"Prison Break Anthem (Ich glaub' an dich)" is a hit song by German hip-hop artist Azad and

Adel Tawil Adel Salah Mahmoud Eid El-Tawil (born 15 August 1978) is a German singer, songwriter and producer. Besides his solo career, he is part of the popular German duo Ich + Ich and a former member of the boy band The Boyz. Early life Tawil was born ...

, singer of

Ich + Ich Ich may refer to: * Ich, a German pronoun meaning ''I'', also a Middle English form of ''I'' * The ego, one of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche * ''Ich'' (album), an album by German rapper Sido * ...

. It was released as the first single of Azad's album ''Blockschrift''. It is the German title song of the American television series ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial drama television show, television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purce ...

''.

Background

The song showed the vastly different cultural influences that have transformed

German hip-hop German hip hop (locally known as ''Deutschrap'', ''Deutsch'' meaning German) 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 1 ...

. Gone are the SNAP days of having the power, only to be replaced with a combination of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

and mostly American influences. In Timothy Brown's article, 'Keeping it Real' In a Different Hood, he points out the importance of American culture on German youth, "makes no bones about the influence on youth culture in Kreuzberg. 'Everything has to do with American movies," This devotion and respect of American culture proves how important this song is for Azad, as a musician, and how advanced hip-hop has become as a musical genre in Germany. Azad's style owes immensely to American

hip hop culture Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntablis ...

, Azad raps over the beat, while Adel Tawil hits the chorus, reminiscent of

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

and

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P) ...

, or

Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

and

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

Influences

Azad obviously draws largely from the American hip-hop culture to produce the stylistics and flow that he employs. A bit more compelling is the amount of influence African-American hip hoppers have had on German hip hop. Two of Germany's founding rap groups,

Die Fantastischen Vier Die Fantastischen Vier (, "The Fantastic Four"), often shortened to Fanta 4, is a German hip hop band from Stuttgart. The members are Michael Schmidt (Smudo), Andreas Rieke, Thomas Dürr, ''janitor''), and Michi Beck. They were, together with ...

and

Advanced Chemistry Advanced Chemistry is a German hip hop group from Heidelberg, a scenic city in Baden-Württemberg, South Germany. Advanced Chemistry was founded in 1987 by Toni LLinguist Gee-One, DJ Mike MD (Mike Dippon) and MC Torch. Each member of the group ...

swallowed up the hip hop craze when movies such as ''

Wild Style ''Wild Style'' is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Stea ...

'' and ''

Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to var ...

'' dropped in the early 1980s. When the fad died down, the elements of the movement—questioning externally attributed identities and dealing with positions of disfranchisement in society—resonated with German youth. So much so that when groups started emulating American hip hop in search of their own, local sound, the clique "rap" indicators like screaming "hey yo" over a chorus were soon dismissed as mindless. It wasn't until this stage in the movement in Germany, that performers like Azad could arise, respectively embodying the confidence, presence, and seamlessness so reminiscent of American rappers like

and

Music video

In the music video, Azad is seen rapping outside in a beautiful setting, baggy pants, tattooed arms, contrasting the lack of freedom inside the prison, but also paying homage, in the form of mimicry, to American hip-hop. Azad's song that accompanies the hit TV series ''

'' shows how far German hip-hop has come in its brief life span, but also shows how much it owes to American hip-hop and

African-American culture African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ame ...

Charts

The song peaked at number 1 in the German Singles Chart also making it to number 12 in the Austrian charts and number 13 in the Swiss charts.Hitpatade.ch: Azad featuring Adel Tawil - "Prison Break Anthem (Ich glaub' an dich)" page
/ref>

Background

Influences

Music video

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links