Samy Sorge (born 19 December 1977), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia, is a German

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and record producer from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Early life

Samy was two years old when his

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese father left Germany. Samy grew up with his mother's family. His half-sister was born shortly after his father left. The family lived in

Barmbek Barmbek (), until 27 September 1946 ''Barmbeck'', is the name of a former village that was absorbed into the city of Hamburg, Germany. In 1951 it was divided into the quarters '' Barmbek-Süd'', '' Barmbek-Nord'' and '' Dulsberg'' in the borough ' ...

for many years, then moved to Eppendorf, a better-off part of Hamburg. His family was able to make this move after a recommendation from a family friend after his mother remarried. He attended the Wolfgang-Borchert-Schule and attained the ''

Realschulabschluss The Mittlere Reife (, lit. ''"Middle Maturity"'') is a School leaving qualification, school-leaving certificate in Germany that is usually awarded after ten years of schooling. It is roughly comparable with the British GCSE. The official name var ...

'', or certificate of general education similar to a British GCSE. He cites his upbringing in a middle-class neighbourhood as part of his inspiration. He says he felt out of place, "At (one) point I would stand out in front of my own house and people who lived here before me would ask 'can I help you?. Additionally, he cites American rappers as his inspiration instead of relying on German history. Samy recalls taking up an interest in rap music in 1988.

Music career

In 2001, Samy Deluxe released his self-titled debut album, which ranked No. 2 in the German Album Charts for the 19th calendar week of 2001. The first single from the album, "Hab' gehört...", ranked No. 26. However, the second single, " Love", failed to enter the charts. The final single, "Weck mich auf", peaked at No. 4 in Germany, becoming a national hit and the album's most successful single. Following the success of his solo debut, Samy Deluxe became a highly acclaimed hip hop artist in

German rap 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 ...

and internationally. In 2003, Samy Deluxe founded the rap duo ASD with fellow rapper

Afrob Robert Zemichiel (born 1 August 1977), known professionally as Afrob, is a German rapper and actor. Biography Afrob was born in Venice, Italy to Eritrean parents but moved to Germany at a young age. He grew up in the German city of Stuttgart, ...

. They released their debut ''Wer hätte das gedacht''. The lead single from the album, "Sneak Preview", ranked successfully on the German charts. Most of the beats on this album came from American producers, including

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

Diamond D Joseph Kirkland (born April 5, 1968), better known by his stage name Diamond D, is an American hip hop MC and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, and one of the founding members of the Diggin' in the Crates Crew, abbreviated as D.I.T. ...

and

Waajeed Robert O'Bryant, also known as Waajeed is a Detroit-born music producer, and one half of the hip hop and R&B group Platinum Pied Pipers, and a founding member of Tiny Hearts. He formed the Bling47 record label in 2002, which has released proj ...

. In August 2004, Samy Deluxe released his second solo album, ''Verdammtnochma!''. The album peaked at No. 2 on the German album-charts shortly thereafter and stayed for three weeks in the Top 10. In the same year, he was featured on the German remix of "

Dip It Low "Dip It Low" is a song by American singer Christina Milian from her second studio album, ''It's About Time (Christina Milian album), It's About Time'' (2004). Written by Poli Paul and Teedra Moses and produced by Paul, the track was released as t ...

" by American singer

Christina Milian Christine Marie Flores (born September 26, 1981), better known as Christina Milian (), is an American actress and singer. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but raised in Maryland, she signed a contract with Murder Inc. Records at the age of 19. ...

, which was a commercial success. In 2005, Samy Deluxe represented

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in the

Bundesvision Song Contest 2005 The Bundesvision Song Contest 2005 was the first edition of the annual Bundesvision Song Contest musical event. The contest was held on 12 February 2005 at the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The contest was hosted by ...

