Marteria

Born as Marten Laciny on December 4, 1982, in Rostock, East Germany, the rapper who performs as Marteria and Marsimoto spent his childhood and teenage years playing soccer, eventually joining the youth ranks of FC Hansa Rostock. Exposure to hip-hop acts such as Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. came through his older brother, leading Laciny to start rapping in 1995 with the formation of Warn Direct before he adopted the Marteria pseudonym in 1997. A move to New York in 1999 brought discovery by a model scout, after which he spent a year working for brands including Diesel, Hugo Boss, and Valentino and then returned to Rostock.

At age 18 he signed with Punchline/SPV and completed a debut album that went unreleased when the label went bankrupt. He joined Underdog Cru in 2001, performing live shows and joining a 2002 European tour that also featured England’s Mark B & Blade, the Delinquent Habits, and Germany’s Flowmarkt. In 2003 Laciny relocated to Berlin to study acting. His first proper solo album, Halloziehnation, appeared in 2006 under the Marsimoto alias—a pothead alter ego created after Laciny used an effects device to produce a high-pitched voice reminiscent of American rapper Quasimoto’s—produced by Dead Rabbit and issued on Magnum12. The same label released his first official Marteria album, Base Ventura, in 2007, the year he served as support act for Jan Delay.

He signed with Four Music in 2008 and issued the second Marsimoto album, Zu Zweit Allein, which became his first German chart entry at number 84. The 2010 Marteria album Zum Glück in die Zukunft featured guest appearances by Peter Fox, Jan Delay, and Miss Platnum, was produced by die Krauts (who had previously overseen Peter Fox’s best-selling album Stadtaffe), and reached number seven on the German album charts. Its 2014 sequel, Zum Glück in die Zukunft II, topped the German charts at number one and remained on the listings for most of the year.