakdance, graffiti, rap music, and hip hop culture as a means of expressing themselves. Since the release of "Fremd im eigenen Land", many other German-language rappers have also tried to confront anti-immigrant ideas and develop themes of citizenship. However, though many ethnic minority youth in Germany find the these German identity themes appealing, others view the desire of immigrants to be seen as German negatively, and they have actively sought to revive and recreate concepts of identity in connection to traditional ethnic origins.

Advanced Chemistry helped to found the German chapter of the Zulu nation.