The hit rapper from Gilching

Created: 05/25/2022, 07:00

By: Hanna von Prittwitz

Schlager rap pioneer Ricardo Weininger aka Ricky Reason from Gilching shooting his video for "Hadn't I Met You".

The film was shot at Wörthsee.

© roman zrenner

The pioneer, almost inventor of the so-called hit rap, is called Ricky Reason and lives in Gilching.

His 1984 version of Opus' Live Is Life is on the radio these days.

Gilching

– Ricky Reason, whose real name is Ricardo Weininger, doesn't have much time this afternoon.

Because the 32-year-old leads two lives: as a pop rapper and as a trained electrician in his father's company, Weininger Elektro Service, in Gilching.

"It's sometimes difficult to reconcile," he openly admits.

Others might have thrown in the towel long ago, after many years of back and forth. "But I have good nerves." That sounds believable.

Ricardo Weininger does not play an instrument himself.

And until he was 16 he didn't have much to do with music.

Then, in 9th grade, his teacher told him about her son who was producing music.

"After that I bought some music software and started."

In 2008 he met Roman Zrenner, also from Gilching.

"I knew he played the guitar.

And I wanted to do something with a guitarist.

So I approached him.” Since then, the two have been on the road together – Weininger as a rapper and producer, Roman Zrenner – whose stage name is Rome Pathé – as a composer and also a producer.

Elmar Schäfer, business companion of actor Mark Keller, for example, acts in the background and is accordingly familiar with the scene.

"We meandered our way through a bit at first," says Weininger.

He played on stages in the district, performed at the Battle of Bands in Herrsching, in the old train station in Steinebach.

“But I wanted to be on the big stage.

And I asked myself: How do I do that?”.

Over the next few weeks and months, Weininger produced a remix version of Juliane Werding's song "On the day Conny Kramer died" and brought it to her personally.

He later produced a rap version of "Part of My Heart," a popular wedding song, with musician Jonathan Zelter.

"So we went on tour with that."

Weininger got around a lot, got to know many people and artists from the scene and was the support act for big acts like Pur and Nena.

“Then I suddenly got involved,” he says today.

Even if hit rap is still difficult.

"That didn't exist before.

And not every radio station allows rap.

Sometimes they're afraid for their listeners." During the pandemic, Weininger and Zrenner then produced their first album "Für Immer" with twelve songs.

And released the single "Hadn't I Met You" from it.

They shot the video for this in the Augustiner beer garden on Wörthsee.

"I also wanted to show that we come from here." The video was followed by applications for TV shows - and also the ZDF television garden, in which he finally stood on the stage.

What sounds so easy seems like hard work.

“The music scene is tough.

There are many haters.

And you take one step forward and three steps back,” says Weininger.

He is looking for his own, special path - "parallel to my job as an electrician".

Musically, the pandemic caused “the total dropout”.

"But we produced the album in that time - in four months." But business is simply easier through personal contacts.

“For example, I just went in at Radio Charivari.

They then also played my song. ”In the pandemic, actions like this are tedious.

"It was the most difficult thing on my way so far."

His family supports the 32-year-old.

"My mother is my biggest fan," says Weininger and laughs.

"And my sister and my father are also very supportive." Of course, he also listens to a lot of music himself, from pop to country to rap.

Rapper Samy Deluxe is his great role model, good language in rap is important to Weininger.

Incidentally, the stage name Ricky Reason is composed of his nickname Ricky.

"And Reason just sounded good."

With the pop rap version of the world hit "Live Is Life" it should now continue with the career.

“We received direct approval for this from Opus, which is not a matter of course.

And we applied again for the ZDF television garden.” His Live Is Life version is still in the running on Radio Gong.

It was only this week that Weininger's sister Nina called and wished her brother luck in a humorous phone call with moderator Mike Thiel.