Samy Deluxe

Samy Deluxe
Background information
Birth name Samy Sorge
Also known as Sam Semilia, Wickeda MC
Born 19 December 1977 (1977-12-19) (age 34)
Hamburg, Germany
Genres German hip hop
Occupations Rapper
Years active 1997–present
Labels Deluxe Records
Associated acts Dynamite Deluxe
ASD
Website www.samy-deluxe.de

Samy Sorge (born 19 December 1977[1] in Hamburg), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia is a German rapper, and hip hop artist from Hamburg. He is one of Germany's most successful solo rap musicians while also releasing albums as a member of two separate crews, Dynamite Deluxe (with DJ Dynamite aka Joni Rewind and Tropf) and ASD (with Afrob). He has his own label Deluxe Records.

Contents

Biography

Samy Deluxe grew up with his mother's family as his Sudanese father left Germany when Samy was just two years old. Shortly after this event his half-sister was born. After living in Barmbek for many years they then moved to Eppendorf, a generally better-off part of Hamburg, where he attended the Wolfgang-Borchert-Schule and attained the Realschulabschluss.

Early career (1996-2000)

Before working with Dynamite Deluxe he was a member of German hip-hop group "Wir Haben Es Nicht Gewusst". After this, around the years 1996 and 1997, after several appearances all over Germany to spread his name, his partner Jan Delay (aka Eißfeldt) of the Absolute Beginner founded a Hamburg based record label called Eimsbush. Under this label, through which countless Hamburg artists have collaborated by, releasing a total of 16 mixtapes.

The first mixtape, Dynamite Deluxe Demo, was an 8-track EP of which a very limited amount was made. He became very well known due to his many guest appearances on the CDs put out by hip hop artists such as Freundeskreis, Stieber Twins and Absolute Beginner. It was with the latter group in particular that he performed many concerts. He also took it upon himself to do the festivals all over Germany in order to make a name for himself. But it got tough for him not having all the support for his music all the time.

Breakthrough (2001-2004)

In 2001 Samy Deluxe released his first solo album Samy Deluxe. The single "Weck mich auf" was very successful and became a hit. Following this release Samy became one of the greatest German hip hop and international artists.

In 2003 the album Wer hätte das gedacht was released, a collaboration album by Samy Deluxe and Afrob, under their name ASD. The three singles of the album were: "Sneak Preview", "Sag mir wo die Party ist!" and "Hey du (Nimm Dir Zeit)". The single "Sneak Preview" was also successful in the German charts.

In August 2004 Samy Deluxe released his second album Verdammtnochma!. The album reached number 2 in the German album-charts shortly thereafter and stayed for three weeks in the Top 10.

Discography

Studio albums

Collaboration

Style

He is famous for his flow. Audacious and eloquent, Samy initially chose an aggressive style, based on imaginative use of metaphors, complex overlapping rhymes and his own melodic flow. Therefore he is sometimes called the German Jay-Z. He favours constructing constantly changing pictures rather than telling long stories. This has caused some critics to find fault with his lyrical style.

Awards

  • 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 for the album Samy Deluxe
  • 2002: ECHO 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

PEWF!

Literary works

  • Dis wo ich herkomm: Deutschland Deluxe, published by Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, June 2009 ISBN 978-3-499-62542-8

References

  1. ^ January/February issue of Juice (2008) - Page 130

External links