Ted: Welcome back to another episode of Speaking of Berlin, a podcast that introduces you to the city we call home, while helping you learn German along the way.

Berlin is a city full of stories, and today, we’re going to hear another one – in German, of course! I’m Ted, your guide for this podcast. I’ll bring you along as we explore Berlin through the eyes of someone who lives here. 

Also, to help you out, we’ve put together a transcript for this episode. That way, you can read along while you listen, making it easier for you to understand more of the story. Head over to babbel.com/podcasts to find it!

Today’s story comes from AnaRey, who’s going to tell us about a special group she formed with two other women from Berlin. If you’re ready, let’s get started!

AnaRey: Mein Name ist AnaRey. Ich war Rapperin. In einer Band mit drei Frauen aus Berlin: Roxy, Ninjah und ich.

Wir sind in Deutschland geboren. Aber unsere Eltern kommen zum Teil auch aus Japan, Somalia und dem Kongo.

Wir haben uns in einem Tonstudio kennengelernt. Und uns war sofort klar: Wir müssen zusammen Musik machen!

Ninjah hatte die Idee mit der Frauenband. Und Roxy hatte die Idee für den Namen: Jeneez – J-E-N-E-E-Z. Ein Wortspiel. Es klingt wie “Genie” in der Mehrzahl, also “Genies”.

Ted: AnaRey, Roxy, and Ninjah, three women from Germany, but with roots in Japan, Somalia, and Congo, formed a rap group after they met in a recording studio. Something became clear to them on that first meeting: Wir müssen zusammen Musik machen! – “We have to make music together!” Ninjah had the idea to form the group, and of course, every rap group needs a good name – Roxy had the perfect idea! Jeneez, which is a bit of a play on words, because it sounds like the German word for Geniuses.

AnaRey: Damals gab es in Deutschland kaum weibliche Rapper. Hip-Hop wird bis heute von Männern dominiert.

Wir mussten uns den Respekt erst verdienen. Das ging nur mit guten Texten, einer kraftvollen Rap-Stimme und einem starken Selbstbewusstsein.

Wir waren stark und richtig laut. Unsere Texte handelten von Zusammenhalt. Wir erzählten vom Erwachsenwerden, vom Leben und vom Kämpfen.

Wir organisierten alles selbst: unsere Beats, unser Sponsoring und unsere Auftritte. Schon bald hatten wir unser erstes Konzert.

Ted: Damals gab es in Deutschland kaum weibliche Rapper - “At that time in Germany there were hardly any female rappers”. So, how exactly did a group of three women break into a scene that, even today, more than ten years later, is dominated by men? First, they had to earn respect, and you can only do that with good lyrics, guten Texten, a powerful rap voice, einer kraftvollen Rap-Stimme, and strong self-confidence, starken Selbstbewusstsein. Luckily for them, they had all three! Their lyrics dealt with topics like sticking together, growing up, life, and their struggles. They even organized everything themselves, from their beats, to their sponsors, and their gigs, or Auftritte. Before long, they had their first concert!

AnaRey: Das erste Konzert von Jeneez gaben wir in Dresden. An diesem Tag gab es eine Demo gegen Rassismus. Roxy hatte unseren Auftritt organisiert.

In einem Haus der Antifa. Linke Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten sind eigentlich kein Zielpublikum für Hip-Hop. Als wir ankamen, fragten wir direkt nach der Bühne.

Aber es gab keine! Unser erster Auftritt ohne Bühne? Das ging nicht! Wir fanden eine große Tür, einen alten Teppich und ein paar leere Bierkästen.

Damit bauten wir unsere erste Bühne selbst. Dann spielten wir den ersten Song.

Die Leute sind von ihren Sofas aufgestanden! Sie haben uns gefeiert.

Was für ein Erfolg!

Ted: Their first concert was in Dresden at an Antifa house. Just a bit of background about Dresden. It was a part of the former GDR, but like a lot of cities in the East, is now known for its right-wing political stance, and in this specific case, a prominent neo-nazi presence. However, there’s also a small but active tradition of left-wing activism from groups like Antifa, or antifascists. The concert was being held in connection to a demonstration against racism, and Jeneez were happy to lend their voices to fight against far-right extremism. But, they were also a bit sceptical, because left-wing activists aren’t really the target audience for hip-hop. When they arrived, they realized there was a problem: there was no stage, keine Bühne! So they built one with a big door, eine große Tür, an old rug, einen alten Teppich, and empty beer crates, leere Bierkästen. With the stage built, they played their first song. Everyone got up from their sofas and cheered them on!

