Biography
Affiliated with the polarizing Aggro Berlin hardcore rap crew, B-Tight rose from hardship to rank among Germany's most notorious MCs, earning renown and sales through blunt, street-level rhymes on sex, narcotics, wealth, ethnicity, and similarly charged themes. Born Robert Edward Davis on December 28, 1979, in Palm Springs, CA, B-Tight (also known as B!Tight, Der Neger, Bobby Dick) spent his formative years in Märkisches Viertel, a disadvantaged neighborhood within Berlin's Reinickendorf district. That area left a lasting mark on his sense of self. Conceived in the early 1960s by GeSoBau (Gesellschaft für Sozialen Wohnungsbau) as a satellite community in a then-rural northern section of Berlin close to the Wall dividing West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic, Märkisches Viertel consists of massive, uniformly designed apartment towers built to alleviate urban social strains. Construction spanned roughly a decade (1963-1974), after which many blocks required renovation starting in the mid-1980s because of decay. B-Tight came of age there alongside Sido, his future Aggro Berlin associate.
In 1997 B-Tight and Sido launched the local rap crew Die Sekte. Their first recording as a pair surfaced when the underground hip-hop imprint Royal Bunker issued the cassette Wissen Flow Talent (1998) under the name Royal TS ("Royal" referencing the label, "TS" the pair's initials). Additional underground projects appeared, among them Sintflows (Die Sekte, 1999), Back in Dissniss (Royal TS, 2000), and B-Tight Seine Album (solo, 2000), before the duo helped establish the independent label Aggro Berlin. Its debut offering was Alles Ist die Sekte (2001), a CD-EP by A.i.d.S. (the provocative acronym for Alles Ist die Sekte, the rebranded Die Sekte), followed by the 12" single "Das Mic und Ich" (2001), likewise credited to A.i.d.S. After one more Royal TS project and a label introductory sampler, Aggro Berlin released Der Neger (In Mir) (2002), B-Tight's CD-EP whose cover depicted him in blackface with a gun pressed to his head while confronting his mixed heritage. In following years B-Tight appeared frequently on the Aggro Ansage series of label compilations, featuring on nearly every Aggro Berlin title, including the commercially successful full-lengths Maske (2004) by Sido and Neue Deutsche Welle (2005) by Fler. Beyond a shared billing with Tony D on the Heisse Ware (2005) mixtape, his next solo outing arrived with X-Tasy (2006), another CD-EP.
As Aggro Berlin's profile rose, the collective attracted growing scrutiny. Sido became the first member to break into the mainstream when Maske reached the Top Three in 2004, driven by the Top 20 singles "Mein Block" and "Fuffies im Club." One track from that album, "Arschficksong," provoked intervention from the BPJM (Bundesprüfstelle für Jugendgefährdende Medien), which only amplified its media exposure, while B-Tight encountered parallel trouble with "Neger Bums Mich!" from the Aggro Ansage, Vol. 3 (2004) sampler; the track was excised from the album's 2006 reissue. Undeterred by BPJM cautions, B-Tight kept employing the N-word, a stance reflected in the title of his 2007 album Neger Neger, a Top Ten hit whose single "Ich Bins" became his first official chart entry and incorporates samples from K7's 1993 club staple "Come Baby Come."
In 1997 B-Tight and Sido launched the local rap crew Die Sekte. Their first recording as a pair surfaced when the underground hip-hop imprint Royal Bunker issued the cassette Wissen Flow Talent (1998) under the name Royal TS ("Royal" referencing the label, "TS" the pair's initials). Additional underground projects appeared, among them Sintflows (Die Sekte, 1999), Back in Dissniss (Royal TS, 2000), and B-Tight Seine Album (solo, 2000), before the duo helped establish the independent label Aggro Berlin. Its debut offering was Alles Ist die Sekte (2001), a CD-EP by A.i.d.S. (the provocative acronym for Alles Ist die Sekte, the rebranded Die Sekte), followed by the 12" single "Das Mic und Ich" (2001), likewise credited to A.i.d.S. After one more Royal TS project and a label introductory sampler, Aggro Berlin released Der Neger (In Mir) (2002), B-Tight's CD-EP whose cover depicted him in blackface with a gun pressed to his head while confronting his mixed heritage. In following years B-Tight appeared frequently on the Aggro Ansage series of label compilations, featuring on nearly every Aggro Berlin title, including the commercially successful full-lengths Maske (2004) by Sido and Neue Deutsche Welle (2005) by Fler. Beyond a shared billing with Tony D on the Heisse Ware (2005) mixtape, his next solo outing arrived with X-Tasy (2006), another CD-EP.
As Aggro Berlin's profile rose, the collective attracted growing scrutiny. Sido became the first member to break into the mainstream when Maske reached the Top Three in 2004, driven by the Top 20 singles "Mein Block" and "Fuffies im Club." One track from that album, "Arschficksong," provoked intervention from the BPJM (Bundesprüfstelle für Jugendgefährdende Medien), which only amplified its media exposure, while B-Tight encountered parallel trouble with "Neger Bums Mich!" from the Aggro Ansage, Vol. 3 (2004) sampler; the track was excised from the album's 2006 reissue. Undeterred by BPJM cautions, B-Tight kept employing the N-word, a stance reflected in the title of his 2007 album Neger Neger, a Top Ten hit whose single "Ich Bins" became his first official chart entry and incorporates samples from K7's 1993 club staple "Come Baby Come."
Albums
Goldständer (Premium Version)
2014
Ghetto Romantik X
2007
Der Coolste
2007
Neger, Neger X (Premium Edition)
2007
X-tasy EP X
2006
Der Neger (In Mir)
2002
Singles
