“Hip hop started in kids’ bedrooms and youth centres, now it’s everywhere – in the charts, the way we talk, the way we think about a better future,” says Davide Bortot, co-curator of a new exhibition at Fotografiska Berlin documenting the rise of hip-hop in both US and Germany. Titled Hip Hop: Unconscious, Conscious, it’s the story of a culture becoming aware of itself, morphing from expression out of necessity to intentionality, fully aware of its power in the world.

“You almost can’t believe these images represent the same culture,” Bortot continues. “The 3D montage of rapper Joey Bada$ by Sam Balaban and Farid Issa is a far cry from the purity of Jean-Pierre Laffont’s impressions of early 70s Bronx. But, when you look closer, when you really take in the energy and attitude behind these images, you start feeling a common thread.”

Comprising an incredibly broad range of images, from early pioneers like Wu-Tang Clan and the Beastie Boys to contemporary stars like Kendrick Lamar, Unconscious, Conscious is a comprehensive chronicle of a genre whose visuals have managed to remain almost as revolutionary as its sonics. Initially showcased at Fotografiska New York, the exhibitions’ Berlin leg comes complete with a whole new section about the rise of Deutschrap, or German hip-hop.

“A big difference is that, in Germany, hip-hop was conscious from the very beginning because the template already existed, but the growth and professionalisation is very similar to that in the US,” explains Bortot of the surprising parallels between US hip-hop and Deutschrap. “We start with the old school – a rather small but highly influential group of enthusiasts who brought the culture to Germany in the first place. We then look at the first commercial boom of the late 90s and early 00s when Deutschrap emerged from hip-hop culture as a musical genre and made German-language music cool for a whole new generation.”

“Then, there’s street rap,” continues Bortot, “In the mid 00s there was a clear cultural shift within German rap that made the street side of things much more prominent within a short amount of time.” Also emerging in the noughties period were rappers Sido and Kool Savas, both of whom feature in the exhibition in images by photographer FotoSchiko, depicted at the iconic Headrush Studio in Düsseldorf recording their era-defining hits “Mein Block” and “King of Rap”, respectively. “You can’t get much closer to writing history,” Bortot comments of these images.

“By now, Deutschrap is fully pop in that it is the most commercially successful genre in the country and its protagonists move like the superstars they are. We pay tribute to that by showing images of some of today’s greats in the section ‘Pop’,” continues Bortot. “And then there’s the final chapter that sheds light on a potential future of hip-hop in Germany, which is showing signs of becoming a reality. It’s a future in which rap is less male-dominated, less white, more queer and generally even more openminded.”

Among this final, forward-facing chapter are images of contemporary female rappers Wa22ermann, Layla and Paula Hartmann, which particularly stand out for Bortot. “They all represent hip-hop’s growth and notoriety in their own way,” he explains. “One might argue that they are in fact not rappers at all. But the way they write lyrics, how they share their personal realities, and how they carry themselves is hip-hop. They show how hip-hop has infiltrated and influenced pop culture overall.”

Taken together, both the chronicles of German and US hip-hop speak to the profoundly personal nature of the medium – from the centrality of sampling to the focus on individual storytelling, hip-hop has managed to continually find relevance across both time and space. Bortot concludes: “Hip-hop wasn’t born as a genre but as a culture, an approach almost. This mix of self-empowerment, DIY spirit, and recombining everything you love into your very own thing, will never get old.”

Hip Hop: Unconscious, Conscious runs at Fotografiska Berlin until January 26, 2025. Check out the gallery above for a brief glimpse into both the Deutschrap and US hip-hop sections.