- Curse (rapper)
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Curse Birth name Michael Sebastian Kurth Born Minden, Germany Genres Hip Hop, Occupations German Hip Hop Artist Labels Four Music Associated acts Samy Deluxe, Azad, Kool Savas, RZA Website http://www.curse.de/gangstarap/index.php Michael Kurth (born, 6 September 1978), better known as Curse, is a former hip hop artist from Minden, Germany.
Contents
Biography
Curse has had a long musical past. In his youth, he played songs like "Zwei Mal In Den Kopf" ("Twice into the head") in his former band Phat Kicks. In the 1990s, his band had gigs in the area of Stadthagen.
On his first album Feuerwasser (released in 2000), his lyrics have already been self-reflected and they have handled with things that had happened in his life, but also contained classical hip hop tracks such as representing- and battle-tracks. He especially raps about abortive relationships and admits mistakes to himself. For that reason, he is somewhat of an outsider in the hip hop scene. The beats on Feuerwasser and many other releases are often produced by Sascha Bühren aka Busy.
In 2001, his next album Von Innen Nach Außen (which literally means "From the Inside to the Outside") was released. On this album, Curse continued his style, and the lead single Lass uns doch Freunde sein ("Let us be friends") was distinguishing from current rap clichés, and, thus, gaining attention even outside the hip hop scene. The German hip hop magazine Juice rewarded this album with the title "Best National Album". This album has even been released in Japan. It reached the German Top-Ten Charts.
On his third album Innere Sicherheit ("Inner Security") his style changed in many aspects: While the beats on his previous albums were mainly produced electronically, the beats on this album are produced with a wide range of instruments: From sophisticated instrumentals with classical transverse flutes (Ich Versteh Dich) over the Crossoversong Schocktherapie to the very emotional Und Was Ist Jetzt?, a piano ballad, there is a broad musical array, which emphasizes and accompanies with the deep lyrics. Also, an increasing amount of political society-critical texts can be detected, whereas he is not ignoring his 'old' topics. In this frame also the single Widerstand has originated with the German Reggae-Artist Gentleman. Also, with the cooperation with upcoming talents he acquired renown. So, for instance, he afforded Italo Reno & Germany as soon as Stress und Trauma the opportunity to present themselves to a general public with guest appearances on his releases and not least by his artist platform Alles Real Records. Over the years he made many collaborations with various German and international artists, among others with Kool Savas, Xavier Naidoo, Max Herre (Freundeskreis), Samy Deluxe, J-Luv, Braz (4Lyn), Patrice, Black Thought (The Roots), Pete Rock and RZA.
On December 2, 2005 Curse released his fourth Album Sinnflut. The lead single Gangsta Rap entered the German charts on position 25. On Sinnflut Curse returns to his roots, as if the experimental album Innere Sicherheit had never exist. With deep and very private songs as Kein Weg zurück ("No way back") or Mein Leben ("My life") , or the representer tracks like Der Fluch ("The Curse") or "Broken Language Reloaded" with the Samy Deluxe Feature, which is a remake of the classic "Broken Language" from Smoothe Da Hustler Feat. Trigger Tha Gambler from 1995, the record has become homogeneous and multifaceted. Curse fulfilled himself a childhood dream with the features with Black Thought (of The Roots) and the producer legend Pete Rock. Latter has been persuaded to sing the hooks and shoutouts, which he did for Nas last. By the way, he names Nas as his big idol to which he is often compared as one of Germany's greatest lyricists.
Curse released his new album called "Freiheit" (Freedom) in 2008, the first single out of this album was a sample of Marius Müller-Westernhagen's song "Freiheit".
On October 5, 2010 the German rapper announced not to continue his rap career any more.
Discography
Albums
- 2000: Feuerwasser (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2001: Von Innen Nach Außen (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2003: Innere Sicherheit (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2005: Prestige: Taz. Greis. Claud. Curse (ARR Suisse)
- 2005: Sinnflut (ARR)
- 2006: Einblick Zurück (Best-Of Mixtape) (ARR)
- 2006: Sinnflut (Japanese Edition) (Bad News Records/Miclife Recordings)
- 2008: Freiheit (Alles Real Records)
Singles/EPs
- 1999: Doppeltes Risiko/Kreislauf (Vinyl) (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 1999: Sonnenwende/Erfolg (Vinyl) (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 1999: 99 Essenz EP (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2000: Wahre Liebe (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2000: Hassliebe (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2001: Lass Uns Doch Freunde Sein (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2001: Warum Nicht? (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2003: Hand Hoch (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2003: Widerstand (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2003: Und Was Ist Jetzt? (Jive Records) (BMG)
- 2005: Gangsta Rap (EP) (Subword) (BMG)
- 2006: Struggle (feat. Samir) (ARR)
- 2006: Rap (recorded in 2003) (ARR)
Miscellaneous
- 2001: Nichts Wird Mehr So Sein Wie Es War (on the occasion of the September 11, 2001 attacks)
- 2003: Vom Feinsten (Best of) (Bad News Records/Miclife Recordings)
- 2003: Feuer über Deutschland (Free Download EP) (ZIP/38 MB)
- 2003: Von Minden nach Aussen (DVD) (Subword) (BMG)
- 2005: S.I.N.N.F.L.U.T. / Endlich Wieder - MZEE.com Exclusive (Free Download Track) (MP3/3.44 MB)
- 2005: Wieder da (Free Download Track) (MP3/1.8 MB)
Awards
In 2002, his homepage curse.de was awarded with the VIVA-Comet in the category "best artist homepage".
Categories:- 1978 births
- Living people
- German rappers
- People from Minden
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