# KitschKrieg
**KitschKrieg** is a Berlin-based German hip-hop production collective of producers Fizzle (Christoph Wilhelm Erkes) and Fiji Kris (Christian Meyerholz) and photographer and art director awhodat (Nicole Schettler), known for a sparse, minimalist sound that draws on dancehall, dub, trap, techno, and grime, and for a strictly black-and-white visual identity.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) • [2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) The group became one of the most influential production outfits in German rap in the late 2010s through its EPs and albums with the Chemnitz rapper Trettmann, the chart-topping single "Standard", and a series of producer albums that pair its beats with a rotating cast of German and international guests.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) • [3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Formation | Founded in 2014 in Berlin by awhodat, Fiji Kris, and Fizzle[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/) |
| Members | Fizzle (Christoph Wilhelm Erkes), Fiji Kris (Christian Meyerholz), awhodat (Nicole Schettler)[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) |
| Breakthrough | "Knöcheltief" with Trettmann featuring Gzuz (2017); the parent album #DIY stayed on the German album chart for more than a year[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) |
| Chart peak | "Standard" (with Trettmann, Gringo, Ufo361, and Gzuz) reached number one for two weeks; Best Producer and Best Song at the Hiphop.de Awards[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) |
| Own albums | KitschKrieg (2020), KITSCHKRIEG ZWEI (2026)[4](https://www.hitparade.ch/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Kitschkrieg) |
| Signature style | Minimalist, reduced production with melancholic minor-key melodies, plus a monochrome black-and-white visual concept run by awhodat[5](https://fm4.orf.at/story/kitschkrieg-100/melancholische-club-sounds-in-schwarz-weiss-kitschkrieg-sind-zurueck) |
| Recent hit | "Gut Genug" with Blumengarten and Shirin David went viral internationally and was submitted for three Grammy categories[6](https://www.musikexpress.de/kitschkrieg-comeback-interview-3212693/) |
## Origins in the German dancehall scene
The collective grew out of the German dancehall and reggae scene of the 2000s. Fiji Kris described it directly: "Formed from the sediments of the German dancehall scene, that's basically how KitschKrieg came to be."[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) Fizzle, born in 1979 in Krefeld near the Dutch border, worked as a dancehall DJ; Fiji Kris came from [Braunschweig](https://www.edgepedia.org/braunschweig) and performed with his project Symbiz using self-constructed controllers; awhodat, born in 1981 near the Czech border, came from the same party circuit in Cologne and elsewhere.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) Fizzle and Fiji Kris first met at the Brain Club in Braunschweig, a regular stop for German DJs, where Fiji was playing his own productions on a handcrafted controller box.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg)
The three started the DIY project KitschKrieg in 2014 with, as the Austrian broadcaster FM4 put it, little more than big ideas and a clear concept; six years later they ran their own label, SoulForce Records, and had accumulated a series of chart successes.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/) Most reference works describe the group as a trio of Fizzle, Fiji Kris, and awhodat; the gear database Equipboard instead lists Fizzle, Fiji Kris, and the late producer Alexis Troy as the members.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) • [7](https://equipboard.com/band/kitschkrieg)
## The Trettmann era and breakthrough
**Trettmann partnership.** Through the dancehall scene the producers met the singer Trettmann (Stefan Richter), a veteran of German reggae who had won the prizes his small scene offered but reached its limits.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) The group chose the bluesier, more serious side of his songwriting and built a new sound around it, pairing modern trap and R&B hybrids with his Saxon-accented delivery.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) A trilogy of KitschKrieg EPs with Trettmann beginning in 2016 marked a new chapter for the artist and put the production team on the map.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg)
The 2017 single "Knöcheltief", credited to Trettmann and KitschKrieg with a feature from the Hamburg rapper Gzuz, became the breakthrough, and its parent full-length #DIY stayed on the German album chart for more than a year.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) The follow-up single "Standard", gathering Trettmann, Gringo, Ufo361, and Gzuz on one track, spent two weeks at number one, and KitschKrieg received the Hiphop.de Awards for Best Producer and Best Song.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) KitschKrieg produced and handled the marketing for Trettmann's 2019 album *Trettmann*, whose success FM4 called massive.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
## The 2020 self-titled album
After more than two years of recording, the collective released its own self-titled album *KitschKrieg* on SoulForce Records on 7 August 2020.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/) FM4 counted more than twenty featured guests and described the record as a portrait of the current German rap landscape, with the guest list spanning generations and styles: [Peter Fox](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-fox), Nena, Trettmann, Gzuz, Jamule, Miss Platnum, Marteria, Max Herre, Alli Neumann, RIN, Kool Savas, Modeselektor, Crack Ignaz, Jan Delay, and Bilderbuch's Mizzy Blue, among others.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
Two tracks from the album reached the top of the German singles chart: "Unterwegs" with the then-newcomer Jamule, which samples SEEED's "Aufstehen", and, earlier, "Standard".[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407) • [3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/) The pairing of [Nena](https://www.edgepedia.org/nena) with Trettmann on "Irgendwo" came about, according to awhodat, when Nena approached the group herself and asked to work with them.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
