jesteś bogiem

God, the sanctification of whom is strived towards by the various major religions, is in fact man; this piece of wisdom infuses the history of humanity, from Buddha to Engels. In a country such as Poland however, which defines itself not only by means of its culture but also to a similar extent with reference to religious faith, to propagate such a thesis is tantamount to rebellion. This was the case when, back in the year 2000, the Polish rap group Paktofonika included a song on their début album “Kinematografia” entitled “Jestem Bogiem” (“I am God”); the track proved a lot more than just another chart hit. The lyrics, which translate as “I'm God/and you're God too/bear this in mind...” became a manifesto for a generation which felt forgotten and marginalised by the political trench warfare of its parents; lost in a no man's land between the fronts of an older generation and the battles once fought over name and status. The suicide of one of the founding members of the band Magik was to become the tragic symbol of this generation; he took his life only one week after the release of the album. JESTEŚ BOGIEM tells the story of Magik, Rahim and Fokus, who came together in 1998 in the Silesian city of Katowice in order to rap and, as we know in hindsight, write Polish hip hop history; at the time a tenacious battle against the initial ignorance on the part of the public and media, above all for daily survival. As is often the case it wasn't the musicians who made a fortune; instead however they captured the hearts of their fans, to this day.