Backspin and Porsche celebrate five years of Back to Tape

12/04/2023

In a joint content series, music journalist Niko Backspin explores the roots of hip-hop culture together with Porsche. Five years after the first installment, the cooperation continues, with the release of Back to Tape 3 on 11 August.

On 12 April, 2018, more than 300 invited guests gathered at Stuttgart's Schräglage nightclub, including regional hip-hop celebrities such as Toni-L from Advanced Chemistry, Scotty76, and Duan Wasi from the Kolchose collective. On a big screen, the Back to Tape documentary was celebrating its world premiere. In it, music journalist Niko Backspin takes a Porsche Panamera on a road trip tracing the roots of German hip-hop, building up a picture through his visits to Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Heidelberg. Among those he interviewed for the film were Blumentopf, Samy Deluxe, Namika, Moses Pelham and Curse.

Samy Deluxe, rapper, Hamburg, 2018, Porsche AG

Namika, Back to Tape, Frankfurt, 2018, Porsche AG

Moses Pelham, Niko Hüls, Backspin, l-r, Back to Tape, Frankfurt, 2018, Porsche AG

Roger, Blumentopf, Niko Hüls, Backspin, l-r, 2017, Porsche AG

Michael Kurth, rapper, Berlin, 2018, Porsche AG

Two years later, the Hamburg hip-hop expert was back behind the wheel. This time cities elsewhere in Europe were calling. In Paris, Barcelona, London, Berlin and Copenhagen, Niko Backspin met artists such as Kool Savas, Lord Esperanza, Lars Pedersen, the Flying Steps, Josi Miller, Edson Sabajo and Falsalarma – musicians, painters, producers and dancers who have all contributed their own stories to the worldwide hip-hop movement and left a lasting mark on the urban youth culture that represents the genre in their respective home cities.

Kool Savas, Rapper, Niko Hüls, Roadtrip Back 2 Tape, Berlin, 2020, Porsche AG

Roadtrip Back 2 Tape, Berlin, 2020, Porsche AG

Lord Esperanza, rapper, Roadtrip Back 2 Tape, Paris, 2020, Porsche AG

Roadtrip Back 2 Tape, Paris, 2020, Porsche AG

Lars Pedersen, Niko Hüls, l-r, Cayenne S Coupé, Roadtrip Back2Tape, Copenhagen, 2020, Porsche AG

The breakdance group „Flying Steps”, l-r, Roadtrip Back2Tape, Berlin, 2020, Porsche AG

Josi Miller, DJ, Roadtrip Back 2 Tape, Berlin, 2020, Porsche AG

DJ and sneaker expert Edson Sabajo, Niko Hüls, l-r, Roadtrip Back2Tape, Amsterdam, 2020, Porsche AG

Rap crew Falsalarma, Roadtrip Back2Tape, Barcelona, 2020, Porsche AG

The 90-minute documentary Back 2 Tape was released in April 2020 on Porsche Newsroom as well as Backspin TV on YouTube. The content series has collected more than 20 international PR and communications awards and generated around one million organic views.

Cross-media content series: films, book, playlists and a podcast

In 2021, Backspin and Porsche published a 212-page cultural and travel guide about the road trips. It portrays 17 artists from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Spain and Denmark who have made a significant contribution to the unfolding of a value-based hip-hop culture over more than 25 years.

Lars Pedersen, Vartan Bassil, Die P, Curse, Moses Pelham and Niko Backspin, l-r, Taycan, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2022, Porsche AG

The Back to Tape series has also featured in Porsche's 9:11 podcast and at Hamburg's world famous Elbphilharmonie concert hall. A playlist on Spotify provides a soundtrack to the cultural documentary.

Value-based communication

“The hip-hop movement has always connected people beyond borders, languages and social backgrounds. These are all values with which we at Porsche identify wholeheartedly,” says Dr Sebastian Rudolph, Vice President Communications, Sustainability and Politics at Porsche AG.

“We want to invite people to encounter hip-hop culture and all its varieties openly and positively,” Niko Backspin adds. “For us the focus is not on concerts, new albums or hit singles, but on people and their stories: their past, how they see hip-hop, their value system.”

Fifty years of hip-hop: Back to Tape 3 to be released on 11 August 2023

Just in time for the anniversary of the joint project, Backspin and Porsche are now announcing the next step in their collaboration. Back to Tape 3 will be released on 11 August. This time, Niko Backspin travels to the US, the motherland of hip-hop culture. During his stops in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York, he again meets numerous newcomers and legends.

Niko Backspin, Back to Tape 3, New York, 2023, Porsche AG — Niko Backspin on the road in New York,

Niko Backspin, Back to Tape 3, Los Angeles, 2023, Porsche AG — Los Angeles

Back to Tape 3, Atlanta, 2023, Porsche AG — and Atlanta.

Fittingly, the documentary is being released in a double-anniversary year: in addition to 75 Years of Porsche Sports Cars, the hip-hop movement is celebrating a milestone. The date 11 August also marks 50 years since DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy organised an event in New York's Bronx called Back to School Jam, which is considered to be the place where it all began.

The artists participating in Back to Tape 3 will be announced by Backspin and Porsche in the coming months.