## International turn and the later albums
**Leaving Berlin.** After the 2020 album the group produced another record with Trettmann, *Insomnia* (2023), and during its production it was already clear that it would be their last together; the collaboration ended after roughly six years.[8](https://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2024-12/kitschkrieg-deutschrap-musik-produzent-hollywood-projekt/seite-2) Trettmann confirmed the split from his side in 2024, releasing music for the first time without the production team since 2018 and saying the shared story had been told out.[9](https://www.musikexpress.de/trettmann-im-interview-ich-muss-mich-nicht-mehr-mit-anderen-messen-2693815/) The producers themselves moved to the United States and worked from Los Angeles.[8](https://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2024-12/kitschkrieg-deutschrap-musik-produzent-hollywood-projekt/seite-2)
Two albums in this period carried the tongue-in-cheek title *German Engineering* while gathering British rappers and collaborators from around the world: *German Engineering 1* (2023) and *German Engineering Zwei* (2024), the latter presenting exclusively English-language guests.[8](https://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2024-12/kitschkrieg-deutschrap-musik-produzent-hollywood-projekt/seite-2) In 2025 came *London's Calling*, made with the British rapper and singer Dré Six.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407)
**KITSCHKRIEG ZWEI.** On 5 June 2026 the duo released *KITSCHKRIEG ZWEI*, its second own album and first German-language project in six years, with twelve seamlessly mixed songs and a cast built from a newer generation of German artists, including Blumengarten, Shirin David, Provinz, ENNIO, MilleniumKid, Domiziana, and Levin Liam.[10](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tHiL8SKSaZGMBUPIiSmX4) • [5](https://fm4.orf.at/story/kitschkrieg-100/melancholische-club-sounds-in-schwarz-weiss-kitschkrieg-sind-zurueck) The single "[Gut Genug](https://www.edgepedia.org/gut-genug)", with the indie duo Blumengarten and the rapper Shirin David, spread internationally on social media; the group submitted it for three Grammy categories and released further versions with Skepta and with [Omah Lay](https://www.edgepedia.org/omah-lay) and 255.[6](https://www.musikexpress.de/kitschkrieg-comeback-interview-3212693/) • [4](https://www.hitparade.ch/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Kitschkrieg) A planned joint tour with Blumengarten and 255, scheduled for August 2026 in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, and Munich, was postponed to the following year.[11](https://www1.wdr.de/radio/cosmo/musik/global-pop-news/global-pop-news-6254.amp)
## Sound and visual identity
KitschKrieg's production style is built on reduction. FM4 described melancholic minor-key chords and productions stripped to the minimum, constructed with meticulous attention to detail under the principle that less is more.[5](https://fm4.orf.at/story/kitschkrieg-100/melancholische-club-sounds-in-schwarz-weiss-kitschkrieg-sind-zurueck) At a 2018 Red Bull Music Academy lecture the group deconstructed their song "Grauer Beton" and dug into the intricacies of the [Roland TR-808](https://www.edgepedia.org/roland-tr-808) cowbell, an example of how a few recognizable elements carry their sound.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) Fiji Kris framed the method as reducing things to their essence and holding a magnifying glass over the right point.[3](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
The visual side is as consistent as the sound. Every element of the group's output, from press photos to music videos to interview appearances, follows a monochrome black-and-white aesthetic that awhodat, the third member, has been responsible for throughout.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg) • [5](https://fm4.orf.at/story/kitschkrieg-100/melancholische-club-sounds-in-schwarz-weiss-kitschkrieg-sind-zurueck) The taz newspaper noted that everything in the group's world appears handmade, with the art direction reinforcing a deliberately engineered, factory-precise image that plays on the "Made in Germany" label as a meme rather than a claim.[12](https://taz.de/Album-KitschKrieg-Zwei-Die-Praezision-und-Kraft-des-Flows-als-kuenstlerisches-Prinzip/!6189595/) In the studio the producers work in a relay rather than always together, passing sessions back and forth so that each can judge the result with fresh ears.[2](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg)
## References
1. [KitschKrieg – Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kitschkrieg-mn0003552407)
2. [KitschKrieg, Red Bull Music Academy Berlin 2018 lecture and transcript](https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/kitschkrieg)
3. [Das KitschKrieg Album ist ein Abbild der aktuellen Deutschraplandschaft, FM4/ORF](https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3005967/)
4. [Discographie Kitschkrieg, hitparade.ch](https://www.hitparade.ch/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Kitschkrieg)
5. [Melancholische Club-Sounds in Schwarz-Weiß: KitschKrieg sind zurück, FM4/ORF](https://fm4.orf.at/story/kitschkrieg-100/melancholische-club-sounds-in-schwarz-weiss-kitschkrieg-sind-zurueck)
6. [Nie weg gewesen: KitschKrieg im Interview, Musikexpress](https://www.musikexpress.de/kitschkrieg-comeback-interview-3212693/)
7. [Kitschkrieg Members, Gear & Sound, Equipboard](https://equipboard.com/band/kitschkrieg)
8. [Kitschkrieg: "Wer bist du denn?", DIE ZEIT](https://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2024-12/kitschkrieg-deutschrap-musik-produzent-hollywood-projekt/seite-2)
9. [Trettmann im Interview: "Ich muss mich nicht mehr mit anderen messen", Musikexpress](https://www.musikexpress.de/trettmann-im-interview-ich-muss-mich-nicht-mehr-mit-anderen-messen-2693815/)
10. [KITSCHKRIEG on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tHiL8SKSaZGMBUPIiSmX4)
11. [Global Pop News: Kitschkrieg, Blumengarten und 255 mit Tour-Absage, WDR COSMO](https://www1.wdr.de/radio/cosmo/musik/global-pop-news/global-pop-news-6254.amp)
12. [Album "KitschKrieg Zwei": Sie sind pünktlich, taz](https://taz.de/Album-KitschKrieg-Zwei-Die-Praezision-und-Kraft-des-Flows-als-kuenstlerisches-Prinzip/!6189595/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Musical duos, supergroups, and collaborative projects › Hip-hop and R&B duos*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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