SPLASH Festival 2012 Shows That The Essence of Hip Hop Lives OverSeas

We’ve led up to this with a few previous posts on Hip Hop’s power, place and influence beyond the United States. Now get a look at the recently concluded SPLASH Fest in Germany that brought a number of Hip Hop’s heavy hitters to the masses along with tons of Local Euro talent. Check it out as International correspondent Franchesca Benzant delivers this review.

Green smoke filled the air from the stage while beats dropped from the dj booth. The crowds went wild and waved their hands up and down simultaneously, swaying to the beat as if they were worshipping the green masked MC. Marsimoto approached the stage with his high pitched, almost helium induced vocals and the crowd goes wild for his lyrical flow. Splash Festival in Ferropolis, Germany is where true hip hop heads link up to bask in of one of the largest three day Hip Hop festivals in Europe. We were set far into Germany’s countryside but the stage was embedded in what looked large heavy duty machinery residual of an abandoned factory. Every year Splash! gets bigger and better and this year’s lineup was no joke.

Nas, De la Soul and even Big Krit shared the dual staged show. The festival in Germany was like no other compared to the states. There was a true appreciation of real Hip Hop that resonated within the air of Ferropolis.

Almost every tent I passed by in the camp site blasted their favorites from the Purple Tape down to Reasonable Doubt. It was hard to imagine that not one day there was someone playing a Young Money track. The movement for real hip hop is strong and it felt like when hip hop was at it’s peak. De la Soul rocked the crowd like it was the early 90s again. What amazed me more was the response that they received from such a young German audience.

Even though the big players like Nas and De la Soul hit the stage with a phenomenal performance, European artists such as Marsimoto, Murkage and Max Herre rocked the crowd with their rap skills.

The states back home have nothing on Germany’s appreciation and love for Hip Hop culture. All throughout the camp site you can see graffiti being sprayed against the wall, mini rap battles taken place and breakers dancing their heart out. Coming out to Splash! restored my faith in the direction Hip Hop is taking.

Via Franchesca Benzant

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