Massive Töne / Massive Tone

German hip-hop group Massive Töne began in the early '90s, when friends Schowi (Jean-Christoph Ritter) and Ju (João dos Santos), inspired by artists like the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and the Ultramagnetic MC's, decided to start rapping themselves. Soon Wasi (Wasi Ntuanoglu) and DJ 5ter Ton (Alexander Scheffel) joined, and Massive Töne began performing around their home base of Stuttgart, working on perfecting their blend of socially aware and party-oriented beats and rhymes. After releasing Dichter in Stuttgart in 1995 and Kopfnicker in 1996, Massive Töne were signed to Warner affiliate East West Records, which issued Überfall, the crew's most successful album, in 1999. Just a year later, however, Wasi left Massive Töne, and it wasn't until 2002 that the group, now a trio, returned with its next full-length, MT3. Three years later, Zurück in die Zukunft came out.