LSD - Competent 1989

JVC Force - Strong Island ‘89 1989

Torch - Kapitel 1 (Future Rock RMX 95) 1995

Maceo Parker f. Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, MF Russ, SBG - Well U Needn’t 1993

Not many producers can claim to have partaken in their nation’s first full-length rap release on wax. Future Rock, born Michael Rick, did just that when he and brother Rick Ski (AKA Blackvinylmaster), DJ Defcon and MC KoLute put out “Watch Out For The Third Rail” as LSD (an acronym for Legally Spread Dope). Musically, Germany’s first rap longplayer combined the orchestral album approach of Public Enemy’s second and third, the hardcore stance of the Tuff Crew and of late ’80s UK releases, the funk worship of old school hip-hop, and the playfulness of what later would be known as the East Coast Golden Age. Only that German hip-hop was only just beginning to express itself on record (in English, of course), far from having reached anything resembling a Golden Age. The album was released in 1991, but clearly conceived in the years before (and thus released maybe a tad bit too late). The 2008 re-issue promotion called it ‘the production-wise most complex, elaborate and sought-after [German] hip-hop album containing over 1000 samples.’ True or not, the album’s musical and historical status is undisputed, although in this case the history takes slight precedence over the music. LSD deserve major credit for being the first ones to take the important album hurdle, and considering the DIY mentality of old school German (or European, for that matter) hip-hop, it doesn’t come as a surprise that they didn’t originate from any of the big cities that dominate today’s scene.

Doing hip-hop yourself was much different in the ’80s than nowadays when audio, background information and recording equipment are available at your fingertips. LSD recorded their music at home with a Yamaha TX16W sampler, a small keyboard, a Casio RZ-1 drum machine, and a TR-808, saving scratches and some of the raps on a Vestax 4-track tape deck and using the program Supertrack on a Commodore 64 as a sequencer. The recording was completed in a 16-track analog studio. Back then it took a lot of idealism and determination to put an entire album together, starting with investing your allowance in records to get behind the breakbeat mystery. It meant teaching yourself the basics of rap and hip-hop, having only a couple of records and deteriorating dubs of Wild Style and Beat Street to go by, scouring flea markets and occasionally even stealing records, piecing your first songs painstakingly together in the pre-sampler days, eventually making that trip to New York to see for yourself what it’s all about, etc.

LSD would soon part ways due to the ongoing differences between the two duos that formed the group. The split even resulted in Germany’s first diss track. KoLute and Defcon would continue as LSD Proton while Future Rock immersed himself in various projects. He helped coordinate and produce an early collaboration between German and American heads, KAOS’ “International Dope Dealers” (93), he was involved in the foundation of hip-hop label Blitz Vinyl and in the underground collaboration project Blitz Mob. He continued to work closely with fellow producer Fader Gladiator, especially for the latter’s group Die Firma. Future Rock also tried his hands at a more mainstream rap project in the mid-’90s as part of act Creme de la Creme. His solo albums include instrumental full-lengths such as “Future Rock Beat Bombs” (95/96) and “Dynamite” (05), and two compilations of his production work, “Produced by Future Rock” (98) and “Zurück in die Zukunft” (01). He still deejays (often together with his brother) and as a hip-hop activist of 20+ years represents the genre’s timeless openmindedness.

As a producer, Future Rock has made the expected progress, leaving the sample collages behind and emerging as a gifted musician with a incorruptible ear for soul and funk. In our audio section we start with the aptly named LSD debut single “Competent” from 1989 and a remix for the JVC Force classic “Strong Island” from the same year. The remix for Torch dates from the mid-’90s, “Kapitel 1″ being an essential German hip-hop song about the early days from fellow pioneer Torch of Advanced Chemistry. We conclude with a Maceo-led jazz rap rendition of a Monk standard featuring non-German rappers, Maceo Parker having already been featured on “Watch Out For The Third Rail.” (Think about that one for a sec.)

Future Rock’s MySpace

Future Rock’s homepage

Future Rock on discogs (possibly incorrect entries on the artist)

Video clip for LSD’s “Competent”