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Scene from »Almost Fly«: Ben (Andrew Porfitz) and Walter (Samuel Benito) during their performance at the California
Photo Credit: Gordon Timpen / Gordon Timpen / Warner TV Series
The Stories:
The Almost Fly
Series
(translated: »Almost or almost cool«) tells the story of three outsiders in the fictional town of Eichwald, somewhere in the 1990s in western Germany.
Black breakbeats and graffiti are just as exotic here as the first GDR citizens who come looking for a job after the fall of the Wall.
Walter (Samuel Benito), Ben (Andrew Porfitz) and Nik (Simon Fabian) grow up here, three 17-year-old, nerdy high school students.
For example, Nik doesn't have a good run with the girls, but he can build a mixing board out of Lego.
When a Cadillac with black GIs from the nearby US base turns the corner, a beat pounding out of the speakers and a subsequent party change their lives.
From now on they only want one thing: rap.
But how do you actually get a damn beat in Eichfeld?
And there are more problems: their English is too mangy.
The
»Hype«
series , on the other hand, shows contemporary rap in the big city.
The Absolute Beginners wanted to put Hamburg back on the map in 2016.
The creators of »Hype« are trying Cologne-Porz.
To be more precise, with the district of Finkenberg, which belongs to Cologne-Porz.
The series tells a contemporary story about young adults in a so-called socially deprived area.
The main character is Musa (Soufiane El Mesaudi).
He had previously struggled through with temporary jobs.
When his boss refuses him the promised permanent contract, he has had enough.
He drops, starts rapping again and goes in search of his hype.
The influencer Naila (Nora Henes) has already received it.
Naila also comes from Porz, but has now made it to the other side of the Rhine.
In a retrospective, the story of »Almost Fly« illuminates the time of Walkmans and mixtapes, i.e. the time long before hip-hop was mainstream.
"Hype" the present.
What both series have in common: It's about young people who dream of more than Eichwald or Cologne-Porz have to offer.
And people with dreams are always worth telling.
the makers
Behind
»Almost Fly«
is the production team around Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann, who have already proven what they can do in the series business with »4 Blocks« and »Para – Wir sind King«.
Florian Gaag, who was already responsible for a documentary about the graffiti scene with »Wholetrain«, which received a Grimme Prize, is directing and writing the script.
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Behind
"Hype"
is the married couple Esra and Patrick Phul, who founded their own production company two years ago - but are still quite newcomers in the film business.
»Hype« is her first fiction project.
Patrick Phul used to make music himself for a long time and rapped in the hip-hop formation Deadline Porz.
Her video »Immigranten Muzik« has now had over 1.3 million views.
It seems Patrick Phul understands hype, Esra Phul does too.
She previously worked as a media consultant and, among other things, did the artist management of influencers.
Patrick Phul himself grew up in Cologne-Porz, Esra Phul in Rösrath.
What works well, what doesn't?
"Hype"
is sold as the "first German rap musical series", which is initially irritating.
Because what does rap music have to do with »The Lion King«?
In fact, the hybrid form of singing, dancing and acting scenes works surprisingly well.
The transitions are organic, and the artist's sense of timing is impressive.
The rap parts are often sung and danced monologues that reflect what has gone before - and add a touching meta-level to the scenes.
The beats are great too, which is probably due to the fact that they were produced by Frio, who also works for and with Shirin David, among others.
The directors Esra and Patrick Phul from "Hype" cast the series primarily with amateur actors in order to create greater authenticity.
That's actually a good idea, too, and it worked brilliantly with films like »City of God«, for example.
Unfortunately, when you watch »Hype« in the acted parts, you often get the impression that the actors are acting the way they think actors should be acting.
And because of that, they sometimes lose their own magic.
In addition, the conflict »Stay or go in Cologne-Porz-Finkenberg« is somewhat over-told.
In general, it's great to tell a different part of the city than Berlin-Mitte - and from the perspective of those who grew up there.
In the end, however, the viewer unfortunately gets the impression that not many other facets have been added to the place beyond the cliché (high-rise buildings, drugs, poverty, hopelessness) even in »Hype«.
But maybe »Hype« is just about the last sentence rapped, which reads: »We share this pain, you are not alone.«
In
Almost Fly
one could criticize that sometimes the dialogue is not quite up to date (sometimes using terms that were definitely not in vogue in the nineties), but the biggest problem with Almost Fly is that the story is extremely slow gets going.
Unfortunately, the narrative style is so sluggish in places that it comes dangerously close to being boring.
But if you persevere, you will discover many beautiful things (e.g. love stories and family constellations that are tenderly told).
Plus, anyone who grew up in the '90s and spent their time doing battle raps in upstate youth clubs can find a piece of themselves.
One could say: »Hype« is faster and more innovative, but »Almost Fly« is deeper and has more value in terms of scenery and acting.
You also learn more about hip-hop than from »Hype«.
But both productions have their justification.
It remains to be hoped that – unlike the Netflix production “Skylines” for example – they will get beyond a first season.
»Almost Fly«: six episodes, since May 2nd on Warner TV series (streaming via Sky and Magenta TV)
»Hype«: five episodes, since May 6 in the ARD media library and on the WDR Cosmo YouTube channel