Netflix documentary “Babo – The Arrest Warrant Story”: Collapse of a king

Portraits of musicians are often only fleeting sketches, but sometimes they glow like expressionist paintings, revealing the artist's soul. For example, in the Netflix documentary "Babo – The Haftbefehl Story," rapper Haftbefehl offers a glimpse into his innermost being. "You never once said, 'You're not allowed to show that,'" marvels one of the directors off-screen at the end. "So, lie?" asks Aykut Anhan, Haftbefehl's real name. He doesn't want to lie.

Excesses run throughout the history of pop music. Anhan allows images of himself falling to be taken. "If my nose bleeds, tell me," he asks his entourage before his 2024 birthday concert at Frankfurt's Jahrhunderthalle. "I don't notice it." The Süddeutsche Zeitung saw the "pitch-black, soul-enveloping darkness that so vehemently sets him apart from his colleagues," but also called Haftbefehl "important for this country."

Those who aren't that into German rap might have heard Haftbefehl's song "Chabos wissen, wer der Babo ist," which made the Offenbach native famous in 2012. The word "Babo" (for boss, chief) was voted "Youth Word of the Year 2013" the very following year. And soon, the son of Turkish parents became the most important social rapper in the country. Street grammar and Babo slang – a wild, powerful language. Singing from experience and experience.

Misogyny is evident in Haftbefehl's lyrics. His 2015 album "Blockplatin" was classified as "harmful to young people" in 2015. His 2022 album "Das Schwarze Album," produced by Grimme Award winner Benjamin Bazzazian, is considered a masterpiece of German-language rap. "In terms of rap, the king is untouchable," says his colleague Jan Delay, formerly of the Hamburg German rappers (Absolute) Beginner, in the film. "I have the aura," Haftbefehl raps in "Haft betritt den Raum."

The image casts a shadow over life: "I love Aykut," says his wife Nina through tears, "but not the arrest warrant." And in five minutes of a fast-paced prologue, everything is touched upon: childhood in the high-rise district of Mainpark, family vacations on the beach, the intensity of being an entertainer from the very beginning. "Legend is what you call the dead," he shouts on stage. "I'm still alive."

And then he almost dies. A cocaine overdose. "One gram left, one gram right, every 20 minutes. The bag was empty," he tells the camera.

The Haftbefehl rhyme art is not questioned by filmmakers Juan Moreno (who uncovered the Relotius affair at Der Spiegel) and Sinan Sevinç (a recipient of the Young Director Award at Cannes). Neither lines criticized as anti-Semitic (which Anhan followed with a statement of respect for all religions and cultures) nor the depictions of crime and violence are discussed. The film, with which actor and Haftbefehl fan Elyas M'Barek ("Fack ju, Göhte!") makes his debut as a producer, is not a moralizing German studies lesson.

But it's still a lesson. Haftbefehl's energy on stage (he gave himself the stage name after an arrest warrant for drug trafficking was issued for him in 2006) resonates with the audience. "He was an entertainer even as a child," recalls his older brother Aytac.

But he was also addicted as a child. Aykut Anhan admits in the film (and in the song "Offen/Geschlossen") that he's been using cocaine since he was 13. And he was already traumatized as a teenager. The 14-year-old once saved his father, a gambler, his life, but was too late the next time.

"Hafti," as his fans call him, is a system breaker. He shows up for sessions whenever he pleases. Concert promoters complain that they never know if or when he'll show up. Anyone who collaborates with him does so at their own risk. But what emerges is worth the risk.

Until the king staggers on stage at the Mannheim club "Hafen 49" in August 2022, and the concert has to be cut short after a minute. The drugs become visible to all. And it's no longer clear that when Haftbefehl leaves the stage, it's Aykut who arrives home with his wife and children.

At the end of this film, in which Hafti also explains his situation to his fans, known as Azzlacks, the word "Babo" is once again displayed in large letters on the screen, and below it its original meaning: "father." This is a reference to what he himself says is most important to him besides music: family.

Can he save her? His career? He continues to sing about drugs, but also warns against them, warns against himself as a role model. At the end of August, the Darmstadt public prosecutor's office filed charges against him for a hit-and-run in January 2024. The film doesn't have a truly happy ending.

But it shows a man who says of himself, “I was already dead.” And is alive.

And when he sings Reinhard Mey's "In meinen Garten" (In my garden), his eyes shaded by his hood, he seems to be singing about himself: "In my garden / the delphinium bloomed blue, among the weeds in my garden, / in the rubble in my garden / where the other flowers wither..."

“Babo – The Arrest Warrant Story, film, 92 minutes, directed by Juan Moreno and Sinan Sevinç, with Aykut Anhan, Nina Anhan, Cem Anhan, Aytac Anhan, Jan Delay, Marteria, Niko Backspin, Peter Fox (from October 28th on Netflix)