"Tatort" check These real rappers starred in the Viennese hip-hop crime thriller

Julian Weinberger

15.9.2024

Things haven't been as musical as in "Tatort: Deine Mutter" for a long time. Viennese investigators Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer) and Fellner (Adele Neuhauser) were looking for the murderer of a rap star. Over-60s detectives first have to get to know the scene. Authentic or "cringe"?

15.09.2024, 21:45

No time? blue News summarizes for you

Hip-hop vibes in the Viennese "Tatort": Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer) and Fellner (Adele Neuhauser) investigate the music scene in the first ARD crime thriller after the summer break.
They were looking for the murderer of a Viennese rap star.
Authenticity is key: not only was the corpse played by a real hip-hop star, but several other artists from the rap genre also appeared in front of the camera in the crime series.

"Tatort" goes hip-hop: The fact that the mature detectives Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer, 64) and Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser, 65) of all people had to investigate the Viennese hip-hop scene could have been embarrassing. As is so often the case when subculture presents itself on mainstream television. But "Tatort: Deine Mutter", the first ARD crime thriller after the XXL summer break, certainly had charm.

The numerous musical performances came across as authentic and also depicted various current styles of the genre. But which musicians were behind the roles? Which pieces could be heard? And did Harald Krassnitzer and Adele Neuhauser actually rap themselves, as was shown in a dream sequence by Bibi Fellner in "Tatort"?

What was it about?

The blond Viennese rap star Ted Candy (Aleksandar "Jugo" Simonovski) lay dead in a parking garage - in the immediate vicinity of his record label. It belonged to old rapper Akman 47 (Murat Seven), who had recently had a public "beef" with his protégé. Ted had wanted to leave Akman's label, which is managed by his heavily pregnant girlfriend Sarah (Salka Weber).

Gladly a "vicious murderess"Smoking prosecutor quits the Münster "crime scene"

Eisner and Fellner, who apparently knew little about hip-hop beforehand, took a crash course in youth and street culture as part of their investigation. Was the dispute between rappers really serious or just a PR and social media stunt? What are the rappers really trying to say between the lines? And why do misogyny and homophobia survive in this scene - just as if we were still in the 90s?

What was it really about?

Let's be honest: the criminal case was okay, but somehow not particularly relevant in this sparkling hip-hop "crime scene". That's apparently how screenwriters and rap fans Samuel Deisenberg and author Franziska Pflaum saw it. They say of their crime thriller: "It all began with our long-standing passion for hip-hop. This resulted in a wide range of characters who represent some facets of the hip-hop scene and are also relevant to the crime thriller plot."

According to the creators, this includes "all the themes associated with this culture, such as the image of women, homosexuality, drug abuse, stardom, rap as a mouthpiece and form of expression for the less privileged". Well-known and lesser-known rappers and director Mirjam Unger (54, "Tage, die es nicht gab") ensure that the scene in the film also looks and sounds good. Unger used to work as a music journalist herself and co-founded the cult indie youth station FM4 in 1995.

Which rappers were real - and which were fake?

One of the most artistically formative characters in "Crime Scene: Your Mother" was unusually the corpse - or rather its actor. Behind Ted Candy is the popular Austrian rapper Yugo or Jugo Ürdens (!). He not only wrote the most important song in the movie. Yugo also provided musical advice for the film and rap coaching for his adversary Akman 47, whose actor Murat Seven is not a rapper in real life.

Sido, rapper and superstyler"I used to dream of living in Zurich"

Harald Krassnitzer and Adele Neuhauser also had to rap for one of Bibi Fellner's dream sequences (seen in minute 17 of the film) - and were also coached by Yugo. Austria's probably best-known rapper KeKe (real name: Kiara Hollatko) as Dalia and up-and-coming German rapper Frayo 47 (real name: Francis Ayozieuwa) in the role of newcomer rapper Bashir didn't need any coaching.

Filming took place in the Viennese music club "Flex", located in the 1st district. The "Flex" is considered one of the nuclei of Viennese rap culture since the 90s, where concerts and parties still take place.

Which songs can be heard?

Omnipresent and a real earworm of this "crime scene" is of course the title "Ohne mich" by Ted Candy, actually recorded by his actor Aleksandar "Yugo" Simonovski. The track is available on Spotify and other music streaming services. However, there are other tracks that were created especially for the film: in particular "Shark" by Francis "Frayo 47" Ayozieuwa and Kiara "KeKe" Hollatko.

Then there is "Lad nach" by Akman 47, which the commissioners examine in the video study and about which Eisner says it is "strictly speaking a public death threat". The score and the tracks were created by the Viennese music producers Lamettas, who wanted to reflect the diversity of sounds in the current scene with the individual sounds of the four rappers Ted Candy, Akman 47, Bashir and Dalia.

How did the music video with Eisner and Fellner come about?

In Bibi Fellner's dream, it's like this: Ted Candy and his crew and the police with the detectives face each other on a wide bridge, like cops and robbers. Adele Neuhauser wears Ted Candy's costume and engages in a singing duel with the hip-hop star. Director Mirjam Unger was inspired by the classic music video "Sabotage" (1994) by the Beasty Boys, for which the musicians slipped into police uniforms.

Rapper Xen on being a dad"Want to show my kids that they can achieve anything"

The scene was shot at night in a "problem district" of Vienna - without prior notice. "When the music started," Harald Krassnitzer recalls of the shoot, "half the neighborhood was suddenly around us. The kids, some of them 15 or 16, were really feverish because we had invaded their space. First they said, hey, we can do that better, then they moved to the music and danced along."

What's next for the Viennese "Tatort"?

"Tatort: Deine Mutter" had the working title "Tatort: Hurenkind" for a long time. Sounds catchy, but it would have been quite a spoiler in terms of the crime plot. Good thing it was changed! What other Eisner and Fellner foxes does ORF now have in its "Tatort" quiver? The next episode, to be seen in 2025, was filmed in spring 2024 and is - so far - called "Tatort: Wir sind nicht zu fassen!" (written and directed by Rupert Henning).

It begins with a corpse on the edge of a demonstration in Vienna, where leaflets with the title "Wir sind nicht zu fassen" (We can't be caught) are lying around. Another case with the working title "Messer" was filmed in the summer of 2024. It is set in the surroundings of a Michelin-starred restaurant. Filming took place in the Viennese gourmet restaurant "Shiki", among others.