Jan Delay (born Jan Phillip Eißfeldt) is a German singer, songwriter and producer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop, reggae, dub and funk. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as a member of the German bands Absolute Beginner and La Boom.Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 Solo records and reception 3 Eimsbush label 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Singles 5 External links
[edit] Biography
Delay was born on August 25, 1976 in Hamburg and attended the bilingual Helene-Lange-Gymnasium from 1986 to 1995. In the 1990s, he became known as one third of the pioneering German hip hop group Beginner. His artist name derives from a pun of Young Deenay, a pop music act in the 90s: the delay/echo is an important effect in reggae and dancehall music.
Jan Delay's most significant trademark is his somewhat nasal voice. He also frequently changes his artist name depending on his current music style, mood, and collaboration partners. Bald, he often wears a hat and sunglasses. He doesn't give in to stardom and rarely likes interviews and promotion dates.[citation needed] Consequently, he frequently denies requests from teenage magazines and programmes (openly pronounced in the track "Ich will nicht dass ihr meine Lieder singt"), although he has often agreed to talk with MTV and Juice, among others. [edit] Solo records and reception
Jan Delay has released three solo records. The first, "Searching For The Jan Soul Rebels" was recorded with former Eimsbush act "Sam Ragga Band" and produced by Eimsbush's Matthias Arfmann. It was highly acclaimed by critics and fans alike for taking up reggae and dub tunes and mixing them with Delay's well-known hip hop elements.[citation needed] [[still range from pure dancing tracks to sharp ironic takes on current political or social developments in Germany. In 2009 he released his third album named "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul" which reached the first Place of Germanys album charts. [edit] Eimsbush label
In 1997, Jan Delay founded his own record label Eimsbush together with partners from the Hamburg hip-hop scene. The label's main goal was to support and guide fresh underground talents and pave their way into the music business without having them "selling out" to the major labels.[citation needed] The label was initiated by the German hip hop scene while it was going through a boom phase in the mid and late 90s, which led to "every Horst [jerk] being allowed to rap if only he can hold up a mic" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007). As a result, real talent stepped back for fear of being seen as sellouts by the underground hip-hop scene.
The label was shut down in 2003 due to financial reasons and as a result of the "naive idea of just believing in talent offside the mainstream" (Jan Delay, MTV Germany, 2007). Former partners of Eimsbush later collaborated with Delay, founded their own labels, agencies, or signed with other labels. [edit] Discography [edit] Albums 2001 - Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels 2006 - Mercedes Dance 2007 - Searching - the Dubs 2007 - Mercedes Dance - Live 2009 - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul [edit] Singles 1999 - "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" — (cover version of Nena's song of the same name) ("Somehow, somewhere, sometime") 2001 - "Ich möchte nicht, dass ihr meine Lieder singt" ("I don't want you to sing my songs") 2001 - "Vergiftet" ("Poisoned") 2002 - "Die Welt steht still" (Sam Ragga Band featuring Jan Delay) ("The world stands still") 2006 - "Klar" ("Clear") 2006 - "Für immer und dich" ("Forever and for you") 2007 - "Feuer" ("Fire") 2007 - "Im Arsch" (featuring Udo Lindenberg) ("Buggered") 2007 - "Türlich, Türlich" (Of course, of course) / Word up 2008 - "Ganz anders" (featuring Udo Lindenberg) (Quite different) 2009 - "Oh Jonny" (Oh Jonny) 2009 - "Disko" (Disco)
