Backspin

Backspin Magazine (Germany): The historical pillar of Hip-Hop press beyond the Rhine Launched in Hamburg on August 1st, 1994 by Frank Petering and Bodo Falk, Backspin is historically the oldest and one of the most important printed publications entirely dedicated to Hip-Hop culture in Germany. Originally designed to passionately cover the four traditional disciplines (Rap, DJing, Breakdancing and Graffiti), this magazine became an absolute institution of the European alternative scene. Standing out for its exceptional longevity with 105 issues published from 1994 to 2018, Backspin was the privileged witness to the explosion of German Hip-Hop, evolving from a raw black and white fanzine to a massive newsstand magazine entirely in color from 1998 onwards. While music occupied a central place in it, its graffiti and letter writing (stylewriting) section remained legendary for purists. It documented exhaustively the actions on trains and subways, street chromes and dedicated issues of international scope to sacred monsters of the movement (such as the special edition dedicated to the New York legend SEEN). It is an essential and precious heritage archive, sought after by all collectors to trace the golden age of German urban culture.