, with the song "Generation", placing ninth with 44 points. Deichbrand 14 (11)

In April 2016, Samy Deluxe released his sixth solo album, ''Berühmte letzte Worte'' (''Famous last words''). The album peaked at No. 4 on the German album-charts. In the same month, he joined Xavier Naidoo to perform one of the new tracks, ''Haus am Mehr'' (''House by the ocean'', but written as wordplay for "more" instead of "Meer"), in the TV show ''Sing meinen Song'' (''Sing my song''). Features on the album came from

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In the same ye ...

Max Herre Maximilian Herre (born 22 April 1973) is a German rapper, singer-songwriter and music producer who rose to fame as a member of the group Freundeskreis. He is also A&R for the record label Nesola, a joint venture with his wife Joy Denalane, amon ...

and many others. In May 2019, Samy Deluxe appeared on MTV unplugged with

Max Raabe Max Raabe (born Matthias Otto, 12 December 1962) is a German jazz singer. He is best known as the founder and leader of the Palast Orchester. Career Raabe developed an interest in the sound of German dance and film music of the 1920s and 193 ...

Business ventures

In 2006, Samy Deluxe, in collaboration with

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

, designed sneakers and a cap with

New Era Cap Company The New Era Cap Company is an American headwear company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1920. New Era has over 500 different licenses in its portfolio. Since 1993 they have been the exclusive baseball cap supplier for Major ...

. On the cover of his mixtape ''Deluxe von Kopf bis Fuß'', he wore clothes, especially designed for him. In 2007 followed two more sneakers, so that four Reebok sneakers were developed for the ''Samy Deluxe'' series.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2001: ''

Samy Deluxe Samy Sorge (born 19 December 1977), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia, is a German rapper and record producer from Hamburg. Early life Samy was two years old when his Sudanese father left Germany. Samy grew up with h ...

'' * 2004: ''Verdammtnochma!'' * 2009: ''

Dis wo ich herkomm Dis wo ich herkomm ("Dis where I come from") is the third solo album by Hamburg-based rapper Samy Deluxe. It was released on 27 March 2009 on the EMI label. The album contains many hip hop songs, but also had influences of pop and reggae element ...

'' * 2011: ''SchwarzWeiss'' * 2012: ''Verschwörungstheorien mit schönen Melodien'' (as Herr Sorge) * 2014: ''Männlich'' * 2016: ''Berühmte letzte Worte'' * 2017: ''Deluxe Edition'' (EP) * 2019: ''Hochkultur''

Live albums

* 2018: ''SaMTV Unplugged''

Collaboration

* 2000: ''Deluxe Soundsystem'' (with

Dynamite Deluxe Dynamite Deluxe is a German hip hop group hailing from Hamburg, consisting of the MC Samy Deluxe, producer Tropf and producer/ DJ Dynamite (alias Joni Rewind). In 1997, the trio released their first mixtape "Dynamite Deluxe Demo", which was an ...

) * 2003: ''Wer hätte das Gedacht?'' (with

) * 2008: ''TNT'' (with

) * 2015: ''Blockbasta'' (with

)

Awards

Samy Deluxe - Pressefoto in schwarz-weiß

* 2001: Comet in the category Hip Hop National * 2001: MTV Europe Music Award as best German artist * 2001: Bravo Otto in Gold in the category HipHop National * 2002:

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

for the album ''Samy Deluxe'' * 2002:

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

in the category Hip-Hop/ R&B National * 2004: Bravo Otto in Bronze in the category HipHop National * 2005: Bravo Otto in Bronze in the category HipHop National * 2006: Hip Hop.de Award in the category best Mixtape for ''Big Baus of the Nauf'' * 2007: Jam FM Rapublik Award Platz 1 in the category best

Label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

Literary works

*''Dis wo ich herkomm: Deutschland Deluxe'', published by Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, June 2009

References

External links

Official website

English interview with Deutsche Welle TV (2010)Online music player Lastfm.deOnline music magazine Laut.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deluxe, Samy 1977 births Living people MTV Europe Music Award winners German rappers Hamburg hip hop Musicians from Hamburg German people of Sudanese descent Participants in the Bundesvision Song Contest German autobiographers German male non-fiction writers