Flo Rida

In the organizer's words:

From someone who came to stay: Rapper Flo Rida is far more than a one-hit wonder of the 2000s. Anyone who experiences him live today suddenly understands why his songs never completely disappear from the playlists - and why Flo Rida himself has become an archetype for the "feel-good rap" era. Now he is coming to Berlin and Düsseldorf for two exclusive concerts in October.

Flo Rida is the kind of artist whose music has become deeply inscribed in the collective soundtrack of several generations. With "Low", the 2007 party banger that conquered the top of the US charts together with T-Pain within a few weeks and set a record with over 470,000 downloads within a week, he made an early exclamation mark. It was the birth of a new style of pop rap: danceable, hedonistic, full of energy. Flo Rida finally became a global phenomenon with his 2009 hit "Right Round". But behind the polished façade of an international superstar is more than just a supplier for party playlists. Flo Rida is a businessman, label boss and philanthropist. With his "Big Dreams for Kids Foundation", he is committed to helping young people from difficult social backgrounds, founded football and athletics clubs, promotes talent and has built up an entrepreneurial empire as CEO of the International Music Group label. An artist who has understood and perfected the mechanisms of the music industry.

And then he stands on stage - and everything else becomes secondary. Because what remains of all these numbers, platinum records, brand ambassador deals and streaming successes when the music turns up and the artist stands in front of you in real life? When Flo Rida takes to the stage - flanked by dancers, hypemen and a light show that is more reminiscent of an EDM festival than a hip-hop concert - it is clear that this is not about depth, but about emotional, euphoric highs. Flo Rida sweeps his audience off their feet with a kind of exuberant self-confidence and an almost missionary desire to celebrate. "Welcome to my house", he sings, and it feels like an invitation to a parallel universe of confetti, autotune and collective ecstasy. His set is not a conventional concert, it is a medley from more than ten years of pop history - "Club Can't Handle Me", "Good Feeling", "Whistle", "Wild Ones". Every song is a hit, every chorus a sing-along moment. And although many of these songs are over a decade old, they don't seem a bit outdated live. On the contrary: in a time when pop culture has become so ephemeral, Flo Rida achieves the impossible - he makes his hits young again. Or perhaps it is his audience that is rejuvenated in the process.

Flo Rida does not present himself as an enraptured star, but as the host of an endless evening. When you see him live, you don't feel like you're at a concert, but at an oversized birthday party where the host happens to be a chart-topper with 100 million singles sold. When he takes to the stage, all the debates about authenticity, innovation and zeitgeist are forgotten for two hours. What remains is the feeling that music doesn't always have to be complex to be effective. Sometimes a beat, a chorus, a Flo Rida is enough. And that is - in the best sense of the word - quite a lot.