Biography

Alongside Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Frankfurt, Cologne is persistently underrated as a birthplace of German-language hip hop. Yet the first German production of the genre to be credited with meeting international standards came out of Cologne, and the city was also home to the first domestic hip hop label. Look into the history of Blitz Vinyl and you inevitably run into a pair of brothers: alongside Detlef (aka Rick Ski), Michael Rick – better known as Future Rock – is one of Germany’s hip hop pioneers. As a rapper, DJ and above all as a producer, he has been part of it for decades.

Infected by the rap wave coming out of the USA, which reached Germany through films such as “Wild Style” and “Beat Street”, the Rick brothers began their own sound experiments in the mid-1980s: together with DJ Defcon and Ko Lute they founded the crew LSD (Legally Spread Dope) and recorded their first demo tapes. This is where Michael picked up the fundamentals of his craft – mixing, sampling, producing. In the summer of 1989, by German hip hop standards still before day one, LSD released their first EP on the independent Cologne label Rhythm Attack. Critics called “Competent” the only German production to date that held up in international comparison.

In 1990, Future Rock met the Cologne rapper and producer Fader Gladiator at a concert – who would later find fame with Die Firma and as a solo artist, and who at the time was out with his three-piece crew C.U.S. (Controversial Unique Style). A close friendship developed, along with a long-running collaboration. In 1991 LSD followed up with the album “Watch Out for The Third Rail”, which met with wide praise, above all for its considered and technically outstanding production. The same year brought another LSD EP, “I Don’t Care A Rap”, and the crew also appeared on the compilation “Krauts With Attitude”.

Also in 1991, Future Rock and Fader Gladiator had had enough: convincing established record companies of the potential of German-language rap was proving exhausting, so together with brother Rick Ski and Robert Möller (aka D-Tex Law) they founded their own label – Blitz Records, later Blitz Vinyl. Together with its in-house studio, the Blitzlabor, the label became the first port of call for rap made in Germany.

In 1992 LSD split up. DJ Defcon and Ko Lute wanted to carry on under the same name without the Rick brothers and released “Von Zeile Zu Zeile” on an Underground Explosion compilation. Rick Ski and Future Rock answered with “Ohne Warnung”, the first diss track in the German language. It appeared in 1992 on the “Blitz Mob” EP; Defcon and Ko Lute went on to operate as LSD Proton.

Fader Gladiator and Future Rock travelled to New York together and connected there with Brooklyn rapper King Grand. Together they recorded the second KAOS album, “International Dope Dealers”, released on Blitz Vinyl in 1993. Next came “Keep Your Soul Together” with James Brown’s saxophonist Maceo Parker – with Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis, also from the ranks of the JBs, taking part.

Under the “Blitz Mob” banner, LSD, C.U.S., Äi-Team, Torch, STF and Storm were joined by acts from abroad: KAOS (USA), First Down (UK) and Sebastian Greenberg (SBG, France) came on board and made Blitz Mob the first genuinely international rap project. The EP – the aforementioned “Blitz Mob” from 1992 – was followed by tours across Germany alongside the British rap acts Gunshot and Hijack and Tim Dog from the United States. Acceptance of German-language rap was still thin at the time; getting booed for it was fairly normal around 1993/94.

1995 brought the most significant Blitz Vinyl release: the album “Die Organisation”, featuring 25 acts from four nations – among them LSD, Torch, STF, Boulevard Bou and KAOS. At over 18 minutes it contains one of the longest German rap tracks ever recorded, as well as “Der Eigene Weg”, Future Rock’s first solo piece. LSD’s contribution, “Meister Der Metrik”, stands out for a jazz groove that was highly unusual for its time. In the summer of 1995 Future Rock stepped back from Blitz Vinyl to concentrate on his work as a producer. The label folded in 1996, but Fader Gladiator and Future Rock kept the Blitzlabor running.

Over the following years Future Rock produced a series of instrumental albums under the title “Beat Bombs”. Together with Fader Gladiator he remixed tracks by Die Fantastischen Vier and Advanced Chemistry, among many others. In autumn 1996 he teamed up with Professor Te to form Creme de la Creme, and managed to land the project a deal with EMI. In spring 1998 Creme de la Creme scored a hit with “Letzte Nacht”. Of the earlier EP “Bitte Hau Mich Nicht” only the first pressing was sold, after Frankfurt rapper Moses P felt dissed by the title track and the cover.

The Creme de la Creme album followed in 1999. “Porno Funk” brought together intricately arranged borrowings from easy listening, jazz rock, sixties beat, electropop and seventies funk. Contributors included Torch, Die Firma, STF and the Sicilian rapper Gianni. The album holds the German rap classics “Haschisch Kakalake”, “Drei Chinesen” and “Weißer Rauch”.

Future Rock remained in demand as a producer and remixer, as his 1998 compilation album “Produced By Future Rock” demonstrates: it collects tracks by Torch, Die Firma, Die Fantastischen Vier and Daddy Rings. He remixed Gentleman and Jack Radics, and between 2000 and 2003 was involved in producing albums by Gianni, Nesti, Die Firma and Fader Gladiator – including Die Firma’s hit “Die Eine”. His 2001 best-of compilation “Zurück in die Zukunft” presents a cross-section of his work from 1989 to 2000.

In 2005 the electro disco funk album “Dynamite” arrived, moving the Future Rock sound into a new, funky uptempo club style. The title track, the album and the accompanying EP – with remixes by Fader Gladiator, Raul Rincon and Money Miro – were celebrated by press and fans worldwide, in clubs and at home.

After a creative break, Future Rock returned in 2015 with his EP “E1ns”. The title track combined analogue drum machine beats and vocoder effects with arpeggio synths and wobble bass sounds. Set against German-language rap, this created a unique and explosive style, and one of the freshest German hip hop songs of its time. “Momente” (engl. “Moments”), included both as the original and as a “Die Firma RMX feat. Tatwaffe” remix, stood out for its poetic rap and fat hip hop beats. Finally, on “Kein zurück” (engl. “No turning back”), Future Rock tied deep lyrics and dope beats into a musical journey back to the golden eras of hip hop. “E1ns” was released on the LSD Music label on CD, digitally as download and stream, and as a limited edition on gold-coloured vinyl.

What comes next? Future Rock is still in the studio, building new beat bombs. The drum machines are running, the record stacks are growing, samples are getting chopped and the mixing desk burns. Still looking for the perfect beat.

What is he working on right now? New projects? He knows, for sure – but nothing is being revealed here just yet.

Only this much: anyone who has been building beats since 1989 does not stop just because the discography is already full. So: stay tuned. The Future Rock starts now!