In 1987 „The Jazzy Rockers“ (Seyo, Eduzy, KidRock, Rubber Band, Dee, Chico, Carlos, Zed and Fad2) were organising the first hiphop jam at the „Coupole“. Before, there were just a few small hiphop parties in some clubs in Zürich or Geneva. In the beginning they listed local dj’s, rappers and Breakdancers, friends from nearby cities, on the posters. But after a while, people from Germany, France and allover Switzerland started to travel to the Jams. The Jams got a very good reputation beyond the frontiers.

Torch, (Advanced Chemistry), a famous german rapper, raps in a song: „from Kiel to Biel I traveled to every Jam“. „Coupole was the Shit!“ Says Torch. „ I started to visit the jams in 1988. The Graffiti- and Bboyscene networked very good at the time and I came to know about it. The difference between these and german jams were the various languages. At the Coupole were people from allover, they spoke german, english, italian, french, spanish. A lot of people from Paris travelled to Biel. They never visited Germany.“

The run was so enormous, that people had to switch to a nearby building, where the marble floor in front of the building became a second stage for the breakdancers. The Coupole was way too small and the parties reserved the right to call themselves „Jam“.

Eduzy, organisator, and member of the Jazzy Rockers, travelled a lot and met lots of Rappers, DJ’s and Breakdancers. He told us, how he got to Paris looking for some liveacts. In the flat of a friend he listened to „Concept“, the first mixtape of the then unknown Rapgroup, called „IAM“ from Marseille.  „The next morning I told my friend I wanted to go to Marseille to find them. In Marseille I walked down the street and entered a sneakerstore. There was a guy, who had style. At the time it was easy for me to recognize someone from the hiphopscene. He gave me a phonenumber, and the same day I met IAM. They played the whole night for me and some friends, and a few month later we organised an IAM-concert at the Coupole. It was their first concert outside of France. And I am still proud of it, because they’re still on top, when it comes to their music.“
A lot of very good, then unknown liveacts performed at the Coupole. The work of pioneers paid off. People still call these jams, the initiaton of Swiss hiphop. ( . . . )

above: Lionel D and Fat Style (Paris), Duty Free (Geneva, CH), Storm from Battle Squad (Germany), unknown...
all flyers by Seyo (Bienne, CH) www.seyo.ch, except one from Shy (Bienne, CH)

left: by Torch - Flyer for a Bus Trip from Germany...

here you can download the german essay appeared in the coupole anniversary journal.