Stefan Richter, better known by the stage name Trettmann, is a German rapper. Since his breakthrough in 2016, he works with the producer collective

KitschKrieg The Media Control charts are record charts compiled by Media Control on behalf of the German record industry. They include the "Single Top 100" and the "Album Top 100" chart. The chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, and the chart compilatio ...

Biography

Richter grew up in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

prior to the fall of the

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

. His hometown Karl-Marx-Stadt is today called Chemnitz. His mother raised him and his older brother as a

single parent A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

. The family made their home in a large

Plattenbau (plural: , german: Platte + Bau, lit=panel/slab' + 'building/ construction) is a building constructed of large, prefabrication, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of (in this context: panel) and (building). Such buildings ...

development named after

Fritz Heckert Friedrich (Fritz) Carl Heckert (born 28 March 1884 in Chemnitz – died 7 April 1936 in Moscow) was a German politician, co-founder of the Spartacus League and the Communist Party of Germany and a leading member of the Communist International (Co ...

.Marcel Laskus:
Kratzer in der Platte
'. In: ''

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

'', No. 45/2018, dated 31 October 2018. Richter later used the name "Heckert" in his production company. The area also served as a backdrop to the music video of his single "Grauer Beton" (grey concrete) in 2017. Richter cites

RnB Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

acts as his earliest musical influences, which he learned to appreciate when listening to the records of his mother and to radio stations from

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

.Wenzel Burmeier:
Trettmann: »Was gibt es Schöneres, als wenn sich Styles mischen?«
'. In: ''

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

'', dated 17 November 2017. Richter gained his first impressions of hip-hop during an appearance of the

New York City Breakers The New York City Breakers are an original B-boy group in early 1980s that was established in the Bronx borough of New York City. The group originally consisted of members from Wildstyle and "Floor Master Crew" History The New York City Breake ...

on West German TV in 1984. He also cited the film

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 ...

as an early visual influence, which premiered in East German cinemas during 1985. Richter started

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

and joined various crews of his hometown. From 1984 on, he attended a middle school with a special track for music, dancing and performance. Richter graduated from high school in Chemnitz after the end of Communism in East Germany. In the early 1990s, Richter travelled to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

for the first time.

Jamaican music The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Reggae is especially popular through the international fame of Bob Marle ...

continued to influence his style. In the following years he worked in various temp jobs, including a gig as a clerk in a record shop. He also started DJing.Krissi Kowsky:
12 Jahre Trettmann – seine Karriere in Songs
'. In: ''rap.de'', Berlin, dated 27 July 2018. He lived in Berlin for a while, but then moved to Leipzig in 2001, where he organized

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

parties and performed as an MC. His debut single under the moniker Ronny Trettman appeared in 2006, staying four weeks in the German single charts. He performed his songs in a

Upper Saxon dialect Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mostl ...

, satirising the German reggae/

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

scene. In 2010, he released his first studio album, dropping the Saxon dialect and comedy act. He followed up with a second album in 2013. From 2016 on, he removed the first name of his artist persona, performing simply as Trettmann from then on. He started his collaboration with

, releasing three EPs in rapid succession. Music critics described his style as "beats ..in the manner of

cloud rap Cloud rap is a subgenre of Southern rap and trap music that has several sonic characteristics of lo-fi in its hazy, dreamlike and relaxed sound. Many music experts credit rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino as the early pioneers of this style. ...

".Kornelius Friz:
Da lebt noch was im Beton
'. In: ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

'', dated 6 October 2017. Trettmann gave guest appearances on the commercially successful album Palmen aus Plastik by

RAF Camora Raphael Ragucci (born 4 June 1984), known professionally as RAF Camora, is an Austrian rapper. Biography Raphael Ragucci was born in Vevey, Switzerland, to an Austrian father from Voralberg and an Italian mother from Naples. Ragucci settled i ...

and

Bonez MC John Lorenz Moser (born December 23, 1985), better known by his stage name Bonez MC, is a German rapper and music producer. Bonez is a member of the German hip hop crew 187 Strassenbande consisting of the rappers Gzuz, Maxwell, LX, Sa4 and Bon ...

, thus becoming known to a wider audience in 2016. In 2017, Trettmann released his own album ''DIY#'', which stayed on the German album charts 64 weeks, peaking at rank 17. In 2018, Trettmann performed on the single "Standard" together with German hip-hop acts Gringo,

Ufo361 Ufuk Bayraktar (born 28 May 1988), better known by his stage name Ufo361, is a German rapper of Turkish descent from Berlin. Early life Bayraktar was born to Turkish parents in west Berlin and grew up in nearby Kreuzberg. He came in contact with ...

and

Gzuz Kristoffer Klauß (; born 29 June 1988), better known by the stage name Gzuz (), is a German rapper. In addition to his solo career, he has had success as part of Hamburg hip hop crew 187 Strassenbande. Biography After his parents divorced, K ...

. "Standard" topped the

German single charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

for two weeks. Trettmann lives in Leipzig, working with KitschKrieg in

Berlin-Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it has ...

Awards

* 2018 hiphop.de Awards: 1st rank in the category "Best Song National" (''Standard'') * 2018 Preis für Popkultur: 1st rank in the categories "Favourite Solo Artist" (Trettmann), "Favourite Album" (''#DIY''), and "Favourite Track" (''Grauer Beton'') * 2017 Juice Awards: 1st rank in the categories "Solo Artist National" and "Album National" * 2017 hiphop.de Awards:Saskia Meister:
Hiphop.de Awards 2017: Die Gewinner!
'. In hiphop.de, dated 12 January 2018. 1st rank in the category "Best Album National" (''#DIY'')

Discography

Albums

* 2010: ''Zwei chlorbleiche Halunken'' * 2013: ''Tanz auf dem Vulkan'' * 2017: ''#DIY'' * 2019: ''Trettmann''

Collaborative singles and other charting hits

* 2018: ''Chaya'', Nura featuring Trettmann * 2018: ''Standard'', KitschKrieg featuring Trettmann,

Gringo ''Gringo'' (, , ) (masculine) (or ''gringa'' (feminine)) is a term in Spanish and Portuguese for a foreigner, usually an English-speaking Anglo-American. There are differences in meaning depending on region and country. In Latin America, it is ge ...

* 2019: ''5 Minuten'', KitschKrieg featuring Cro,

AnnenMayKantereit AnnenMayKantereit (occasionally shortened ''AMK'') are a German rock band founded in Cologne in 2011. Their songs are predominantly performed in German, but the band also occasionally publish cover songs in English. A notable feature of the band' ...

& Trettmann * 2020: ''Irgendwo'', KitschKrieg featuring

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 ...

& Trettmann

References

External links

*
Artist website
*
Trettmann
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

{{Authority control 1973 births People from Chemnitz German rappers Living people