SUMMER IN THE CITY 2025 - Gentleman

His career is unique: Gentleman has brought reggae in and out of Germany to the international stage. For 30 years, the Cologne musician has been making music history as the only European who celebrates global success as an authentic reggae musician. With the new studio album "Mad World," he manifests yet another milestone that takes him back to his musical roots while also pushing his life's work further forward.

Gentleman is a global fixture of the German music scene: He combines international recognition with local relevance for three decades now. He is the desired candidate for the chorus of the Beginner's comeback single, tours with the Fantastischen Vier, and shines in the TV show "Sing meinen Song" across two seasons into every German living room. He has been awarded multiple platinum and gold certifications and has appeared in the German Top 100 single charts more than twenty times. His own edition of "MTV Unplugged" alone proves his standing as an international superstar.

Since he added a certain touch to "Tabula Rasa pt. II" by Freundeskreis in 1998 with his chorus, making the song a cornerstone of the German hip-hop movement, Gentleman has been essential to the existence and growth of reggae in Germany. His authentic vibe and clear messages, wrapped in catchy melodies, have made him a standalone symbol for reggae vibes in Germany over the years. The albums "Trodin On" and "Journey to Jah" defined reggae sound around the turn of the millennium and gave a whole generation a voice. Already recognized in the scene at that time, Gentleman scored hits with "Dem Gone," "Superior," and "Intoxication" on beats from the most famous producers of international hits, making him an important part of the global reggae movement. His two subsequent albums "Confidence" and "Diversity" reached the number one position on the German album charts, officially crowning him a superstar at home. However, his success would not have been the same solely due to the seven studio albums if Gentleman also did not impress and captivate through his live performances: As a headliner at nearly every relevant festival in Europe, the USA, Central and South America, as well as Africa, he delights audiences and sustainably builds his fan community. His musical achievements in reggae were crowned for now by a very rare collaborative album with Bob Marley’s son, Ky-Mani Marley, in 2016.

“Reggae unites people,” Gentleman states when asked why he still believes in this music genre from the small Caribbean island of Jamaica. “There’s something fundamentally basic in reggae that every person understands immediately. Moreover, reggae and dancehall have so intensely influenced all pop music that many sound like them today. But this real, authentic vibe can only emerge if you feel the music on a spiritual level.” Thus, for him, a circle closes with the new album "Mad World," which is again sung entirely in English. “The songs in German were important and necessary and also defined me stronger as an artist,” Gentleman sees his work on the German-language album “Blaue Stunde” from 2020.

 With "Mad World," he picks up where his "Journey to Jah" once began and addresses a global audience again. “English speaks to people all over the world, and the message in my music and songs is also universal. Therefore, it was only logical for me to continue in English,” Tilmann explains about the return from his linguistic excursion.

“Mad World” as an album title describes the increasingly chaotic state of our society from the observer's perspective. Gentleman feels he cannot be neutral or unpolitical as an artist and musician but sees it as his duty to name problems and offer solutions. “Reggae has never lost its rebellious character; it’s part of its DNA to address uncomfortable things – while simultaneously providing the hope that they can be overcome.” Self-determination and confidence have always been the relevant core of reggae philosophy for him. That applied back in the early ‘90s when he, as a hip-hop fan, noticed that Jamaican dancehall acts had even more important and more provocative stories to tell and their MC styles were even more drastic and extreme than those of the already more successful and commercialized American rappers. And it still holds true today, as dancehall and afro beats pulse through the charts worldwide, and Gentleman redefines the message of his reggae for himself. He does not allow himself to be pigeonholed into the schemas of parties or fixed political beliefs but has always stood for his own philosophy of a better world for all.

The album “Mad World” emerged during a phase in Gentleman’s life when he fled from the fast and simultaneously superficial life of the big city and re-situated himself amid the inspiring landscape of Mallorca: Organic food, a self-sustainable lifestyle, less digital distraction, and more natural impressions now shape his daily life. This reduction in complexity is reflected in the songs: Solutions for an increasingly complicated world lie in simplicity. And in the belief that, in the end, good will triumph – whether on a large scale or in the small, personal realm. The songs are marked by an all-encompassing love that seeks to understand everything, even if it also recoils in horror at the world outside. Nevertheless, the light of hope always prevails in the end – perhaps a constant that runs through his Christian upbringing as a pastor’s son.

Musically, one can also sense the development and specialization: delicately arranged, modernly produced, and powerfully effective instrumentals convey his sound contemporarily sophisticated over the membranes. Thus, his reggae does not sound retro but rather like a new sound, fitting for the new era. Overall, “Mad World” feels like a remedy against that crazy world, like a musical therapy that takes you from a low to the next high.