AnaRey: Unsere Träume waren groß. Wir wollten einen Plattenvertrag. Fünf Jahre lang versuchten wir alles.

Viele bekannte Hip-Hop-Label waren interessiert. Einmal kam ein Talentscout zu uns ins Studio. Wir präsentierten ihm unsere Songs. Er war begeistert!

— Wow! Ich liebe eure Musik! Ihr seid fantastisch!

Doch es gab ein Problem mit dem Vertrag! Wir durften nichts selbst entscheiden. Es ging um unsere Musik, unsere Gedanken und unser Image.

Die Entscheidung war klar: Kein Vertrag! Heute ist das viel einfacher. Du kannst deine Musik auf Soundcloud hochladen. Oder auf YouTube. Und alle können sie hören.

Du brauchst keine Plattenfirma!

Ted: “Our dreams were big”. – Unsere Träume waren groß., says AnaRey. For five years, Jeneez tried everything to get a recording contract, Plattenvertrag. During this time, they had some talks and meetings with record labels, and one of these meetings was pretty memorable. A big hip-hop label in Germany got in touch and sent a talent scout to meet them at the studio. When he arrived, they showed him their songs. He was really into their music, and it looked like they were going to get a deal! But then they read the contract. If they signed it, they would no longer be able to decide anything for themselves. They didn’t even need to think about it: Kein Vertrag, No contract! They’d rather stay small than give up their artistic freedom. These days, you don’t need a record company anymore. It’s super easy to upload your music to Youtube or Soundcloud where everyone can hear it. Sadly, Jeneez came just a bit too early for that.

AnaRey: Wir hatten eine tolle Zeit! Auch ohne den großen Durchbruch. Wir spielten viele Konzerte. Wir haben ein eigenes Mini-Album veröffentlicht.

Unsere Freundschaft und unser Zusammenhalt waren sehr stark. Und wir haben so viele Songs als Erinnerung. Heute sind wir auch erfolgreich – nur anders.

Ninjah ist immer noch Sängerin und gerade Mama geworden. Roxy arbeitet bei einem Software-Unternehmen als Business-Strategin. Und ich?

Ich bin Journalistin beim ZDF. Gerade arbeite ich an einer Doku-Serie. Es geht dabei um unsere Geschichte. Um die Geschichte von Jeneez.

Also lebt der Traum doch noch weiter. Und wer weiß? Vielleicht gehen wir bald wieder ins Tonstudio …

Ted: So, they had a great time, even without the big breakthrough, auch ohne den großen Durchbruch. They played a lot of concerts, and they even released a mini-album. The three formed a lasting friendship, and they can look back on their songs as a reminder of their time together. But, even though Jeneez didn’t make it big, all three women are successful today. Ninjah is still a singer, and just became a mother. Roxy works as a business strategist for a software company. And AnaRey? She’s a journalist for ZDF, or Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, a big public television broadcaster. She’s working on her first documentary series at the moment. And what's it about? Their story, the story of Jeneez. So the dream lives on after all, also lebt der Traum doch noch weiter. And, as AnaRey hints, maybe they’ll even make it back into the studio sometime soon.

Well, that’s all she wrote, listeners! Hope you enjoyed the episode, and of course, if you’re interested, go check out some songs by Jeneez! As usual, here’s your language tip for the day. There were a lot of adjectives, or words that describe nouns, in today’s episode. In English, adjectives are super easy, as they really only have one form. In German, it’s a much different story. Adjectives have to “agree” with the noun, in gender, case, and number. And how do we make them “agree”? By adding different adjective endings! Let’s take a look at an example from the story: Es gab einen großen Teppich, There was a big rug. Here we have a masculine noun, Teppich, in the accusative case. And since it’s preceded by the indefinite article “einen”, we add “-en” to the end of the adjective, groß! Confused? Don’t worry, this is a part of German I still struggle with myself, but the more you practice, the easier it gets! If you want some more help, you can always find an adjective declension chart online, or check out our courses in the Babbel app!

And finally, we’d love to hear what you think of the podcast. Just write an email to podcasting@babbel.com, or leave a review in your podcast app. Thanks for listening, and see you for the next episode of Speaking of Berlin.