Austrian Hip Hop - History and Acrs

History and Acrs

Falco is often being seen as the first successful Austrian rapper, but in fact Falco didn't want to be seen as rapper, but as a pop/rock musician. Nevertheless, the first songs from Austria to be known of featuring rap verses were sung by Falco.

The first "official" Austrian hip hop album to be released was Sound Vibes by The Moreaus in 1990. Then again, The Moreaus were not very defining for hip hop in Austria. The most well-known acts in the 1990s were Schönheitsfehler, Fünfhaus Posse and Texta. From the beginning, the hip hop culture in Austria was being dominated by East Austrian acts. There have been only a few acts from the west of Austria who got wider attention.

In 2000, Schönheitsfehler had their first commercial success. Their album SexDrugsAndHipHop reached rank 20 of the Austrian Longplay Charts, with the single Fuck You charting in Germany.

With the rise of Gangsta rap in Germany in the middle of the 2000s, more and more Gangsta rappers in Austria appeared. Most notable are Chakuza, Nazar and Raf Camora who also had commercial success.

In 2008, the Viennese rap group Die Vamummtn got famous over YouTube. Their amateur video Krocha Hymne in which they are referring to the youth culture "Krocha" currently has over 1 million views. The song was released by Universal Music Austria only a few months after the hype and was the first hip hop single to reach the Charts since over five years.

Only two years later, other YouTube hypes lead to a success – the song Kabinenparty by Skero, a member of Texta, reached rank 4 of the Austrian Single Charts after having become a viral video on the internet. The hip hop duo Trackshittaz succeeded in reaching rank 1 of the Single Charts with their song Oida Taunz, also shortly after having a video going viral. This was the first time that an Austrian hip hop act reached rank one of the Charts.