Reinhard Mey | In Haftbefehl's Garden

Wham! Netflix has scored a hit with the documentary "Babo." It's about the Offenbach rapper Haftbefehl, also known as Haft or Hafti. He's very successful , but eventually, after 25 years of cocaine use, he's pretty much wrecked. And he wants to show it.

Bam! But "Babo" isn't a good documentary. It uses the typical Netflix tricks of overwhelming the viewer. A dark, urban world where lightning flashes and thunder roars constantly. Haftbefehl acts like a stereotypical rock star, occasionally fully present, but also very difficult. First, he's built up to great heights, only to then fall hard – that's the aesthetic of "Bild."

Boing! For the sake of the special effects, the context is slashed. Where did all the money come from for his gambling-addicted, depressed father who committed suicide? What about his mother? Why do his brothers seem so well-behaved? What's the meaning of his Azzlack slang? The cultural critics hailed him as a kind of German rap Goethe. Netflix doesn't care about any of that.

Sob! But there is one touching scene. Haft is down and full of self-loathing, searches through his phone and then sings along to a tender song by Reinhard Mey: "In My Garden." In it, someone buries a flower: "What I possessed, I have given away / My soul and my life."

Period! A lot of Haftbefehl fans really like this. And that's why this Reinhard Mey song is now in the charts. Or what passes for charts these days: It's at the top of TikTok, Instagram, and Spotify. "Brutal song, man. Intense," says Haftbefehl in the documentary.

Wow! At 82, Berlin's Reinhard Mey is more than twice as old as Haftbefehl. And otherwise, he's the complete opposite: sea rescuer, helicopter pilot, and guitarist. Older folks still remember his biggest hit, "Über den Wolken" (Above the Clouds), from 1974. "In meinem Garten" (In My Garden) is even older: Roots Reinhard, back when hardly anyone knew him.

Brother! Mey comes from the singer-songwriter scene of Burg Waldeck in the Hunsrück region in the 1960s. A charming twinkle in his eye, never as hard-left as Degenhardt, Wecker, and Wader. But a staunch pacifist. In 1986, he sang against the military: "No, I won't give up my sons." This recently caused some trouble with the SWR (Southwest German Broadcasting). This song, too, is worth remembering. In this new era of rearmament, with or without a garden.