Die Fantastischen Vier

Die Fantastischen Vier, often abbreviated as Fanta 4, is a seminal German hip hop group hailing from Stuttgart. The group comprises Michael Schmidt (Smudo), Andreas Rieke, Thomas Dürr, and Michi Beck. Alongside Advanced Chemistry, they are recognized as one of the earliest acts to popularize rapping in the German language.

The band's roots trace back to the mid-1980s when Rieke and Schmidt formed the group Terminal Team. Dürr and Beck joined in 1989, and the quartet soon rebranded as Die Fantastischen Vier. They were instrumental in making German hip hop, which they termed "Deutschen Sprechgesang" (German spoken-song), a mainstream phenomenon in Germany. While other German hip hop artists predated them, Die Fantastischen Vier achieved the first significant chart success with their 1992 single "Die da?!". The track, from their album 4 gewinnt, reached No. 2 in Germany and topped the charts in Austria and Switzerland.