03 Apr German Rap: What Marteria Says About the Future of

▶ 5:48 Reading Time

15,000 people on Warnemünde Beach. No tickets, no pre-sale – just an Instagram post one day prior. When Marteria played his surprise concert right by the lighthouse in August 2025 and announced the third installment of his cult album series, it became clear: Marten Laciny hasn’t lost a step. “Zum Glück in die Zukunft III” is more than an album. It’s the return of an idea that reshaped German rap.

From Rostock to the Future: Who Is Marteria?

Marten Laciny, born December 4, 1982, in Rostock, boasts a biography no screenwriter would dare invent. As a child, he played football for eleven years with Hansa Rostock – and made it all the way to the U17 national team under Horst Hrubesch. At 16, he co-founded the “Underdog Cru” and started rapping. At 17, he was discovered as a model in New York and walked for Hugo Boss and Diesel. Then he chose music.

Rostock isn’t just his origin – it’s his identity. Groß Klein, Lichtenhagen, prefabricated housing estates, the Baltic Sea. Marteria never left Rostock, never denied it, never used it as mere backdrop. He’s entered in the city’s book of honor – and is an honorary member of Hansa Rostock. When he gives a free concert on Warnemünde’s beach, it’s not a marketing stunt. That is Marteria.

The Trilogy: From Gold to Platinum

“Zum Glück in die Zukunft” dropped on August 20, 2010 – and rewrote the rules. Back then, German rap was either gangsta or conscious; Marteria made pop-rap without apology. Tracks featuring Jan Delay and Peter Fox, productions that sounded like summer, lyrics oscillating between lightness and depth. The album debuted at #7 and went gold.

Then came “Lila Wolken” in 2012 – with Yasha and Miss Platnum – hitting #1 in the German charts and becoming the soundtrack of an entire summer. Its video has over 100 million YouTube views.

Part II arrived on January 31, 2014 – and marked his commercial breakthrough: #1 on the album charts, platinum certification with over 200,000 units sold. Singles like “OMG!” and “Kids (2 Finger an den Kopf)” went gold. Marteria was no longer Rostock’s best-kept secret – he was one of Germany’s biggest artists.

Then silence. A twelve-year gap between Part II and Part III. In the interim, Marteria released albums under his alter ego Marsimoto – a tribute to Madlib’s Quasimoto – and kept touring clubs and festivals. But the ZGIDZ series lay dormant. No hints, no teasers, no “coming soon.” Just silence.

In those twelve years, the German rap landscape transformed entirely. Capital Bra and Apache 207 dominated the streaming era. German rap became the country’s biggest genre. Cloud rap arrived – and faded. Drill was imported. The question wasn’t whether Marteria remained relevant – but whether the kind of rap he makes still had space. ZGIDZ III is his answer.

ZGIDZ III: What We Know So Far

11 tracks, produced by The Krauts, released through his own label MARMUSIC under exclusive license from BMG Rights Management. Four titles are confirmed via Apple Music: “L.I.E.B.”, “Sad Holiday (Schwarzer Sand)”, “Babylonia”, and “MEINS!”.

The three pre-released singles point toward the album’s direction: “Babylonia” (released September 5, 2025) is the atmospheric opener; “L.I.E.B.” (October 17, 2025) the most personal track; “MEINS!” (December 5, 2025) the declaration. In interviews, Marteria has described the album as “indirectly political and deeply personal.”

He officially retired his alter ego Marsimoto in December 2024. ZGIDZ III is thus not just a new album – it’s a deliberate choice to close what began fifteen years ago, under his own name.

What “indirectly political” means for Marteria becomes clear from his biography: a child of post-reunification Rostock-Lichtenhagen, raised amid concrete housing blocks and the Baltic Sea, who forged his path through football, modeling, and rap. “Babylonia” tackles themes larger than individual moods – but Marteria never preaches. He tells stories. That’s what set him apart from the German rap pack in 2010 – and it will work again in 2026.

Warnemünde: 15,000 for a Secret Concert

On August 28, 2025, Marteria staged a free surprise concert on Warnemünde’s beach – right beside the lighthouse. Announced only one day earlier via Instagram, with a video showing him hand-distributing flyers across Rostock. He expected “maybe 50 people.” Between 15,000 and 20,000 fans showed up.

That concert was the moment ZGIDZ III became real. Marteria performed to mark the 15th anniversary of the first album, announced the new record, and debuted “Babylonia” live for the first time. The images went viral. Rostock. Beach. Sunset. Fifteen thousand people – that’s the stuff music history is made of.

The stunt fits an artist who does marketing his own way. No TikTok challenge, no influencer collab, no algorithm optimization. Instead: hand-written flyers, a beach, and hope for fifty attendees. That it drew fifteen thousand says more about Marteria’s bond with his fans than any streaming stat ever could. In an era where album drops are engineered like product launches, this was a refreshingly analog gesture – and it worked: “Babylonia” dropped a week later and became a summer hit.

Tour and Festivals 2026

The “Zum Glück in die Zukunft Tour 2026” includes at least 13 concerts, kicking off August 14, 2026, at Rostock’s IGA Park. Highlights:

Rock am Ring (June 5-7, 2026) – the festival sold out 90,000 tickets, a record. Marteria shares the lineup with Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, and Architects.

Max-Schmeling-Halle Berlin (October 16, 2026) – the tour’s largest venue. Festhalle Frankfurt (October 30, 2026) – plus confirmed dates in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, and Leipzig. Tickets start at €54.90 via Eventim; pre-sale launched in September 2025.

What makes this tour special: It’s the first under the ZGIDZ banner in over a decade. The setlist will likely span all three albums – from “Verstrahlt” and “OMG!” to the new singles. For anyone wanting to experience an artist’s evolution across fifteen years in a single evening, this is the chance.

The venue choices signal ambition: Max-Schmeling-Halle Berlin holds 12,000; Festhalle Frankfurt seats 13,500. These aren’t club shows anymore. Marteria is playing in the big leagues – and the Warnemünde concert proved demand is there. Fifteen thousand for an unannounced, free show speaks volumes.

Alec Chizhik
Editor ››

Read on

Bruno Mars: The Romantic and the Return of Slow Jams →
iHeartRadio Awards 2026: Swift, Miley, and a Historic Night →
Open-Ear Earbuds: Bose, Nothing, Shokz Face Off →
Bayern vs. Real Madrid: What the Champions League Clash Reveals About Fitness IBS →

IBS Publishing is a publishing brand of evernine media

Header Image Source: Pexels / Bence Szemerey (px:7192878)