Frederik Hahn , better known by his stage nameTorch, is a German rapper. He is also known as DJ Haitian Star. He was among the first Germanrappers who began rapping in German in the mid-1980s in Heidelberg, laying the foundation for the success of German hip hop music. In 1985, Afrika Bambaataa named him king of the first German chapter of the Zulu Nation and also gave him the title: Overlord of Sound & Culture.
Career
In 1987, Torch founded the group Advanced Chemistry with Toni L, Linguist, Gee-One and DJ Mike MD. In 1992, the song Fremd im eigenen Land became the group's first hit. Primarily due to exposure on the cable television networkMTV, the song garnered attention outside of Germany's hip hop scene, which was still quite small at the time. In 2000 he rapped with KRS-One and MC Rene on DJ Tomekk's Single Return of Hip-Hop, which placed in the German charts for 9 weeks. In the joint video, the hip hop was brought to the hospital in an ambulance and revived by nurses. Torch's first solo-album was Blauer Samt, released in 2000. He worked with international artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Freestyle, Grandmaster Caz, Jurassic 5, KRS1, Melle Mel, Missing Linx, Whipper Whip & Virtuoso, Fréro-La Mixture. After his introduction to Bambaataa, Torch was given the task of heading up the very first German chapter of the Zulu nation as well as collaborating for the socially consciousGerman hip-hop concert, 'Rap against the Right'. Torch was chosen for these tasks because of his social consciousness as purveyed through his music and lyrics. Advanced Chemistry have expressed the desire to remain largely underground while other German hip hop groups have sought stardom, but a common view shared by these other groups and Torch is their view on "Americanness." Author Timothy Brown cites Torch as stating, "What the American do is exotic for us because we don't live like they do. What they do seems to be more interesting and newer. But not for me. For me it's more exciting to experience my fellow Germans in new contexts... For me it's interesting to see what the kids try to do that's different from what I know." He is also travelling the World as DJ Haitian Star where he has performed at the Battle of the Year, Jazz Festival Montreux, Hip Hop Kemp, Zulu Anniversary,... He shared the decks with DJs like: Z-Trip, David Rodigan, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, Tee, Supreme/Hijack, Defcut, Stylewarz, Marc Hype.
