B-Tight: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Sido
• Spezializtz
• Bushido

• Tony D

• Die Sekte
• Royal TS

Genres:

Electronic & Dance Music, Rap & Hip-Hop Music, Gangsta and Hardcore Rap Music, International Rap Music

Decades Active:

2000's

Affiliated with the controversial Aggro Berlin hardcore rap collective, BTight arose from poverty to become one of Germany's most infamous rappers, attaining fame and commercial success via hardhitting streetwise raps about sex, drugs, riches, race, and other such provocative subjects. Born Robert Edward Davis on December 28, 1979, in Palm Springs, CA, BTight (aka BTight, Der Neger, Bobby Dick) grew up in Märkisches Viertel, a povertyridden locality in the borough of Reinickendorf in Berlin. Märkisches Viertel is notable for its influence upon BTight in terms of identity. Planned during the early '60s by GeSoBau (Gesellschaft für Sozialen Wohnungsbau, or in English, Association for Social Apartment Construction) as a satellite city in a rural section of northern Berlin, near the Wall seperating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Märkisches Viertel is defined by its enormous apartment highrises, which are uniform in design and were intended to remedy socialurban problems. It took approximately a decade (19631974) to construct Märkisches Viertel, and many of the highrises had to be refurbished beginning in the mid'80s due to deterioration. It was in this environment that BTight grew up, along with Sido, his Aggro Berlin comrade.

BTight and Sido formed a neighborhood rap collective, Die Sekte, in 1997. They made their recording debut as a duo, though, when the underground hiphop label Royal Bunker released the cassette Wissen Flow Talent (1998), credited to Royal TS ("Royal" for the name of the label, "TS" for the duo's initials). A few underground releases followed Sintflows (credited to Die Sekte, 1999), Back in Dissniss (Royal TS, 2000), BTight Seine Album (a solo album, 2000) before the formation of Aggro Berlin, a selfrun independent label. The first Aggro Berlin release was Alles Ist die Sekte (2001), a selftitled CDEP by A.i.d.S. (i.e., a provocative acronymn for Alles Ist die Sekte, formerly Die Sekte), followed by a 12" single for "Das Mic und Ich" (2001), also an A.i.d.S. release. After another Royal TS release and an introductory label sampler, Aggro Berlin issued Der Neger (In Mir) (2002), a CDEP by BTight; it addressed his mixed race, picturing him in blackface with a gun to his head on the cover. In the successive years, BTight made regular appearances on the Aggro Ansage series of label samples; in fact, he was featured on practically every Aggro Berlin album release, including popular fulllengths by Sido (Maske, 2004) and Fler (Neue Deutsche Welle, 2005). Besides a cobilling with Tony D on the Heisse Ware (2005) mixtape, BTight's next solo release wasn't until XTasy (2006), another CDEP.

As the Aggro Berlin collective grew in popularity, it began drawing criticism. Sido was the first Aggro Berlin rapper to reach mainstream status, when his album Maske became a Top Three smash success in 2004, popularized by "Mein Block" and "Fuffies im Club," both Top 20 hits. One of the singles from that album, "Arschficksong," drew the wrath of the BPJM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien, or in English, Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons), however and thereby garnered more media promotion than money could buy while BTight had a similar experience with his song "Neger Bums Mich" from the Aggro Ansage, Vol. 3 (2004) label sampler. The notorious song was pulled from the album upon its 2006 rerelease, in fact. Never one to skirt controversy, BTight continued to employ the Nword regardless of BPJM warnings. Hence the title of his 2007 album, Neger Neger, a Top Ten success. The album includes his first offically charting single, "Ich Bins," which boasts samples of K7's 1993 club favorite "Come Baby Come."

- Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide