Sabrina Setlur

Sabrina Setlur, born on January 10, 1974 in Frankfurt am Main, is a German rapper. rapper and actress. Her musical breakthrough came in 1995 with the single Ja klar and her debut album S is ready. With You don’t love me she was the first female rapper to land a number one hit in the German singles charts. Further successes followed, including albums such as Die neue S-Klasse and Aus der Sicht and with the words of …. Setlur has also appeared as an actress, including in the films Anatomie and Verpiss dich, Schneewittchen as well as in TV shows such as Popstars and Let’s Dance. She has sold more than two million records.

Life and musical career of Sabrina Setlur

Setlur was born in Frankfurt as the daughter of Indian immigrants and grew up in Bad Soden and Schwalbach am Taunus. During her school days at Frankfurt’s Liebigschule, she met Thomas Hofmann, co-founder of the label Pelham Power Productions (3P). In 1993, she impressed him with a spontaneous performance of Dr. Dres Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang. She then took part in the Rödelheim Hartreim project and later dropped out of her business studies to sign a record deal with 3P.

In 1995, she started out under the stage name “Schwester S.” with the double A-single Hier kommt die Schwester/Pass auf, produced by Moses Pelham. Her breakthrough came with Ja klar, followed by her debut album S ist soweit, which reached number 11 in the German album charts. In 1996, she won the Echo Pop as “Artist National” and hosted her own hip-hop program on hr3.

In 1997, Die neue S-Klasse was released, this time under her real name. The album reached number 10 and sold over 300,000 copies. The single Du liebst mich nicht became a number one hit, making Setlur the first female rapper to receive this title. This was followed by the S-Class tour, appearances with Michael Jackson and the Fugees as well as a performance at Rock am Ring. The album delivered further hits with songs such as “Glaubst Du mir?”, ” Nur mir” and ” Folge dem Stern “. In 1998, she was voted the most erotic woman of the year by Bild readers. In 1999 she worked with Faithless(Bring My Family Back) and Xavier Naidoo(Freisein) together. There was a copyright dispute with Kraftwerk over the song Nur mir.

Her third album Aus der Sicht und mit den Worten von… (1999) reached number 3 in the charts and earned her her third Echo. With Alles she provided the title song for the movie Anatomie in 2000. Her Aus der Sicht und mit den Worten von… tour followed.

The album Sabs was released in 2003 and reached number 11 in the charts. Successful singles such as Ich bin so, Liebe, Baby and Mein Herz followed. She took part in the preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest and became a juror in the fourth season of Popstars. Her album Rot was released in 2007, but was not a great commercial success. The single Lauta was based on 25 Years by The Catch. In 2018, she contributed a song to the soundtrack of the film Verpiss dich, Schneewittchen together with Eko Fresh.

Sabrina Setlur’s acting and television career

In 2000, Setlur made her acting debut as a student in Anatomy. In 2001 she played in Frau2 sucht HappyEnd, in 2016 in The World of the Wunderlichs and in 2018 as a record executive in Fuck off, Snow White. On television, she was a judge on Popstars. In 2018 she took part in Global Gladiators with her. In 2020 she danced on Let’s Dance and was eliminated in the second round. In 2023, she reached the final of The traitors – trust no one. In 2024, she played a supporting role in Tatort: Siebte Etage.

Studio albums by Sabrina Setlur

• 1995 S is ready
• 1997 The new S-Class
• 1999 From the perspective and in the words of …
• 2003 Sabs
• 2007 Red